Undermanned Minutemen breeze past Cosmos

The Mill River Minutemen were a dominating 5-0 winner in a Division II girls soccer game on a sunny Saturday.

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Undermanned Minutemen breeze past Cosmos By POODY WALSH Correspondent Sep 29, 2018 0 SPRINGFIELD — Before the game, Mill River coach Dave Carr had a couple of concerns. First, he was worried about the Gurney Field conditions, which were a bit sloppy because of the recent rain. As it was, the game was moved back two hours to give the field a chance to dry. Second, Carr came into the game without four players, three of whom are starters. However, all that was pretty much forgotten by the end of the contest as his Minutemen were a dominating 5-0 winner in a Division II girls soccer game on a sunny Saturday. If there was one phase of the game that was a factor in the win, it was the through pass that set free several Mill River players on breakaways. “We've been working on that in practice,” said Carr, who admits he likes practices better than games. Why? “Because in practice I can teach,” he explained. “That's what I do best.” At the same time, Springfield coach Kevin Hoisington was a bit baffled as to why his defense was constantly giving chase instead of shutting down the through pass. “What we have to do is play defense as a unit and if we don't you can see what happened today,” said Hoisington. “We have to trust each other.” It was the fourth straight loss for the 3-5 Cosmos, who were coming off a loss at Windsor where the offense had trouble clicking. "All this is very correctable,” said Hoisington of the two-pronged dilemma. “We just have to come together.” While the Cosmos did not score, they were also a bit unlucky as they hit a post, hit the side of the cage and sailed three shots over the cage and over the head of sophomore keeper Olivia Jones. While the game was still in doubt, Mill River's first goal was textbook as sophomore forward Amelia Jones moved the ball from her outside position into the middle, where junior midfielder Hannah Anderson drove it home. Then there were two breakaways. First there was Ameila Jones, who split the defenders and came in on Springfield keeper Mykahla Jasinski and scored. This was followed by freshman Julia Deppert, who has impressed her coach, as the recipient of an Allison Nemeth through pass and finished the rush by slipping the ball by Jasinski. “She's got some moves,” said Carr Deppert, who later added a second goal. The final goal of the first half was a more conventional tally as Anderson moved the ball inside where Nemeth banged it in. The only score of the second half was when Deppert had her second goal, again on a breakaway, the feed coming from Talia Hutt Vader. Mill River, now 3-4-1, had a 14-4 edge in shots while the corners were even at five apiece. Two of the Springfield chances were thwarted by the alert play of keeper Olivia Jones. In the first half Springfield's Ashley Quelch launched a long shot that look so good that Hoisington yelled “that could go in.” It might have if Jones hadn't leaped up and snared it with both hands. Then there was a shot from Cosmos' Emily Benson that hit the post and rolled across dangerously across the front before Jones booted it clear. Springfield is home again Monday to Hartford while Rutland comes to Mill River on Tuesday.