Greencastle tops Northview, 5-2

Monday, September 14, 2009

BRAZIL -- The Northview girls soccer team put forth a resilient effort, but fell short on their home field against Greencastle on Saturday morning, by the count of 5-2.

Things appeared to be going the Knights' way early, as Alli Thomas scored the games first goal just over 15 minutes in.

Their momentum came to a shrieking halt however, as Tiger Cubssenior Laura English scored two goal in six minutes, and when the first period came to an end, Greencastle had a 2-1 advantage.

The Knights' comeback hopes were them promptly dashed by two unfortunate occurrences. Northview Goalie Shalee Hathaway stepped in front of a Whitney Brotherton shot, only to have it ricochet off her hands and into the net. Moments later, a defensive miscommunication led to a wide open net for the ever efficient English, who hooked in her third goal of the afternoon, putting Greencastle up 4-1.

Northview coach Ahnya Alstott said her team has made an unfortunate habit of starting slow at the beginning of the second period all season and was hoping to see these mistakes rectified.

"(These bouts of misfortune) have happened constantly," Alstott said. "We have been struggling in the first 10 minutes of the half, and we're working to improve on that."

Despite the large deficit, Northview's offense continued to attack consistently in the second half. But despite many open looks, the Knights were consistently turned away by a strong Tiger Cubs defense, led by goalie Rachael Winters. The Knights were able to add another goal, when Krista Stearley scored ten minutes in, but did not find the net for the remainder of the game.

Greencastle added an exclamation point to their win, as Brotherton added her second goal as time expired. After several tough losses against various upper tier opponents, Tiger Cubs coach Scott Weltz was thrilled to see his team earn a hard fought victory.

"We've had a lot of tough matches," Weltz said after his squad improved to 3-6 on the season.

"We've been working really hard and the girls are starting to put everything together, and it's nice when your hard work pays off."

Despite the rough moments, Alstott saw her team as an unfortunate victim of circumstance, saying they played better than the final results would have indicated.

"The ending score doesn't reflect how we played," Alstott said. "We made adjustments and we played better, it just didn't show on the scoreboard."

The loss dropped Northview to 1-5 on the season. Despite the tough start, Alstott didn't seem discouraged, pointing out the girls were 2-4 at this time last year, before eventually bringing home a second consecutive WIC title. With several conference games to go she expressed confidence the Knights would be able to put together a late season rally similar to the one from last season.

"I don't see our record as being detrimental," Alstott said. "Our girls have the capability to win, they just need to get the mentality."

At Northview

Greencastle 5 Northview 2

Greencastle 2 3 5

Northview 1 1 2

1st Period

NV- Alli Thomas

GC- Laura English

GC- Laura English

2nd Period

GC- Whitney Brotherton

GC- Laura English

NV- Krista Stearley

GC- Whitney Brotherton

GC- Laura English