Dover girls soccer picks up wins over Perry and Tusky Valley
DOVER (WJER) ( September 15, 2022) – The Crimson Tornadoes girls soccer team picked up a regular season win over Perry Monday and a scrimmage win against Tusky Valley Wednesday. Dover Coach James Kline provided these summaries.
Wednesday
Dover 2 – Tusky Valley 1
at Dover Middle School
7:15 p.m.
Dover Goals:
56:40 – Bridget McCrate (Assist Emilyn Feller)
75:40 – Emilyn Feller
On a beautiful September night, the Dover Tornadoes took on the Tusky Valley Trojans. Due to it being the Trojans first year, the match had to be considered a scrimmage, but it was far from a “scrimmage.”
In the first half, we played very well and created a lot of chances for ourselves. At one point, I think we had three shots under 20 seconds that hit the goal post and another moment where a beautiful shot was redirected off a Trojan player’s face. As we tell the girls from time to time, the soccer gods are sometimes not on our side. However, we just had to grind it out and find a goal.
Well, that’s what we did in the second half. Much like the first half, he had our chances, but again the Trojans held tough until the 56th minute when Bridget McCrate found the back of the net with a beautiful shot after a nice pass from Emilyn Feller. Unfortunately, the goal didn’t put away the Trojans and they continued to battle and found a goal of their own after a mishap defensively that led to a game-tying goal.
Fortunately for us, giving up the goal almost gave us a jolt of energy. The girls knew they needed to find a goal in the last 14th minutes and that’s what they did. With four minutes to go, Emilyn Feller found the back of the net off pure hustle and hardwork.
It was a great win in front of a huge crowd with it being our DSA youth program night.
The DSA program is run by John Loffredo who does an incredible job with the Dover youth girls and boys program. He plays a huge role in the success of the high school programs and probably doesn’t get enough recognition for the work that he does.
Monday
Dover 1 – Perry 0
Perry Wakefield Stadium
Kickoff: 7:30 p.m.
Monday night was a really fun night for the Dover soccer community. Both varsity teams traveled to take on my alma mater the Perry Panthers.
The boys team set the stage by taking care of business with a 1-0 win. With that and going back to my old stomping grounds brought a lot of emotions and memories. During the pregame talk I told the team it would mean a lot to get a win for personal reasons and to help get over our tough loss on Saturday.
The girls delivered with probably their best team effort outside of the New Philadelphia game. The first 10 minutes of the game were pretty intense with both teams going back and forth with their opportunities. However, it seemed like our work rate and depth really wore on Perry. As the half went on, it just seemed like we deserved a goal with the effort we were giving.
Finally, the hard work paid off with one minute and 20 seconds to go in the first half. Sophia Bielski worked the ball down the wing and hit a dangerous cross that the Panther keeper couldn’t control, putting us up 1-0.
At halftime we talked about some small adjustments to make, but really we wanted to continue playing the way we played to finish the first half. The second half had a lot of ebbs and flows in it with who was controlling the ball and earning chances. Both teams played very hard in the second half and blanked one another.
The win puts our record at 7-2 with tough games coming up against Tri-Valley (Saturday) and West Holmes (Wednesday).
Also on Monday, Dover JV girls soccer faced Perry JV at home. The contest ended in a tie, 1-1. Kenzie Wright (#3, Sophomore) scored Dover’s goal off a penalty kick late in the second half. The Dover JV girls’ record is now 5-0-2.
On Thursday, Sept. 9, Dover JV girls soccer traveled to Jackson to play the Lady Polar Bears. The contest ended in a tie 1-1, Dover’s lone goal was scored by Cashlyn Harmon (#11, Freshman).