GIRLS SOCCER: Dover defeats New Philadelphia

Last night, we hosted our cross-town rival for a rematch from earlier this year, where we won, 9-1. The second matchup always carries a little extra weight with it being the Kick for a Cure game. Plus, we had the nightcap where we followed the boy’s game where the Dover boys set the tone with a 5-0 victory.

The weather wasn’t the greatest, but we didn’t allow that to affect us. We got on the board early when Kenzie Wright played a through ball to Ava Zobel, who took a couple of progressive touches and smashed a shot past the goalkeeper to put us up, 1-0.  Six minutes later, Ansley Bollon worked the ball to the end line to create enough space to play a dangerous cross that found Cashlyn Harmon, who beat the goalkeeper to her front post. About ten minutes after our second goal, Bridget McCrate used her speed to beat their outside back into the eighteen and blasted another ball past the goalkeeper for our third goal. The scoring slowed down for about ten minutes until Phila found some space and was able to put a tough shot on goal that found the backside of the goal. With thirty seconds left in the half, Bridget McCrate put the momentum back on our side by hitting a well-placed shot from 25 yards out to beat the keeper for our fourth goal.

The halftime talk was short, we needed to ride that momentum, correct a couple of positional things, and put this game away. That’s exactly what we did two minutes into the half when Ava Zobel beat her defender to gain enough space to get a shot off that beat the keeper for our fifth goal. Twelve minutes later, Ava found another goal to give her a hat-trick for the night. Two minutes later, Estera Cotlet finished a ball that was bouncing around after a corner kick by Cashlyn Harmon. With twelve minutes in the half, Carley Noretto beat a defender and hit a ball that was too hard for the keeper to handle for our eighth goal. That ended the scoring and the finished finished, 8-1.

Always great to get a win and a win against our rivals. Plus, the night raised over $8,000 to be donated to a local family. All in all, it was a great night to be a Tornado. The win brings our overall record to 7-6-1 with three games left before playoffs start. We have a one-game week this week where we take on Tusky Valley on Tuesday for our Senior Night at 7:15 PM.