Girls Soccer: Dover falls to Wooster after beating New Philadelphia the day before
WOOSTER – The Dover girls soccer team lost to Wooster 2-1 Thursday the day after beating rival New Philadelphia 1-0.
The Tornadoes are 10-5-2. They next play in the Division II state tournament Thursday, Oct. 19, at 4:30 p.m. at home against the winner of Coshocton and Harrison Central matchup.
Dover Coach James Kline provided these game reports.
Dover 1 Wooster 2
We knew going into the game that they were going to be a very solid team across the board and have some very dangerous players up top. On top of that, playing back to back games is always difficult because of the energy exerted in these games. However, our girls looked ready to compete and they did. Our goal was to get through the first 10 minutes without giving up a goal and we came up a minute and 17 seconds short when one of the General strikers created some space and put a hard and well placed shot past our goalkeeper. Even after giving up a goal the girls rallied and continued to compete. Unfortunately, with seven and half minutes remaining in the half a deflection took a nice bounce to a General’s striker who was in space on top of the box and again she crushed a well placed shot into the side netting from just outside the box. This put us down 2-0 at half.
During the halftime talk, we talked about how we were right with them and it was not a fact that we were overmatched at all. We needed to clean up a few things and we were right with them. However, the postseason was on everyone’s mind and getting out of this game healthy was one of our biggest concerns. Thankfully, we were able to escape the game without any major injuries and the team rallied in the second half. With 16 minutes to go in the second half, Miley Patton hit a nice cross that found Belen Bravo-Angel who was able to settle and hit a nice high arcing shot that beat the keeper for our first goal of the game. You could see that this goal gave us some extra energy and the last 16 minutes were fun to watch. As a coach, those are the moments that make you proud. These girls had every excuse to lose and just go through the motions to get through the game, but they didn’t. They competed the entire 80 minutes and found a way to get on the board. Although we lost in the end, that game and goal showed that we belong in the conversation with some of the best teams in the area.
Dover 1 New Philadelphia 0
The Dover Tornadoes traveled to Southside Community Park to take on the 1-10 New Philadelphia Quakers in the second matchup of the season and the “Kick for the Cure” fundraising game.
Leading up to the game there were a lot of distractions with having to reschedule the game and the traditional activities that typically happen before the game, but the team handled it well. Then, when the time came to finally play there were more delays due to a refereeing conflict. Finally, after a 35 minute delay, at 7:35 p.m. on a cold October night the game finally kicked off.
From the kickoff we came out with some serious pace and intensity. It was a much different vibe and start compared to our first matchup, but even playing well and coming out sharp doesn’t always lead to goals in soccer. New Philadelphia had a strategy and they stuck to it and executed it very well. They defended well and made it very difficult for us to break through their backline to find a goal. In the first half, you could tell that not scoring was causing our girls to get frustrated and led to playing a style unlike ours. This game means a lot to both sides and it’s not even just the rivalry, but the added hype with it being the “Kick for the Cure” game. This adds a lot of emotions and when things don’t necessarily go the way we wanted or planned, it tends to lead to frustrations and players trying to do too much.
At half, we settled ourselves and just talked about playing our game and the goal would come. Again, just like the first half, we dominated possession and the overall game. New Philadelphia was sitting back which allowed us to change our formation to add more offensive presence up top. The switch worked well with a goal coming about a minute into the change when Belen Brave-Angel played a nice through ball to Ava Zobel who took a touch across her body where she ripped a shot from about 20 yards out past their goalkeeper. You could see the energy drop on the New Philadelphia side after that goal and we were able to control a majority of the game from there and limit New Philadelphia to a total of two shots the entire game.
The win was Dover’s 10th, which gives us 10-plus wins in our last two seasons and gives us our eighth shutout of the season.