Girls Soccer: Perry tops Dover 2-1
DOVER – The Perry girls soccer team defeated Dover 2-1 Thursday.
Dover Coach James Kline provided this summary:
On Wednesday night, we hosted the Perry Panthers. As mentioned in the previous article, we knew we had a tough schedule this week and earned a good result on Monday. Tuesday, hosting a DII, Federal League team, we knew we were in for another battle. The girls handled it extremely well. We came out a little flat for the first five minutes or so, but then settled in and started to play some really competitive soccer. It was a game that went in waves of possession with both teams and with seventeen minutes left in the first half, Taylor Vaughan received a through ball from Estera Cotlet and hit a great shot that was too high for the goalkeeper to save. The rest of the half was back and forth and ended 1-0.
At half, we decided to make some adjustments to help with our work rate and to counter some old things that were working well for Perry. Once again, the girls stepped up and handled the adjustments really well. The first thirty minutes of the second half were intense, back and forth play between two really talented teams battling for a win. Then, with seven minutes to go in the game, Perry was able to find a goal when they had a nice counter to tie the game 1-1. Once they tied the game, it was clear the last seven minutes were going to be intense. The game of soccer reared it’s nasty head with seventeen seconds left where it looked like an attempted cross/shot took a small deflection off a defenders foot and soared into the back of the net to put the Panthers up 2-1. The game ended 2-1.
The feeling after this game for me was similar to last year’s District Final game. The girls played so well that it just felt like they deserved a win or at least the tie. However, just like every other win or loss, we dwell or celebrate it for the rest of the day and we move on. Saturday’s game is very meaningful with it being a DIII and East District opponent and hopefully the girls can carry over the style of play we have had for the last two games. The loss brings our overall record to 5-4-1.