Monday's CCAA Division 1 girls' high school soccer game between the Westfield-Brocton Lady Wolverines and the Dunkirk Lady Marauders showcased a game between two teams who have struggled all season to finish.
In the end, Westfield was able to finally do just that in a 3-1 victory over Dunkirk at Karl Hoeppner Field.
"It's been the story of our year," Westfield coach Neil Huber said. "We get a lot of opportunities but have difficulty finishing. What's nice is we don't stop. The girls kept fighting."
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OBSERVER?Photo by Craig?Harvey
Dunkirk’s Sydney Charles take a corner kick during Monday’s CCAA?Division 1 girls’ high school soccer game.
Westfield had multiple scoring chances early on. For a 10-minute stretch, the Lady Wolverines kept the ball in Dunkirk's territory, but could not put the ball in the net as Dunkirk goalie Janelle Jasinski made numerous saves and was even aided by the cross bar on a shot from Westfield's Erin Carutis.
Dunkirk capitalized on a chance at the 10:51 mark as Joyce Bomasuto gave teammate Sydney Charles a perfect lead pass. Charles then crossed the ball to the middle of the field for Calan Pogorzelski, who put the ball into the net for the 1-0 advantage which stood at halftime.
"We had the lead and it's the first we had in a while," Dunkirk coach Phil Cook said. "We felt at halftime we could have been up more. Unfortunately, it's been a familiar tune this year. We just aren't finishing our chances. At some point I hope it will turn around - and soon."
Though Westfield was down, it was confident the second half would be more favorable as the players became more acclimated with playing on the turf field.
"This field is absolutely, positively gorgeous," Huber said. "The girls said at halftime it's fun to play on. We are used to grass fields. This is absolutely gorgeous. It took us some time to get used to."
The second half belonged to the Lady Wolverines as they finally got on the board at the 30:19 mark when Kayla Bentham's shot hit the post and teammate Brenna Wright crashed the net and scored for the equalizer.
Two late Dunkirk breakdowns helped the visitors escape with the win.
With 4:29 remaining, a miscommunication between the Dunkirk defenders and the goaltender resulted in Westfield's second goal. With the ball sitting between two Dunkirk defenders and the goalie, Westfield's Erin Carutis took the loose ball and rifled it home for the 2-1 lead.
See DUNKIRK, Page B2
"There was a communication break down, but we can't let the build up start as high as it did," Cook said. "Team defense, we gave up the wrong pass."
Nearly two minutes later, the Lady Wolverines added the final goal as Jessica Delcamp won the battle for a loose ball and scored her first goal of the season.
"Dunkirk played a great game," Huber said. "Every time we play them, it's a great game and it's clean. That's always nice. Dunkirk has a good foundation and a lot of speed. They're going to be tough in the coming years. I'm not looking forward to playing them."
Savannah Rowan was the winning goaltender with 12 saves while Jasinski made nine in a losing effort.
