Girls soccer: Early goal holds up for Westlake in 1-0 win over Avon Lake
Bob Daniels | The Chronicle-Telegram
WESTLAKE — If soccer fans had known a few minutes after 7 what they knew at 8:40 Wednesday night, they could have gone in out of the rain.
It was in the ninth minute of a big Southwestern Conference match when Westlake’s Kristie Prendergast scored with an assist from A.J. Suever. The goal held up and the Demons (2-1-1) posted a 1-0 victory over Avon Lake in a light but ongoing rain. The Shoregals dropped to 1-1-1.
Westlake dominated nearly wire to wire, although Avon Lake perked up for about 10 minutes late in the second half. In fact, it looked as though the Shoregals might at least tie the match.
They hung around persistently after Prendergast’s goal, turned up the offensive heat in the 60th minute and just missed the tying goal when Taylor Miller banged a shot loudly off the Demons’ crossbar.
“The shot that hit the crossbar changed the destiny of the game,” said Shoregals coach Kiko Lopez.
It was one of those statistically lopsided matches, this one heavily in Westlake’s favor except in shots on goal. The Demons got off 21 shots, eight of which were on goal. Avon Lake shot just nine times, but six of them were on target, forcing Demons goalkeeper Stephanie Poeppelman to work nearly as hard as counterpart Bridget Lyons.
At least one spectator, Lopez, thought it should have been a scoreless tie, because he also thought the Demons were offside when Prendergast scored. He questioned the officials, but to no avail.
“(The Westlake player) wasn’t offside when the goal was scored,” Lopez said. “She had to come back onside. She was offside (as the play developed).”
The Demons’ margin might have been larger without the play of Lyons in goal.
Lyons was forced to make two saves in the first five minutes, then made a spectacular leg save of a rocket by Suever nine minutes later. And she had to make bang-bang saves in the 39th minute when the Demons’ Sarah Stachowiak drilled a shot at her and Beth Moroney, working in a crowd in front of the net, controlled the rebound and fired another.
Likewise, in a scramble in front of the Westlake goal in the 61st minute, the Shoregals’ Kaylee Donegan put a point-blank shot on Poeppelman, which she saved. And Poeppelman had to make another seconds later when Trisha Wladecki sent one toward the net on the restart after a Westlake foul.
“I told the girls they didn’t lose the game in the first half, they lost it in the second half,” Lopez said.
Contact Bob Daniels at 329-7135
or ctsports@chroniclet.com.
Westlake 1, Avon Lake 0
GOALS: (W) Kristie Prendergast (9th minute).
ASSISTS: (W) A.J. Suever.
SHOTS: Avon Lake 9, Westlake 21.
SHOTS ON GOAL: Avon Lake 6, Westlake 8.
SAVES: (AL) Bridget Lyons 9; Stephanie Poeppelman 6.
CORNER KICKS: Avon Lake 2, Westlake 6.
GOAL KICKS: Avon Lake 8, Westlake 2.
OFFSIDE: Westlake 2.
HAND BALLS: None.
FOULS: Avon Lake 12, Westlake 13.
CARDS: None.
HALFTIME: Westlake, 1-0.
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Filed by Bob Daniels | The Chronicle-Telegram August 28th, 2008 in Sports. Popularity: 2% |
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