PREP GIRLS SOCCER: Troy solves Rochester’s stiff defense in 1-0 victory
BY JAKE LOURIM
STUDENT CORRESPONDENT
TROY — Troy senior forward Irene Young was getting hit from left, right, and behind from two, three, and four players Thursday night.
It’s something she’ll just have to get used to, helping manufacture scoring in other ways.
“I think that’s when the other [players] help me out a lot; they make really good runs, especially the midfielders, without the ball,” Young said. “The midfield did a good job of supporting me underneath so I can lay it off and it opens up opportunities for a lot of other players.”
Sophomore midfielder Jenna Cabelof poked in a goal late in the first half Thursday night to lead Troy to a 1-0 victory over Rochester, the toughest defense the Colts have faced this season.
With just 3:23 left in the half, junior midfielder Erin Wrubel served a corner kick towards the near side for Cabelof, who tipped the ball off her hip just inside the near post for the only goal of the contest.
“Erin served a great ball in and Jenna was able to tuck one away,” Troy coach Brian Zawislak said. “When you get so much traffic in front of the goal, it makes it harder for her.”
“We said before the game that we have to make sure we’re focused on restarts because the game could come down to a restart. I was proud of the girls; they scored on a restart and they did a good job defending on restarts.”
For most of the game, Young was double-teamed or triple-teamed. She managed two shots in the second half, one that went over the cross bar and one that was barely saved by a sliding Rochester defender.
“Definitely,” said Young, when asked if she expected the pressure. “We’ve had a lot more expected out of us this year, so I think we have to step up more and expect teams to be coming for us.”
Troy put Wrubel and freshman midfielder Sarah Troccoli behind Young to give her some options.
Junior forward Madison Hirsch’s strike off the bar was the only other solid chance Troy got.
Rochester’s defense was ready for the stiff task of slowing Troy’s all-state front line. The Falcons had multiple defenders marking Young at all times and pressured the ball relentlessly.
“They were really physical with us; they took it to us a little bit,” Young said. “We just had to adjust and work with each other.”
“Mostly, she knows there’s pressure on her back, so she needs to lay balls off and she really needs to focus on moving without the ball,” Zawislak added.
Troy played with more numbers up top to counter that physicality, going with three on the front line.
They tried to get to headers, but Troy won significantly on balls in the air, making a fourth straight shutout routine.
With only 1:15 left in the game, Rochester sent a cross into the box and skimmed it off the post, allowing Troy to clear it and run out the clock. The Colts move to 4-0, with 10 goals for and still zero against.
“I think the defense did a really nice job of organizing everyone,” junior goalie Alison Holland said. “They just put a lot of hard work in today and stuck it to them.”
They were able to move junior defender Jamie Hawkey into the back line seamlessly Thursday night. Hawkey sat out the first two games with an ankle injury, played sparingly Tuesday in a win over Auburn Hills Avondale, and made her first start against Rochester.
“Jamie’s always a great player, and she didn’t really have much change after her ankle injury,” Holland said. “We weren’t really too worried about her; she listens really well and she plays at a really high club level.”
Though Rochester’s defense was solid, it wasn’t able to muster many chances against the even stingier Colts. Holland needed only two saves for the shutout.
“I thought we won a lot of balls, we stepped when we had to, we made good decisions, and we possessed the ball in the back,” Zawislak said.
With Hawkey’s addition, Troy was able to bring some more players into the midfield, such as Wrubel, who has committed to Ohio. Hawkey started on defense with Wrubel, senior Rachel Shamoun and senior Alyssa Cabelof.
TROY 5, AUBURN HILLS AVONDALE 0: Troy took a 3-0 lead at halftime and raced to an easy shutout victory over an Avondale team depleted by graduation losses. Young scored twice, and Jenna Cabelof, senior Jennifer Busk, and Hirsch each added goals.
(Jake Lourim is a junior at Troy High School and a member of the AdaVan Media Group / www.northoaklandsports.com Student Correspondence Program. He is publisher of website www.troycoltsportsupdate.com and a member of the Troy school newspaper editorial staff. He can be reached by e-mail at j.lourim@comcast.net)
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