GIRLS SOCCER: Troy bounces back to boot Stoney Creek
BY JAKE LOURIM
STUDENT CORRESPONDENT
ROCHESTER HILLS — When Troy senior Alyssa Cabelof set her feet and blasted Troy’s first goal into the left corner of the net Tuesday, Troy girls soccer coach Brian Zawislak did something he doesn’t normally do: He sprung off the bench after the goal and celebrated.
“I haven’t gotten that excited for a goal in a long time,” Zawislak laughed. “I wanted them to get off on the right foot.”
Cabelof and freshman Sarah Troccoli each scored in the first half Tuesday to lead Troy to a 2-1 OAA Red Division road win over Rochester Stoney Creek.
The Colts came out firing from the outset and responded well to their first loss of the season, 4-1, to Rochester Adams last Friday.
Troy pressured Stoney Creek early on and scored its first goal just three minutes into the game, a sign that it wasn’t just going to roll over after the loss. The Colts earned a corner kick, and junior Erin Wrubel served it into the box. Cabelof sealed the top of the box, controlling the ball that Stoney Creek tried to clear and hitting it into the left corner of the net.
In the 17th minute, Troy had a well-played easy scoring opportunity with Troccoli streaking wide open down the middle of the field. Junior Madison Hirsch played it to her on the run and Troccoli put in a solid finish.
“Maddie made a great pass to me, and I just turned, and there was no one around,” said Troccoli of her first career goal. “It was a great ball by Maddie, though.”
Comfortably up two goals for the first time in five games, Troy (7-1-0,5-1-0) settled in and let its defense take care of the rest.
The Cougars did trim the deficit in the 30th minute with a ball into a wide-open forward in the box. Stoney Creek made the header into the corner of the net, but Troy held off the Cougars the rest of the game.
“At halftime, we talked a lot about our shape in the back,” Zawislak said. “On that (goal)I
felt our outside back got pulled out of position, and because she was out of position, they
were able to get a ball in behind. Once you get a ball served into the box, anything can happen.”
“We needed back-side players or weak-side players to give us a little bit more depth, because they kept trying to play balls in behind us.”
Troy goalie Alison Holland commanded the box quite well, coming out to clear some balls and making key saves on others.
Stoney Creek was in danger of tying the game just three minutes after its first goal, but Holland stopped a hard-hit shot from about 10 yards in front of the goal. She finished with five saves.
“She read the game really well in front of her and she made pretty good decisions about when to come up and when to just ask for balls from the defenders,” Zawislak said.
“It just took a lot of communication,” Holland said. “It got really hectic those last 10 minutes, and it was very stressful, so everyone did a good job listening.”
Troy continued to keep Stoney Creek at bay by controlling possession and controlling the tempo.
“We just wanted to work on winning the first ball,” Troccoli said, “and we did a great job of that. Our defense did a great job of holding up its shape, too.”
(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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