GIRLS SOCCER: Troy executes to blank rival Athens
BY DAN STICKRADT
SENIOR EDITOR
dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com
FOR MORE SOCCER COVERAGE: http://northoaklandsports.com/?s=soccer&x=0&y=0
TROY — A season of misfortune finally took the right turn Thursday night for Troy’s girls soccer team.
The Colts, sacked by countless injuries this season, finally had their full lineup and that equation helped brew up a 2-0 victory over arch-rival Troy Athens in the OAA Red Division finale for both teams.
Troy scored twice in the final 17 minutes to prevail over the Red Hawks. The Colts have not lost in the regular season to Athens in four seasons.
“We have not,” smiled Troy senior goalkeeper Alison Holland, who picked up her third shutout of the season and 38th of her prep career. “I think this is what we needed. We knew we still had a good team, but we’ve had so many players hurt this year that we haven’t played with our full team until now. It feels good to have everyone back and beat Athens again.”
Holland made just one save but was active on through balls and dangerous crosses into the box. Having Holland and several field players back could be just what the doctor ordered for the colts with the state tournament less than two weeks away.
“It’s been hard because we haven’t had everybody healthy until now. We’ve had a lot of misfortune,” said Troy coach Brian Zawislak. “So we haven’t been able to see what we are capable of when every time we gain someone back, we lose another player. We’re hoping a win like this will give us confidence because we’re not in an easy district. There are a lot of good teams and we’re now just getting healthy.”
Troy (5-6-3, 3-2-2), which moved into third place in the league despite its battles of misfortune, broke the stalemate with 16:17 to play. Madison Hirsch slotted a low restart through traffic onto an onrushing Danielle Mukomel, who blasted home her shot from close range for what proved to be the game winner.
Jenna Cabelof finished off the Red Hawks when she scored from two yards out with 7:19 to play. Erin Wrubel’s initial shot caromed off the far post before Cabelhof cleaned up the loose ball.
Troy outshot Athens by an 8-7 count, including 3-1 with shots directly on frame. Both of the Colts’ two second-half shots directly on goal resulted in changes on the scoreboard.
Athens had a shot sail just wide of the post in the opening minute of the game, but the Red Hawks had a difficult time executing on both ends of the field, giving up both goals on restarts. Athens (7-5-3, 3-3-1) could not capitalize on three cornerkicks of the game.
“We didn’t execute,” sighed Athens coach Todd Heugh. “We had some chances and we could not get much on frame. And credit to Troy, because they were able to finish on two restarts. We didn’t do a good job of (marking up) on those two restarts and
To submit information to www.northoaklandsports.com, e-mail dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com. To advertise, e-mail advertising@northoaklandsports.com . Follow us on Twitter @LocalSportsFans and more than a dozen other social media networks.
FOR MORE SOCCER COVERAGE: http://northoaklandsports.com/?s=soccer&x=0&y=0
Have photos or video of this event that you wish to share? E-mail pertinent information to www.northoaklandsports.com Senior Editor Dan Stickradt at dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com or e-mail results@northoaklandsports.com.
Category: Featured Articles, High School, High School (M-Z), Most Recently Updated Stories, Prep Wraps, Soccer, Sport, Top Stories, Troy, Troy Athens, Uncategorized
