Coventry too much for young Clippers Cumberland “outplayed” by unbeaten Oakers
COVENTRY— At 2-0 coming into play, the Cumberland girls’soccer team was feeling confident with the way their season was unfolding through its early stages. On Thursday, that surge of success would all come to a grinding, and hopefully for their sake, a temporary halt.
Led by a hat-trick from Madison Resendes, who also posted an assist, the Oakers not only handed the Clippers their first defeat of 2017, but did so in convincing fashion, prevailing by a 6-1 final. Lauren Deus, Lila Kalooski and Anna Kalooski accounted for the other three goals in the win, while Maddy Durkin had the lone goal of the day for the visitors.
“We got outplayed today. We got flat out outplayed. Stuff like that can’t happen,” Cumberland coach John Hoxsie said of the result after holding a lengthy meeting with his team.
The half dozen goals his team surrendered was of less concern to him than the manner in which they were scored.
“We stress to them mental toughness. We stress to them how important the first five (minutes) and the last five of every game and every half is,” Hoxsie said, which after Thursday’s loss seemed to be a message that they did not receive.
“First half, we gave up a goal two minutes in and then we gave up two more goals in the last five minutes,” he said of the closing stages before halftime.
Deus netted the game’s opening score less than three full minutes in on a shot assisted by Resendes, putting the visitors in an early hole. The score remained unchanged for much of the half with Coventry controlling the ball on offense the bulk of the time. With just minutes to go before the break, the Oakers posted a pair of late goals, one by Lila Kalooski and the other by Resendes, each beyond the reach of starting goaltender Sophie Goddard to take a commanding 3-0 lead into the half.
“We buried ourselves,” Hoxsie said.
Goddard would wind up playing close to the entire match, totaling 25 saves, before Juliette Vermette took over in the waning minutes.
On the other end, Liz Kenney turned in an impressive showing, tallying 23 saves in the win. She was replaced in the last few minutes by Maddie Messier, who managed to record a pair of saves herself.
Coventry coach Chris Daigneault was happy to see his team executing on offense and finishing the plays they set out to execute.
“We passed super today. Really had some good chances and actually did a good job finishing them for once,” he said.
Coventry had prevailed in their previous match, but Thursday’s outing was a more positive showing in the eyes of Daigneault.
“We did a good job against Barrington, too. We outplayed them, but we really only beat them 3-2. It was one of those things where we’ve really been out-possessing most teams, but not necessarily always finishing, so today we actually finished a few and really could have had more,” he said.