College Park opens tourney with 2-0 win
College Park opened up play at its Cavs and Cleats Classic with a 2-0 win over Cypress Ridge on Thursday at Gosling Sports Fields.
The Lady Cavaliers (25-1) had trouble getting the ball in deep during the scoreless first half, but broke through for a pair of second half goals to take down the Lady Rams (1-6).
College Park was called offside 14 times before Bri Bourbeau played Katie Rabold in alone for the game’s first goal in the 61st minute. Altogether, the Lady Cavs were caught offsides 22 times.
“The goal all day was to read the field of play,” College Park coach Meredith Cook said. “We were having a hard time adjusting to the fantastic job Ridge was doing on the offside trap. I thought we did a better job in the second half by carrying the ball and trying to slide kids in behind the defense. It created a couple of opportunities.”
Cy-Ridge coach Callie Hasselbring said her backline is coached to catch opponents offside and she was pleased with their effort.
“I’m happy with the backline,” she said. “The two goals were scored because we got a little undisciplined, but we do a good job most of the time. We work on that continuously — not relying on the ref to call [offsides], but for us to make it clear.”
Early on, possession was controlled by CyRidge. As the first half wore on, the field tilted College Park’s way. Each team had its chances, but the game was scoreless after 40 minutes.
Thirteen minutes into the second half, Cy-Ridge’s Nancy Jacobo kicked a set piece from the top of the box just over the net. Cy-Ridge took 10 shots in the game and had five corner kicks.
Rabold broke through for the game’s first goal in the 61st minute. Megan Fralix nearly made it 2-0 four minutes later, but her shot went off the crossbar.
In the 71st minute, Rabold assisted Fralix’s goal that made the final margin.
“I felt like Cy-Ridge had the upper hand in the first half,” Cook said. “I thought their keeper was excellent — she made some really nice saves. But I did feel like we were starting to break them down in the second half. We were just playing smarter soccer by the time we got to the end. We just kind of got lucky in the end there.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: Visit www.yourconroenews.com/ sports for results from Friday and Saturday games.