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Successful penalty corners can make or break a game. This is something Upper DuEOLn OHDUnHG fiUsWKDnG Ln its win over a scrappy Upper Moreland team on Tuesday.
“I know we had a lot of corners,” Upper Dublin coach Heather Boyer said. “I’ve been telling them that if they can’t get the shot they want, force a penalty so we can get a corner. That worked for us.”
The Cardinals downed the Bears 3-1, two of their goals coming on penalty corners. Upper Dublin kept the pressure on for almost the entire game and was constantly attacking the net with set pieces. Upper Moreland showed a great deal of resolve throughout the game, but the better technical side in Upper Dublin took the win.
“We’ve been trying to work on scoring a little more and I was happy that we got more shots on goal,” Boyer said. “We had very good execution on corners and our defense has been pretty good all year, we worked well together, it was a good win.”
7KH fiUsW KDOI KHOG DOO WKH scoring in this contest. Just a few minutes into the game, Jennifer Harchut smashed a menacing shot into the corner of the cage off a penalty corner, putting the CDUGLnDOs uS 1-0. WLWK 18 minutes left in the half, Upper Moreland’s Alexa Wister HTuDOLzHG wLWK D JRDO sKH GHflHFWHG RII D sKRW IURm WKH outside.
“The girls played hard, we scored a nice goal, but we’ve had trouble scoring,” Upper Moreland coach Karen drossi said. “The girls
played better in the second half, the Upper Dublin defense was also really good. 7KH PDMRULWy RI WKH fiUsW KDOI was spent in our end and it was those two corners that killed us.”
Upper Moreland’s goal was against the run of play and Upper Dublin made sure that would not happen again. The offensive pressure and numerous penalty corners caught up with the Bears again a minute later as Harchut scored again, slotting the ball home through a scrum in front of the net to give the Cardinals a lead they could not relinquish.
“The team worked very well together, we were connecting passes well,” Harchut said. “At practice we always stay late and do those corners over and over again. 7KH UHSHWLWLRn KDs GHfinLWHOy helped us score goals during games.”
Samantha Boyd gave Upper Dublin a bit of insurance with a goal 12 minutes before the half. The 3-1 lead going into halftime was all the Cardinals needed.
The second half saw better offensive play from Upper Moreland, but nothing with teeth. Upper Dublin still held the ball a lot and earned set pieces, but the Bears showed fiJKW DnG nHvHU JDvH uS GHspite being down two goals. Although Upper Moreland had more chances in the second half, it was not able to finG WKH nHW DnG WLPH UDn RuW.
“We are getting better each game,” Grossi said. “We kept them in their end at certain times, but we just have to work on putting the ball in the net.”