CONQUERING COUGARS
Stoney Creek stays unbeaten with 4-1 win over Lakeland
The Stoney Creek Cougars defeated the Lakeland Eagles 4-1 in a Saturday matinee to close out the first week of the girls soccer season.
Playing a counterattacking style, the Eagles got on the board early. Less than five minutes into the game, Isabella Koje hit a free kick from near midfield that dropped behind the Stoney Creek defense. Karissa Welsh got to the ball first and hit a first-time volley past the late charging goalkeeper for a 1-0 Eagles lead.
The Cougars would battle back and tie the game 1-1 midway through the half when Sarina Shah slammed home a shot from near the top of the penalty box after a failed clearing attempt by the Eagles.
“If you can be mentally strong and stay in the game, that’s so important. I’m proud of the girls for our efforts because we were shocked. We were stunned early, and it’s a good learning experience and we’ll just get better,” Cougars head coach Bryan Mittelstadt said. “In the other couple of games, it was early strikes on our end, so this was good for us to play a little bit behind and go forward.”
Stoney Creek had several good chances in the first half, but solid defense by the Eagles, headed by Koje on the back line, and a standout performance from freshman goalkeeper Jessica Forbis kept the game tied going into halftime.
“This year we have a complete team we can work with,” Lakeland assistant coach George Abuamsha said. “This year we have the defensive line, the midfield line, and the forward line. We just have to put them together and put a plan together. So far the girls right now are really responding to everything we are doing, which is amazing.”
Forbis stopped both a point-blank opportunity and a penalty kick in the first half, and she went on to finish the game with 12 saves as the Cougars kept mounting the pressure.
“She’s a freshman, which is awesome. It just gave us a little bit more momentum that she was on our game. She did a really good job today, and we’re really proud of her,” Abuamsha said.
Shortly after halftime, the Eagle defense would finally crack. A pair of mistakes in front cost the Eagles as Stoney Creek’s increased pressure up top forced turnovers that the Cougars immediately capitalized on with goals by Ava Avripas and Christina Buca to make it 3-1 with 34:04 still to play.
“They (Lakeland) fought hard. They were organized, and we had to get a little bit better at what we were doing,” Mittelstadt said. “I thought we started knocking it
around, started feeling comfortable with each other, and then from that point I thought the second half definitely started to play in our favor.”
The Eagle defense regrouped and pressed on until the end, but Lakeland could not generate enough offense to tighten to the score, and a late goal from Hallie Faycurry sealed the win for Stoney Creek.
“We’re trying to get the girls to start using their vision to find the structure in the plan that we’re putting in,” Abuamsha said. “Through the practices, we key on all the stuff to kind of build the structure as we go because without the vision it’s really hard to spread the ball and move it around the field. So that’s really the challenge for us, but so far the girls are really responding to that part to connect the touch with the vision to
kind of get the structure to work a little bit better.
“I’m so proud of our girls. I think they’re really responding so much to what we do in practice and transitioning it onto the field. They’re a really good group of girls, and they’re really coming together as a family.”
The Cougars improve to 3-0 on the young season. Stoney Creek travels to West Bloomfield on Tuesday for an OAA crossover game.
“Communication is going to be key and being able to work with some new players and talk, and knowing how each of them play. We’ve got a few kids back, so that’s the thing can you work together and do some things, and I thought they did a good job of that,” Mittelstadt said. “It was nice to get out and play, and it’s always good to get challenged and try to get better.”