SHEN RALLIES PAST SHAKER
Down by two goals, Plainsmen girls soccer reels off three straight for 3-2 win
CLIFTON PARK, N.Y. >> Most coaches would take a two goal lead in any contest, but in soccer, especially high school soccer, it is often seen as a precarious situation to be in.
The Shaker girls squad controlled the first half of play on the road Tuesday and tallied goals from Gabriella Daumont and Meg Piser to give the Bison the precious and precarious lead.
Then it was a re-focused Shenendehowa group that emerged in the second half, aggressive on both sides of the ball and reeled off three straight goals from sophomore forward Ella White and junior forward Shayla Smith before senior midfielder Danielle Casey drilled the gamewinner from 30 yards out with less than six minutes left for the 3-2 Suburban Council win.
“The first half we come off from playing two aggressive teams this weekend and we just didn’t go in with the same mentality as we did with those two teams,” Danielle Casey said. “At halftime we get a talk from coach and we know that we’re not playing to our po
tential.
“In the first half we were on the field, but could we do better? Yes. In the second half we all came together and we were like ‘We’re good, we can do this.’”
Casey assisted on the first two goals before sending in the 30-yard laser late in the second half.
“Coach says ‘Take it yourself and see, always look at the goal,” Casey said. “I was just thinking that we need a goal and I saw the opportunity and I saw that I had space and I just went for it.”
It was just as Shen Coach Holli Nirsberger had planned.
“Dani is that senior kid that we look to and I think the takes that with great pride to say ‘Yes, we’re looking to you for you to take and make that shot,” Nirsberger said. “As a sophomore you’re looking for her to take that shot, as a junior to take that shot and make some of those shots and now it’s ‘Hey, it’s six minutes left, let’s finish the deal.’’
“She has that big game experience to be able to pull that off.”
The aggressive play just didn’t start at midfield as Shenendehowa junior Madeline Franklin and senior Meghan Mahar split time in goal and Mahar shutting out the Bison in the second half.
“It’s part of my game, if you’re not aggressive you can’t make those saves,” Meghan Mahar said. “I have to have confidence and today I was really amped up, I wanted to win, Shaker it one of our biggest competitors, it’s my first game on varsity against Shaker and I was really amped up.
Even without a card being issued throughout the contest had to feel as if they were playing a man down on Tuesday.
“I think overall we’ve had a ton of injuries the last couple days, we have some people that have casts on practically, I think that got to us a little bit,” Shaker Coach Michael Brehm said. “A couple fouls here and there we get frustrated and we get out of our game.
“We had a couple of counters that would have put the game away, but we blow a ball from 12-yards over the top of the goal. Four games in six days, unluckily we didn’t get out healthy and our star striker leaves the game and goes to the hospital (left arm injury).”
The pains, including the growing pains aren’t expected to limit the Bison’s plans for this season.
“We’re playing the top two or three teams in the league to start the year,” Brehm said. “We had Bethlehem, the same thing kind of happened with two injuries through the game, we’ve been hit by the injury bug and it’s one of those things you just have to bounce back, hopefully a couple of days rest and we’re back at it again.”