Allentown’s freshmen pass orientation
ALLENTOWN » Kim Maurer has never been shy about throwing a freshman into the fire.
So it shouldn’t have come as a surprise when the Allentown High girls soccer coach started two in attacking positions for the team’s season opener.
The Olivias — Denney and Ricci — repaid their coach’s faith by scoring a goal each and the Redbirds cruised to a comfortable 3-1 victory over Notre Dame on Thursday afternoon.
“They don’t understand how good they are,” Maurer said. “They have the trust in the nine other players out there. I’ve always had freshmen on varsity and they’re there because they can play. We were short on the forward side of it, and those two happen to be forwards, and the standout freshmen that I trust to go up there and score some goals.”
Allentown came out in a 4-2-3-1 with Denney and Ricci deployed on the wings and it paid off immediately when Denney drew a foul on the edge of the box then headed in the ensuing free kick from Emma Pascarella.
“I was definitely nervous because there were a lot of people here,” Denney said. “I wanted to prove myself. When I scored, it made me more excited.”
Denney has been around the Allentown program for a long time. She had two older sisters — Christina and Deanna — who both played and is one of three triplets on the current roster. Her sister Kayla came off the bench on Thursday, while Bella is with the freshmen team.
“I’ve been playing my whole life and so have all my sisters,” Denney said. “It’s fun.”
Ricci also has a twin sister, Gabby, on the varsity roster, and made her impact in the 29th minute when she took a pass from Maddie Keefe and raced 20 yards past a Notre Dame defender before rolling the ball into the net.
“I was scared I was going to mess up and then everyone would think I’m horrible,” Ricci said. “After I got my goal, I got comfortable and it pumped me up a lot.”
That Maurer has total confidence in them also helps.
“That makes me feel that she has faith in me when I’m on the field,” Ricci said. “I know that even if I’m not having my best game, she still knows I’m a good player.”
Pascarella gave Allentown a 3-0 lead nine minutes into the second half after she took a pass from Carly Roche, cut inside on her right foot and scored with a low shot to the near post.
The junior nearly had a second six minutes later when her drive from 22-yards clipped the top of the crossbar.
With Pascarella leading the line and last year’s leading scorer Vanessa Rodriguez tucked in as the No. 10, the Redbirds boast a fearsome front six.
“They mean business,” Maurer said. “We want to win so bad and the pressure is on us to win. There’s a lot of expectation this year. We knew that going in and the girls just want to do well. We were 12-7 last year, and we want to go far this year. I don’t think anyone expects us to do that except ourselves.”
Although Megan Dee grabbed a late consolation, Notre Dame is left to pick up the pieces from an 0-2 start.
The Irish were unlucky to lose their opener at East Brunswick after the referee awarded a dubious penalty in the final seconds of overtime, but were outplayed by a faster and stronger opponent on Thursday.
“It’s what defines you the way you come back from a loss,” first-year coach Victoria Camera said. “Now you’re two games down and you can go one of two ways. You can put your head down and go down and down and down or you can pick your head up and fight.”
Notre Dame (0-2) Allentown (1-0) 0 1—1 2 1—3
Dee (ND). ODenney, ORicci, Pascarella (A). Pascarella, Roche, Keefe (A).
7 (ND). 21 (A).
Rende 9 (ND). Howell 2 (A).