Lawrence holds off Princeton’s late flurry
LAWRENCE » The last 10 minutes must have felt like an hour to the Lawrence High girls soccer team, but when time finally ran out the Cardinals were on the right side of a seven-goal thriller.
Four different players scored, the defense held off a late rally and Lawrence took a 4-3 victory over Princeton on a rainy Tuesday afternoon.
“It was really intense,” Cards senior left back Julia Faranetta said. “There was a lot of back and forth the whole game, but I’m really glad we didn’t shut down after they scored a few goals. We kept our heads up and kept going.”
Evelin Dapprich, Morgan Franc, Gabby Caruso and Sarah Berardi were all on target for Lawrence (3-2), which led 2-0 when Dapprich scored after 1:58 had ticked off the clock and Franc lofted a shot from a tough angle into the top corner four minutes into the second half. That’s when it got crazy. Abaigeal Ryan tallied the first of her two goals for the Little Tigers (2-3-1) less than two minutes after Franc put the Cards up by two.
Caruso, dangerous on the left flank throughout the 80 minutes, restored the twogoal cushion in the 57th with a left-footed finish after some nice work by Katie Ossowski set up the freshman.
Again Princeton responded. This time five minutes later when the influential Devon Lis got to the end line and fired in a cross that Gracia DiBianco finished at the second attempt after Lawrence goalkeeper Ally Wakeman made a point-blank save on the initial effort.
The Cards only needed 1:55 to reply through their leading scorer Berardi, who pounced on a loose ball after Kendra Dempsey challenged Little Tigers goalkeeper Shaylah Marciano in the air and won the ball back to her teammate.
There was, however, another twist as Lis, who created all three Princeton goals, set up Ryan for her second with 11:49 remaining.
“I just wanted them to settle down and not panic,” Lawrence coach Emily Palombo said. “Make sure they played defensively as a unit and got up and back as a unit. It was nerve-wracking, of course, because Princeton’s a good team and they finished a lot of opportunities that we gave them, which we need to tighten up on, but we were also able to finish a lot of opportunities.”
The Little Tigers pressed for an equalizer, but twice Faranetta stretched our for timely tackles inside the 18yard box before Hannah Colaizzo skied an effort from sixyards on a tough chance with three minutes remaining.
Palombo applauded Faranetta’s performance and thought her senior captain looked comfortable at left back.
“I think she likes the outside because she gets to be more involved,” Palombo said. “She marks people and then she can get up in the attack.”
Princeton certainly missed senior midfielder Colette Marciano, who forms a terrific 1-2 punch in the middle with Lis, but coach Valerie Rodriguez expects to have her back next week.
“We put ourselves behind multiple times by two goals,” Rodriguez said. “We can’t allow mistakes in the back like we did, but at the same time, we need to possess and keep the ball at our feet and build attacks as a team.
“I love my senior backs that scored for us, but is that a solution moving forward? Not so much. I’m thrilled that the two of them put in that hard work along with Devon to create the opportunities. It’s not as reliving as it could be.”
Lawrence is trying to improve on a 12-win season that resulted in its first home playoff game in a decade.
This victory was another step toward that.
“We’re definitely trying to come back strong and prove that it wasn’t a one-time thing,” Faranetta said. “We really have changed the program.”
Princeton (2-3-1) Lawrence (3-2) Goals —
Ryan 2, DiBianco (P). Dapprich, Franc, Caruso, Berardi (L).
Lis (P). Caruso, Ossowski, Dempsey (L).
15 (P). 12 (L). SMarciano 3 (P). Wakefield 3 (L).
Assists — Shots — Saves — 0 3—3 1 3—4