Nottingham earns key win vs. Lawrence
HAMILTON >> Nottingham was looking for something to get it going again.
Not surprisingly, Gia Girman had exactly what the Northstars needed.
The remarkable junior put on her usual show Tuesday in notching a hat trick and leading Nottingham’s girls soccer team to 4-2 victory over Lawrence.
The Stars (6-7) entered on a threegame losing streak but was meeting a team that is also struggling as the Cardinals (6-7) have lost four of their last five.
“We definitely needed a win,” coach Christie Fink said. “It’s been a rough couple weeks, so we needed this just to kind of bring the morale up for our team a little bit.”
“We realize we needed to win to get a higher seed for states and plus we had a losing streak,” Girman said. “We needed to get our heads up to go into the next game.”
Girman got things started in the 23rd minute with the kind of goal that only players like her can score. Taking the ball outside the box, she dribbled through or around at least three players before launching one in the back of the net. Her moves looked pre-orchestrated, but she admitted that’s not the case.
“I think I just make it up as I go,” she said with a grin. “I see my man and in my head and I say, ‘I need to go left,’ and then I go left and just finish it.”
That was too simple, as she basically went left, right, left before shooting.
Lawrence countered with its own scoring leader. With 12:10 remaining, Kaitlyn Maloney launched a corner kick from the left side that curled into the back of the net to tie it. With 1:45 remaining, she converted a feed from Lauren Edgar for her 10th goal of the season.
Facing a one-goal deficit with 40 minutes remaining in their Senior Day game, the Stars seniors rallied to the cause after the break.
“You never know (how they’ll respond), but they did,” Fink said. “They came out, they were ready to play. We have eight seniors this year, they were my first group as freshmen my first year. I think they came out and played together as a team and showed a little family effort in the second half when we needed it. I think because it was Senior Day gives them a little more enthusiasm.”
It was a half filled with stoppages as substantial delays took place after injuries to Nottingham’s Jayda Driver and Lawrence’s Brianna Audet, and when the officials demanded Athletic Director Jon Adams remain stationed by the stands after an obscenity was loudly yelled out.
Girman scored her second goal in the 45th minute, moments after Driver left the field. Lawrence just missed reclaiming the lead when Katie Ossowski’s shot went off the inside of the post and rolled across the goal line before being picked up by goalie Emily Hubbard.
The winning score came on a cross from Emily Midura that Lauren Ahern converted into a wide open goal. Girman capped off a banner day by lofting a direct kick into the back of the net for her 23rd goal of the season and 73rd of her career.
“My mentality is to score,” she said. “If I have three I want four, if I have four I want five. I just love scoring.” And Fink loves watching it. “She just plays with an intensity a lot of kids don’t play with anymore,” the coach said. “She’s just fun to watch no matter what. No matter what game, no matter what the score is. She’s definitely trained very well. She works at it in the offseason, training five or six days a week with players at a very high level and that definitely shows on the field. “Lawrence (6-7) 2 0 – 2
Nottingham (6-7) 1 3 – 4
G: L-Maloney 2. N-Ahearn, Gi. Girman 3. A: L-Edgar. N-Midura. Shots: L-11, N-12. Saves: L-Moore 6, NHubbard 6.