Grey lifts Wissahickon over C.dock
Tasked with taking a free kick in the final moments, the only thing Wissahickon’s Cailin Grey wanted to do was put the ball into the back of the net.
“I don’t usually take those, so I knew it was a shot from there,” Grey said. “So, I just was confident and it actually went in.”
Grey’s effort from about 30 yards out found its way over the outstretched arms of Christopher Dock goalkeeper Alyssa Leister with only 54 seconds left in the second half as the visiting Trojans girls soccer team earned a 2-1 non-league win over the Pioneers Tuesday afternoon.
“It felt really good,” she said. “Because I knew that we won on that goal, so it was nice.”
Grey had both goals for Wissahickon (1-1), breaking a scoreless tie close to 16 minutes after halftime. Christopher Dock (0-1) would pull even with un- der five minutes to go on a Shea Neal goal, but Grey prevented overtime with her late heroics.
“They were dominating a lot of the game, but it was good to get those goals in for the team, because at the end we were working hard,” Grey said.
The Pioneers controlled most of the possession, but only Neal could convert on the handful of scoring chances Dock had in the contest. Some were calmly saved by Trojans keeper Rachel Stone, while Mattasyn Shisler was twice denied by the goal frame.
“A lot of it was unlucky. And then a lot of it has to do with just working on our shots and getting our shot down,” Neal said. “lverall, I think we were in their end more, if not just as much as they were on our end. So I think the game, we easily could have won, we just needed to put it together.”
Despite the season-opening defeat, Dock coach Ray Hess was still positive about what he saw from the defending District lne Class A champs.
“I thought we played well and I’m extremely happy with the way that we’re playing. So, and we can only get better,” he said. “We’re stringing some nice passes together, things like that. We got a lot of options with people, moving them front and back and all sorts of things. I got to see some of that today, even though we didn’t win.”
Wissahickon started its year last Friday with a 5-1 home loss to Quakertown, but the Trojans made some adjustments that Grey said were beneficial in Tuesday’s win.
“We did change some lines up, we did change our defense a little bit, so that we’re stronger and faster in the back. And I think it definitely helped,” she said. “Anna (Chiodo-lrtiz) she was, actually, I think she played left and she was definitely a help in stopping the breakaways.”
Wissahickon is back on the field 3:30 p.m. Thursday for a Suburban lne League American Conference matchup at Upper Dublin.
Christopher Dock begins Bicentennial Athletic League play 7 p.m. Friday on the road against New Hope-Solebury. Dock beat New Hope 2-1 in last season’s district final.
An errant goal kick by Christopher Dock led to Grey putting the Trojans up 1-0 in the second half. Grey got the ball around midfield, continued towards the Pioneers’ net, then unleashed a low shot past Leister at 24:15.
“I knew my goal was just to get past the defenders,” Grey said. “It wasn’t a pass from there, it just going to have to be a shot.”
Neal collected the equalizer for Christopher Dock with 4:11 left, taking a pass from llivia Seavy and beating Stone with a strike to the near post.
“It was a perfect pass,” Neal said. “lur whole strategy is trying to play it behind their defense, because we’re running on it gives us an advantage and it’s really nice when we’re able to do that. The speed of the ball was played really nicely.”
Before Grey’s gamewinner, Dock came close to pulling ahead, but Shisler was denied by the right post. The Dock sophomore also hit the frame in the first half after getting behind the Wissahickon defense.