Rochester withstands Adams’ rally to win 2-1
ROCHESTER HILLS » On the strength of its two-goal first half but with little thanks to its shak- ier second-half performance, Rochester was able to narrowly escape with a 2-1 victory over Rochester Adams Tuesday.
For as good as the Falcons were over the opening 40 minutes, the Highlanders may have been even stronger in the second half, but managed only to cut their deficit in half as several close calls in the final 10 minutes of action went unfinished.
The final five seconds alone produced a gasp-inducing chance at a tie when Adams’ Lindsay Bower centered a pass from near the end line that somehow went untouched between the converging goalkeeper and a Highlanders attacker, who ended up in the net herself as time expired.
Six minutes earlier, a rare indirect free kick opportunity from tight inside the box was fired high and wide by Adams in an effort to beat the all-handson-deck wall of Rochester players on the goal line.
“It’s one of those things you don’t get very often and when it happens, you wonder what you’re going to do,” Highlanders coach Josh Hickey said of the play.
With Rochester leading 2-0 to begin the second half, Adams responded with an offensive attack that had been entirely absent to that point when it mustered zero first-half shots on goal.
Junior Abbey Drahnak got the Highlanders on the board with a pinpoint shot from 40 yards away that rippled the top corner of the netting.
“She’s scored two or three goals so far this season, so she’s capable of doing that, but I’ve never seen her score from dis
tance, which is interesting. She did and she was confident,” Hickey said.
The Highlanders continued to press, with their progress interrupted only by a few Rochester counter chances, including one shot that was drilled off the crossbar.
“They condensed the field and pressed us a little bit higher. We didn’t do a great job of keeping the ball, which caused us some problems. That’s a good team over there,” Falcons coach Doug Steinard said of Adams’ second-half improvement against them.
Rochester took a 1-0 lead less than nine minutes into the contest when sophomore Ava Williams helped set up an opportunity in front for junior Liz Jewell, who spiked a shot over the goalkeeper from close range.
“We’ve been talking about making runs to the near post in front of the goalkeeper and we executed it. We had just talked about it yesterday in practice,” Steinard said.
“Ava Williams has been fantastic for us. Liz is a three-year varsity player and I think it’s her first goal of the year. Big players score in big games.”
Williams doubled the Falcons’ advantage with a goal nine minutes later on a long-range free kick that had enough loft under it to elude the keeper’s grasp.
“I think we came out flying a little bit and had a lot of energy. Obviously scoring two goals early is really helpful. I give Adams a ton of credit. They were much better than us in the second half and we just found a way to survive,” Steinard said.
Rochester improved its early-season record to a perfect 3-0 (2-0 OAA Red). The team boasts just three seniors and minimal varsity experience due to the cancellation of the entire Spring 2020 season.
For Adams (1-2, 0-1 OAA Red), Hickey was of two minds about his team’s total performance Tuesday.
“It’s very hard to win a game when you waste a half. But all things considered, (Rochester) had a really good game plan and played really well the first half and scored two goals to put us on our back. We came out and didn’t do anything we were trying to do,” he said. “In the second half, our team showed up.
“The aggression was there, the mentality to win was there, and it showed on the field.”
Up next, Adams will take on Midland at home on Thursday, while Rochester will host Farmington Hills Mercy on Friday.