BERKLEY PUTS SEAHOLM AWAY
BIRMINGHAM The Berkley Bears defeated the Birmingham Seaholm Maples 3-1 in Oakland Activities Association White Division play Tuesday night.
Berkley broke a 1-1 tie midway through the second half when the Bears took advantage of a turnover deep in Seaholm’s territory. Madi Bonsall quickly set up Maeve Nolan for a clean break on goal and Nolan ripped a shot past the charging goalkeeper with 20:29 to play. Barely four minutes later, the roles were reversed when Nolan slotted a ball for Bonsall, who quickly fired it into the net to make it 3-1.
Seaholm had its chances, particularly from set pieces. The Maples had eight corner kicks and put plenty of balls into the Berkley penalty area, but they were unable to create good shots off those opportunities. The Berkley defense seemed to be everywhere in those instances, blocking shots and clearing balls from the box with great regularity. Goalie Maddie Walsh turned in a solid performance in net, a big part of which was helping that back line stay organized.
“I think while our background may not look like a forest — they’re short-statured — we have, in my opinion, probably the fastest back line in the state. We have tremendous recovery defenders who can put out pretty much any fire,” Bears head coach Zach Hobson said.
Berkley had the better of possession with Bonsall and Nolan doing most of the damage, though it was a group effort at both ends for the Bears.
Berkley dominated the early part of the game and took the lead on a goal from Nora Sleeman just over ten minutes into the game. Nolan fired a cross from the right side that found Sleeman at the back post, who bundled the ball over the goal line for an early Berkley lead.
“I think it took us a moment to trust our technical quality, but we found so far this year when we get the ball on the ground and dominate possession we can play with just about anyone,” Bears head coach Zach Hobson said. “We have an abundance of dynamic attacking midfielders and we want to play in a way in which we attack with a front five interchanging positions,” he added.
The Maples started playing better midway through the half and began creating offensive chances of their own. Their persistence was paid off with a penalty kick that Taylor Hartwig buried in the lower right corner 13:35 before halftime to tie the game.
Led by the play of Paige Green and Camryn Geller, Seaholm would create havoc in the Berkley penalty area on a handful of occasions late in the first period and at the beginning of the second period, but they could not find another goal.
“I thought we came out really
strong in the second half and had two or three opportunities that would have changed the game, and we just couldn’t put the ball in the back of the net, which is credit to them (Berkley), and the goalie made a couple of great saves,” Maples head coach Manuel Rodrigues said.
With the win, Berkley improved to 3-0-2 overall and 1-0-1 in OAA White. The Bears face defending Division 2 champion Grosse Pointe North on Thursday in a non-league contest before resuming divisional play next Tuesday against Royal Oak.
“First and foremost, I just want to say fair play to Seaholm. They’re a program we have a lot of respect for, and Manny is a top, top coach,” Hobson said. “We live to fight another day in this division,” he added.
Seaholm is 1-2 on the young season and 0-1 in OAA White. The Maples are still sorting things out with a new group of players after graduating 14 players last year.
“For the most part I was pleased with the way we played,” Rodrigues said. “I’m still working on it and trying to figure out who is going to play where because this is such a new team and such a young team. I told them to keep their heads up and we fight another day on Thursday,” he added.
The Maples will face a pair of tough crossover games later this week, playing Division 1 champion Rochester Hills Stoney Creek on Thursday and Troy on Saturday.