Dakota holds on to beat Oxford, 1-0
Wildcats’ effort to equalize doesn’t pan out after Cougars slice in game-winner
Dakota benefitted from a freshman contribution and held off a concerted late effort to equalize by Oxford, who fell 1-0 Wednesday night to the Cougars.
Just over four minutes prior to the interval, Cougars junior Sophia Capoccia took advantage of a good bounce, cut to her inside from the right flank and served up a chance for Addyson Russo, who sliced a shot past Oxford senior goalkeeper Korinne Ihrke for what turned out to by the game-winning goal.
“Sophia’s pretty good out of the air, and she was able to get a hold of it, trap and send it across, and believe it or not, our little freshman was the one who got on the back end of it,” Dakota head coach Gary Schodowski said.
It’s the second goal already for Russo, who up to this point has been splitting time between JV and varsity.
“I told her that as a freshman she was going to have to prove herself,” Schodowski said. “My starting forward, Laila (VanHoorelbeke), she’s still coming back from a broken leg, and she had to have a screw out, so she’s now out another two weeks. That’s why I said, ‘OK, Addy, play one half of JV and I’ll play you up at varsity, and we’ll see how that works.’ But I think I’m going to need her on varsity.”
Dakota hadn’t taken the field for a match since its 1-0 home win over
Chippewa Valley in the Cougars’ season opener. The Wildcats (2-3), meanwhile, were coming off the heels of an impressive 2-1 victory at Stoney Creek on Tuesday.
“There’s still a lot we’re trying to figure out this season with why we perform like a top-10 team against these teams that are ranked or have previous state championships, whatever it may be,” Oxford head coach Gabby Schriver said, “and when our opponents change their play style — not to say Dakota’s not a good opponent — but their style of play is very different from some of these teams we’ve played. I don’t know why we’ve been so inconsistent. It doesn’t really seem like we’ve been able to find our