Boucher makes most of second chance
HAMILTON — Adrianna Boucher knew if she got a second chance, she wasn’t going to miss twice.
Sure enough, when a second opportunity fell on her right foot, she delivered the Steinert High girls soccer team a 1-0 CVC victory over visiting Hopewell Valley.
It made amends for her penalty-kick miss in the first half.
“It felt good to finally finish,” said a relieved Boucher, who admitted to being frustrated by her first-half miss. “I think the second half, we all picked up our momentum. I don’t know what was up with us in the first half, but we finally played the way we could and that’s how we finished.”
Stephanie Miranda set up the 57th-minute game winner with nifty footwork in midfield before sliding a pass through for Boucher. The senior calmly slotted the ball past Hopewell goalkeeper Shelby Butler.
The goal was Boucher’s third game winner this year.
Spartans coach Aimee Turnbull praised her striker for sticking to her task despite being frustrated in the first half.
“She’s a big-game player for us,” Turnbull said. “Mentally, she has to put those behind her and just move forward and she was able to do that. She’s one of those kids, when she misses something like that, it makes her hungrier.”
Steinert improved to 7-0 with the victory while Hopewell fell to 5-2-1.
In a game between two of the top teams in the CVC, chances were few and far between.
The Bulldogs’ best chance came early in the first half when Taylor Blagg lobbed a shot over Spartans goalkeeper Briyanna Femia only to have Femia recover in time to scoop the ball off the line.
Blagg protested briefly, thinking the ball crossed the line, but the referee waived play on.
Other than that, there was very little offense from Hopewell.
“We came out a little flat,” said Hopewell coach John McGinley. “We didn’t respond to Steinert’s aggressiveness. We talked about that, but we were kind of waiting for stuff to happen instead of creating stuff. We had glimmers of good play, but I didn’t think we played an 80-minute game.”
The Spartans have proved a difficult side to unlock all season, keeping their fourth clean sheet in seven games.
“We’re still moving things around and seeing how things are going to work for us, but I thought the back four played very well and stepped up big,” said Turnbull, who had Alanna Falvo deputizing at sweeper for Rachel Rivera, who missed the game for personal reasons.
Steinert began to pick up the pressure late in the first half. Agata Kowalska flashed a free kick inches wide before the Spartans were awarded a penalty after Sarah Chandler handled the ball in the box.
Boucher stepped up, but blazed the penalty over the crossbar.
“I missed it and I’m not going to lie, I got very frustrated,” she said. “But everyone on this team has to keep their heads up, especially me. After missing that, I was disappointed but you can’t keep down like that because you will get other opportunities.”
When the second chance came, Boucher buried it.
“Every team we play, we always make a statement,” Boucher said. “It doesn’t matter what the competition is — easy, hard — we always play our best.”