Butler saves Hopewell against Robbinsville

HOPEWELL TWP. — John McGinley told his Hopewell Valley girls that they owe goalkeeper Shelby Butler dinner.

The senior certainly earned the right to eat for free with her performance Tuesday afternoon against Robbinsville.

Butler made several athletic blocks to keep the Bulldogs in the game before they finally cranked up their offense to down the Ravens, 3-1, in a CVC Patriot Division clash at Ackerson Field.

Michaela Murr, Julia Senkowsky and Christie Clune Persichetti tallied the goals for Hopewell (9-1-1), but Butler gave the Bulldogs a chance to overcome a flat start.

Three minutes into the contest the goalkeeper found herself one-on-one against Robbinsville’s Leanna Gearhart after the speedy forward split a pair of defenders and came up with a big save.

Two minutes later, the impressive Gearhart was clean through again only to be denied by Butler and the sliding Sloane Hughes.

“We came out flat and they attacked us,” said Butler, who made five of her nine stops in the opening 10 minutes. “I just knew I had to come up with the save. If we’re going to come out flat, I’m the one that’s going to be there to stop it. That’s my job and I tried to do my best.”

The Ravens

(5-4) controlled most of the first half, yet found themselves down 1-0 at the break after Clune Persichetti was tripped in the box by Paige Motusesky.

Murr stepped up and buried her penalty past Emily Risoldi with 4:07 remaining in the half.

“That’s extremely frustrating,” Robbinsville coach Karen DeRossett said. “You want them to earn it. You don’t want us to push you in the box and give you a free shot. You want them to have to work around your defenders and get it in the back of the net. I think that definitely took a little wind out of our sails.”

The goal seemed to jolt the Bulldogs to life in the second half and Senkowsky doubled the advantage with 19:16 remaining, finishing off a cross from Carly Cavalier.

Less than two minutes later, Clune Persichetti wrapped up the victory, putting her shot past Morgan Psiuk after Lauren Anderson broke free down the left-hand side and crossed for Cavalier, who put it on a tee for Clune Persichetti.

“We definitely came out with more energy in the second half,” Butler said. “We knew in the first half we were giving them too many opportunities to shoot and score. We picked up the second half.”

Kellie Hoffman pulled a goal back for the Ravens with three minutes left when she hammered home a rebound after Butler made a tremendous save to parry Gearhart’s ferocious free kick off the crossbar.

“After I missed that save (on the rebound) at the end, I was really upset,” Butler said. “We still won, so that’s all that matters,”

“She just stays calm, and when we make mistakes, she’s always there,” McGinley said. “It allows us to win games or tie games we shouldn’t sometimes. Maybe sometimes we rely on her too much and need to be a little tighter in the back.”

And even though she didn’t keep a clean sheet, maybe she can get a steak dinner.