GJVS's Team Effort Cooks Brooks, 2-0

The Girls’ JV Soccer team played their best game of the young season, topping Brooks 2-0 in North Andover on Saturday.

 

After a scoreless first half, Groton picked up the pace and the quality of their play and turned in a great performance. Possessing the ball well and passing crisply, Groton controlled the play for long stretches of the half. Alesandra Powell got us on the board ten minutes in when she intercepted a Brooks clearing pass and lofted a hard shot over the goalkeeper’s arms from 25 yards out. Groton doubled its lead about 15 minutes later when Emily Pollis dribbled into the left side of the penalty area and drew two defenders, then centered the ball to Elena Junkala near the penalty stripe. Elena settled the ball then placed it nicely beyond the goalie’s reach and into the net.

 

Although these two goals were highlights of the game, the win was a team effort. Goalkeeper Anna Pimentel was solid in recording her third shutout in a row, preserving the early 0-0 tie midway through the first half with a terrific sprawling save. Defenders Isabel Brown, Leah Canellakis, Emma Beard and Harriet Winterer – with support from Juliya Makhanov and Addison Hyde – were strong for us once again, backing each other up and holding the Brooks forwards at bay. Midfielders Lidia Spada (who switched to defense later in the game), Alesandra Powell, Julia Trowbridge, Sarah Beran and Sabrina Blanton-Rich were patient in their possessions and generated plenty of chances for our forwards. Addison Hyde was similarly effective at midfield after playing defense in the first half. Up top, Elena Junkala, in her first game of the year, gave us plenty of energy and continually put pressure on her opponent. Emily Pollis did a great job at center forward, and Maya Varkey, Alex Canellakis, Riya Varkey, Lauren Clark, and Tai Campbell battled Brooks’ defenders and created plenty of scoring opportunities.

 

Players of the Game were Elena Junkala, Lidia Spada and Alesandra Powell. Elena’s presence in our line-up makes us quicker and more dangerous up front and it was great to have her back on the field today. Lidia did a terrific job distributing the ball from center mid, then stepped back to assist our defense when Emma Beard came out with an injury. And Alesandra had her strongest game of the year at midfield, scoring our first goal and contributing to many of our other scoring chances.

 

Thank you to the families who traveled to Brooks for today’s game, and especially to Alesandra’s parents, Emma’s parents and Elena’s mom for the drinks and food.

 

After a very long stretch of away games, the team will be at home for eight of its next nine, beginning Wednesday against Milton.