GJVS Bakes Governor's, 1-0

The Girls’ JV Soccer team battled a resilient Governor’s Academy team on Wednesday and came home with a 1-0 victory.

 

The only goal of the game came thirteen minutes into the first half when Riya Varkey won the ball at the right side of the penalty area, cut in towards goal, and hit a low hard shot that deflected off the goalkeeper’s hands and then rolled slowly into the net. In a heads-up play,  Maya Varkey was charging the net from the left and would have knocked the ball in had it stopped before reaching the end line.

 

The rest of the game was scoreless but very exciting. Although Groton controlled the play for extended periods of time, Governor’s succeeded in mounting a few good threats. Most of them were turned away by our back line of Isabel Brown, Leah Canellakis, Addison Hyde, Harriet Winterer and Lauren Clark, but a few required smart plays by our keepers, Anna Pimentel and Lilly Gordon.

 

To some extent this was a battle of attrition, as several Groton girls sustained injuries that slowed them down or took them out of the game. Fortunately, our depth allowed us to weather these setbacks without much of an impact on the field. Harriet Winterer got hurt midway through the first half and Lauren Clark took her place on defense for the rest of the game, playing with poise and control. Alesandra Powell was a little below the weather and so Sarah Beran took over at outside mid and played her best game of the year, repeatedly battling her opponents and winning balls away from them. Anna Pimentel injured her finger and was replaced at keeper by Lilly Gordon, who preserved the shutout win in the second half.

 

Other great efforts today came from Tai Campbell, whose aggressiveness allowed her to steal balls from the Governor’s defense and create scoring chances deep in our offensive end; Emily Pollis, who played the entire game at center mid and provided a stabilizing presence; Bea Agbi, who displayed hustle and toughness up front in winning 50/50 balls; and Sabrina Blanton-Rich, a very reliable outside midfielder who always drops back to support our defense.

 

Players of the Game were Isabel Brown and Sarah Beran. Isabel made several terrific plays on defense and also carried the ball upfield a handful of times to create offensive chances. Sarah’s hard work at midfield was an important factor in helping us hold the ball deep in Governor’s end for minutes at a time. Honorable mention goes to Lauren Clark, who played a very solid 50 minutes in just her second game on defense for us after Harriet’s injury.

 

Thank you to Mrs. Clark for the snacks, drinks and pizzas she provided to us after the game. The team has a week off now until next Wednesday’s game at our crosstown rivals, Lawrence Academy.