Fall 2009
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| Girls Soccer Ends Strong Season in Semifinal Dissapointment
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| October 31, 2009 GFS 2, George School 3 The GFS and the George School varsity girls' soccer teams faced off at George for the semifinal game and battled through regulation play, twenty minutes of overtime, and ten minutes of sudden-death overtime before settling the outcome with soccer's version of the lottery: penalty kicks. Unfortunately for the Tigers, George School drew the lucky numbers and came away with the victory.
The day did not start out auspiciously for the Tigers, who learned less than 2 hours before game time that their starting keeper, senior Molly Tow, would be unable to attend due to illness. The Tigers already knew that their second option, senior Victoria Horn, a striker by trade but a solid gk back-up in a pinch, would not be available either. That left the coaching staff with a difficult but fairly obvious decision: sophomore phenom Iris Williamson, the team's leader scorer and general in the midfield, would have to mind the cage while freshman Isabelle Linguiti, only just coming back into form after recovering from knee surgery, would replace her in the middle of the park.
The resilient Tigers, however, did not let the last minute surprise adjustments throw them off their game plan. A focused week of training had left them well-prepared and confident regarding their defensive responsibilities and counter-attacking strategies. Right from the opening kick-off they played with an intensity and presence that threw the athletically and technically impressive GS squad off its rhythm. In particular, relentless marking and disruptive tackling by central midfielders Danielle Thompson (senior) and Samantha Clark (sophomore) and the back four of Theresa Shropshire (junior), Alex Clarke (sophomore), Sarah Bergman (junior) and Katherine Walden (freshman) left GS frustrated and out of sorts. Nevertheless, the Cougars drew first blood when an innocent serve into the box was mishandled by Williamson and pushed into the back of the net. GFS kept its composure, however, and drew even minutes later after junior striker Lyles Swift-Farley calmly gathered a cross by senior captain Alfia White and struck a well paced left footed shot on goal. The strike was parried by the Cougar keeper, but Shropshire, pushed up front moments before from the back line, was there to knock the POMO opportunity home, equalizing the score.
The score stood at one a piece until eight minutes into the second half when a deft one touch finish off a driven cross put the George School ahead 2-1. Once again the Tigers kept their heads and once again they found the will to even the score. After earning a corner kick from effective high pressure, Swift-Farley lofted a cross in the box that bounced off several players before Alex Clarke headed it in, earning her first of the year and tying the game at two with twenty minutes to go.
The rest of the game see-sawed back in forth with both teams putting in superlative efforts . The George School looked to combine with their dynamic strikers, center mids, and overlapping wing backs. The Tigers countered with superb defense, work rate, and speed in transition. It made for an exciting, end-to end, nail biting, chess match of a game. In the waning moments of regulation, Williamson came up huge with a point-blank save on a breakaway. She then snuffed another golden opportunity for George in the first overtime. Meanwhile, the Tigers kept plugging, and Linguiti almost won it for them in the end of the second overtime, but her searing shot off a scramble in front of the GS net deflected off a teammate and soared just over the bar. In the end, despite playing a nearly flawless game, the Tigers succumbed on penalty kicks. Nonetheless, it was a match for the ages and one that will go down in Tiger soccer lore as the upset that almost was. Every player on the squad can be proud of her individual and the team’s collective performance. | |
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