The Charleston junior varsity girl’s soccer team had 17 first half shots Tuesday against Monticello, but it was a single tap in the second half which made the difference.
The Lady Trojans won 1-0 behind a breakaway goal by sophomore midfielder Alyssa Finley. The ball was played forward to Findley and with a one-on-one with Sage goalkeeper Rachel White, Findley guided the ball to the right post.
“It was a poke pass more than a shot,” Findley said. “Our coaches always say never to blast the ball and have it go over the net. I just tried to toe it and was shocked it went in.”
Charleston controlled for most of the game with a huge advantage in shots, forcing Monticello to just one. Charleston goalkeeper freshman Kristen Gisondi did not even touch the ball until the final five minutes of the second half.
“We did a great job of keeping control even tough we didn’t get too many in,” Charleston coach Dave Dunlap said. “We just kept kicking the ball right at the goalkeeper.”
Charleston had plenty of scoring chances in the first half, where they had five shots on goal. In the 2nd minute a shot by junior Kelcie Lawson was blocked out of play at the far post after a cross and in the 5th minute Findley had a ball riochet off the crossbar.
At halftime, Finley said that at halftime Dunlap talked about controlling the match more and having more energy.
“He talked about how it was not just the forwards fault we were not scoring, but the midfield had to be stronger as well,” Finley said.
Montecello coach Dan Burkybile said he thought it was a competitive match despite being outshot.
“I thought we did some good things today,” Burkybile said. “We played pretty well defensively and I thought (White) had a great game. We were just a step or two slow offensively. That is something we have to put together.”
With the win, the Trojans move to 4-3-3.
