Girls soccer: Hampshire, St Edward battle to draw
The outcome of Wednesday’s soccer match between St.. Edward and Hampshire should come as no surprise considering the striking similarities between the two clubs. The non-conference foes battled to a 0-0 standoff.
“If it wasn’t for the jerseys it would have been hard to tell the two teams apart,” said St. Edward coach Tim Brieger. “It was almost like playing against ourselves. We both play a very similar style. We have a strong defense. They have a strong defense. We like to push the ball up to our forwards. They like to push the ball up to their forwards. It was really an interesting game to watch because it was a constant battle of wills.”
If there was a moral victory, the Class 1A Green Wave could stake a claim having held its own against the Class 2A Whip-Purs.
“Any time we get a chance to play a bigger school that has an excellent program like Hampshire we like to use it as a test,” said Brieger. “They had a little bit of a shot advantage on, us but we had some good chances too. So we can take away a lot of positives coming out of here with a tie. At this point it’s not even all about wins and losses, it’s about how well we play, and I was very pleased with the way we played today.”
The Green Wave’s best scoring opportunity came with 27:30 left to play when Chelsea Gnan hit the right post on a shot from 20 yards out. St. Edward (11-4-1) had another breakaway opportunity with 15:30 left to play but Allison Kruk’s shot sailed high.
Paige Gannon played brilliantly in the goal for the Green Wave. Twice in the second half she leaped in the air to knock away shots heading for the net. She also had a diving stop on a breakaway and another key save on a point-blank header from Paige Palubicki off a corner kick.
Hampshire (7-5-4) had a total of 25 shots in the game. Natalie Starrenburg had a shot go off the right post early in the game and then just missed another goal when she glanced the crossbar midway through the second half.
“It was a well-played game on both parts,” said Hampshire coach Pat O’Brien. “To have that many shots and not have one go in is a little frustrating. You never want to walk away with a goose egg on the board. But you have to tip your hat to their goalie. She played a great game. We certainly had our chances. We pushed the ball and had our numbers up on several combinations but just couldn’t finish.”
Haley Moscato recorded the shutout in goal for the Whip-Purs.
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