DOVER – A Riley Gardner penalty-kick goal in the second half was the difference as the Crawfordsville’s girls team defeated Western Boone 1-0.
The win moves the Athenians to 8-6 on the season and 4-2 in the Sagamore Conference. The Stars fall to 3-10-1 overall and finish the conference season 2-5.
The match is also a preview of the first round of the 2A sectional next week, as these same two squads square off next Tuesday.
“This was a good win, it felt really good,” said third-year C’ville coach Alex Ehrlich. “We just needed and wanted to play our game, but we needed to get more aggressive and physical in the second half. We needed girls that hustled tonight, and man, we had a lot that did.”
The match was halted only two minutes after it started for weather, as lightning was detected within the 10-mile radius.
After an hour and a couple minutes, on a very soggy grass turf, the match resumed but play was sluggish. Both teams had only a couple shots on goal as balls that would have easily rolled out stopped, and the footing was a little slick, as both teams lost a couple scoring chances when a centering pass found no one because someone slipped.
The Athenians picked up the tempo in the second half, notching up the aggressiveness that Ehrlich noted.
“We didn’t take the game to them enough in the first half,” the coach said, “and in the second we wanted our physicality to be better. I’m sure we are going to see more of than from WeBo next week (in the sectional matchup).”
After four shots on goal in the first half, the Athenians registered 10 in the second, with Gardner’s PK coming with 21:02 left when the Stars were called for a hand pass in the scoring zone.
The junior went to the mark, put the ball down, eyed Stars goal-keeper Cora Somers, and put it right as the goalie went right.
“I try to get some eye contact with the goalie,” Gardner said. “If I can get her thinking one direction, I can go the other. It wasn’t my best kick of the year, but it was good enough."
The goal is Gardner’s team-best 11th of the season, and includes four goals scored on headers.
“This is such a great team,” Gardner said. “We learned some things tonight, but we have to play next week (against the Stars) like we lost 1-0 tonight.”
The coach also shared a coaching secret about the penalty kicks, which allows a team to pick whomever they wish to kick.
“I never say a word,” Ehrlich said. “I just leave it up to the girls on the field. They know what is going on, and maybe who is hot. Someone always steps up and wants the ball, and that’s what I like.”
Cville goal keeper Zoey Corbin stopped five shots for her clean sheet, but the Stars had several very good scoring chances where a kick went just wide of the goal and not on goal.
It was noted by the coach for next Tuesday, when these same two teams play in the first round of the sectional at Tri-West.
“It will be on turf, so it will be a lot faster, and WeBo has a couple of really fast girls,” Ehrlich said. “We got some good looks at ourselves and them tonight, but we have a lot of things to work on. They will be ready for us. We pushed our defense out farther tonight and made them take shots from farther away. I also want to really give a shout-out to (sophomore) Maesa Horton. She played really hard the whole game. She got a couple shots on goal; she passed well and possessed the ball well. Here confidence is growing and at just the right time as we head into the postseason.”
Crawfordsville rounds out its 2023 regular season on Saturday wiht a re-scheduled match against Frankfort.
