Lady Panthers provide late pressure in last 40 minutes, but C-G’s 1st half lead holds up in their 3-2 road win

Written By Chris Brooks

ANDOVER — Halloween. It’s a day solely dedicated to trick-or-treating, costumes, candy and the occasional scary movie or two. For Saturday only, there was soccer to be played on Andover/Whitesville’s home field, as they buckled up and prepared for what was their biggest test of the season so far with Class C1 powerhouse Canisteo-Greenwood in for a visit.

In a battle right to the end, it would come down the last two minutes of the game with the Lady Redskins holding the one-goal advantage over the hosts in purple. With the Lady Panthers right on their heels, the pressure was on Canisteo-Greenwood to hold them off until one final buzzer sounded at the end.

They did.

After scoring two first half goals off a pair of Andover/Whitesville miscues in the defensive zone, it was enough for the Lady Redskins to hold on, as they garnered a lead and never let go of it despite the immense pressure the Lady Panthers brought to the table in the last 120 seconds of the contest, as the visitors went on to clinch the 3-2 victory over the Lady Panthers.

“The game was slow, and the first half was slow. But we possessed the ball a little bit here and there,” said Lady Panthers coach Al Barber. “From left to right, we had our chances. We were dominating that first half up until Canisteo scored off our miscues. We hung our heads a little bit, and when they made it a two score game later in the game, that really hung our heads. We had a little momentum swing back our way a little later on. It was a game of miscues. It went their way, and not ours. If those goals weren’t scored on, we would have gotten stronger as the game went on.”

It was a slow burn to start the first half, but the Lady Redskins were able to get an early jump in most of the first 20 minutes, pinning Andover/Whitesville (6-2) deep while taking control of the possession. It would ultimately lead to the first goal of the game, as the Lady Redskins capitalized on a miscommunication in front of the Lady Panthers net, as goalkeeper Livia Simon and Kate Pensyl collided for the loose ball which propelled backwards toward the goal.

From there, Lily Rexford stepped up from behind the collision to tuck the ball into the empty net for the 1-0 lead.

The balance of power shifted after the mask break, as Andover/Whitesville started up a momentum shift of their own with Kelsie Niedermaier leading the way by setting up multiple opportunities after blocking clears and digging the ball loose from the Canisteo-Greenwood defense, ultimately setting up a pass to Gabby Terhune on the run. but the save was made.

On perhaps the Lady Panthers best chance of the half to get on the board, Terhune delivered a pass on the next offensive rush, crossing the ball over to a streaking Zoey Lee on the far side of the field. Cutting across and making her way to the middle, Lee lets her shot go but it sailed just over the Canisteo-Greenwood net.

Andover/Whitesville continued to build up steam in hopes of taking momentum into the second half, but Canisteo-Greenwood put that on the backburner, as Kylie Williamson delivered a kick from just outside the 18, sailing in on the Lady Panthers for the ball to slip right between the hands of Simon in goal, and into the net for a 2-0 lead at the break.

But the pressure rebuilt back up again in the first 10 minutes of the second half, which allowed Andover/Whitesville to jump onto the board with Lee’s 11th goal of the season, as she dug the ball loose off a rebound in front of the Lady Redskins net to cut their deficit in half, seven minutes in. Just as quick as the Lady Panthers got on the board, Canisteo-Greenwood responded quickly to make it a two-goal lead in their favor once more.

Rexford was responsible for extending the lead back out to a pair just four minutes removed from Lee’s goal for the hosts, as Rexford took a pass from Williamson off the side and poked it past Simon in between the net to regain traction on a 3-1 lead.

Despite falling back behind again, it didn’t stop Andover/Whitesville from continuing to build their intensity, as they provided their strongest showing to turn the tide back around in the last 20 minutes of regulation. A chance to cut the deficit back down to one arose on a direct kick by Rachel Jackson at midfield. The ball was sent down field where Kennedy Bledsoe picks up possession after briefly losing it to the Lady Redskins, recollecting the ball to scoop up a goal to the top right corner of the cage to make it 3-2 with eight minutes left.

Time began to tick away on the Lady Panthers, as they came up with chance after chance in front of the Canisteo-Greenwood net. Niedermaier came up with the team’s best chance on her pass across after digging the ball out of a scrum, the ball sliding across to the feet of Katie Calladine with a wide open net to work with while the goalkeeper was pulled out of the box. But for the Lady Redskins, the ball fortunately went wide.

“The intensity has to be there the whole game,” Barber said. “It picked up right toward the end of the game, where the girls kept putting chance after chance on goal. But we will get to where we are. We wanted this game to see where we were. We wanted that test, and we got it. The focus now is really about communication and the intensity. We don’t learn those elements playing the schedule that we have had this far, so this game was great to have.”

Barber added on his senior, Niedermaier, who was lights out on offense providing the Lady Panthers multiple chances to score, saying “Kelsie played hard the last 15 minutes of the game, and she really kept us in it. She served a beautiful ball across the middle. She didn’t panic, and she didn’t think twice about it. She slid that ball right across the six, and if it goes, we’re still playing soccer. But if it didn’t, Canisteo goes home like they won the Olympics, and we go home and wait until Monday.”

In the end, the Lady Redskins managed to hang on for dear life at the end of the game, sealing the one-goal victory they never lost. The offenses were tied in the shot department after 80 minutes, recording 10 shots on goal each. Simon would go on to make seven saves in goal for the Lady Panthers.

Andover/Whitesville will now enter their last week of action with their three remaining games. On Monday, they will hit the road for a 7 p.m. contest under the lights against the Hinsdale Lady Bobcats before returning home to take on the Belfast Lady Bulldogs on Wednesday in a 6 p.m. contest. Barber says that the schedule for the last week of action is something his team needs.

“We’ve played six games in five weeks, and now we’re going to play four games in five days,” he said. “The schedule is good for us in the end, and we need it. Win or lose, this will help us a lot. We were down 2-1 to Belfast earlier in the season, and we weren’t on the same page then as a team quite yet. We were still getting familiar with each other. But we have a lot of great players, and we will find a way to keep making this work.”

Chris Brooks
Previous

Down by a goal, Aquila, Lady Jags turn 2nd half tide, leave Belfast shot-less to complete 2-1 comeback win
Next

After slow 1st half start, Lions bring the heat with pair of goals to set the tone in their 3-1 road victory over Scio