Clarion Area Girls Soccer Wins Against Brockway in Nail Biter 4-3 (Posted 09/25/20)

(All images by Matt Lerch)

(By Matt Lerch)

The Clarion Area Girls Soccer team hosted Brockway in a midseason District 9 showdown, at the Clarion Area stadium under the lights. With only one substitute player for the Bobcats due to several injuries, the Clarion squad had a tall order to play with energetic enthusiasm through the whole contest. 

The Bobcats came out of the blocks hot, with Evelyn Lerch taking the ball solo down the field with a chest bump stop, followed by a squeeze through the defenders shooting the ball just wide.  Left wing Lexi Coull saw an opportunity from a tight angle, firing the ball off the post ricocheting into the sky.  But Brockway answered numerous times, dumping the ball into the Clarion end of the field only to be met by ubiquitous Jenna Miller, Clarion’s captain and center defender.  Miller made three solo stops in the first 10 minutes keeping her goalkeeper, Senior Hannah Hazlett out of trouble. 

Brockway scored first when a pass back to Hazlett was intercepted by Brockway.  The energetic enthusiasm kicked in, as right wing Allison Acey worked relentlessly against the defense and popped the ball over the defense to speedy striker Lerch, who caught up to the ball with heavy pursuit, and slid the ball past the goalie for a 1-1 tie.   Coach Chris Schonbachler shifted his team around to preserve energy moving some offense back to defense.  Then, from deep in the Clarion zone, Lerch found left wing Joyce Kim who pinballed the ball to Alex Leadbetter, who found Coull speeding down the field who shot and scored to give the Bobcats their first lead of the game, 2-1 leading into the half. 

As darkness set in, the second half started with a bang, when Coull found an opening down the sidelin,e after a pass from defender Robyn Stahlman.  Coull took on three defenders and shot left footed to the far side of the goalkeeper, just hitting the inside of the net for a 3-1 Bobcat lead and her second score of the game.  Two minutes later, a Brockway midfielder was called on a hand ball and the Bobcats had a free kick at the 30 yard line, with Brockway lining up above the goal box.  Lerch took the kick and fired a blistering shot a full 30 yards and over the goaltender’s outstretched hand, making a top shelf goal that turned out to be the game winner. 

Brockway wasn’t finished.  With 15 minutes left, the Bobcats went into defensive mode when star freshman Alex Leadbetter went down with an injury leaving no substitutes on the sideline.  Brockway playing with a palpable sense of urgency, time and time again poured on pressure on the Bobcat defense.  A corner kick from Brockway was rebounded around for a few seconds and eventually crossed the line into the goal making the score 4-2 Clarion. 

Then, an unfortunate hand ball was called against Clarion and Brockway scored again, making the score 4-3 with 5 nail biting minutes left.  The Bobcats fortunately were able to rely upon excellent ball clearing and dribbling by Coull and Kim, for the final minutes of play, to finish the game with a win. 

The Bobcats now with a 3-2 record, return to action against Punxsutawney Monday, September 28th, at home for another District 9 showdown. 

(Thanks to Matt Lerch for the article and images. Good going Lady Cats!!!!)