Poland earns fifth-straight win, tops Girard, 3-0
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GIRARD -- Poland extended its win and clean-sheet streaks and further solidified its position in the Northeast 8 Conference (NE8) with a dominant 3-0 win Monday vs. Girard at Arrowhead Stadium.
Despite failing to capitalize on numerous attacks, the Bulldogs, who earned their fifth consecutive win, fourth straight NE8 victory and fifth clean sheet in a row, took a first-half lead and kept the Indians' attack at bay to improve to 7-1 on the season and 5-1 in NE8 play.
"I thought we could have played better," Poland head coach Melissa Kopanic said. "I think we needed to drop it back more and spread the field out because their defense was just playing in the box the whole time, and that's why we couldn't score. I think we did, like the last 10 minutes of the second half, we started doing better. But I think the first half, we did what we planned to do and then the second half when they dropped it in the box, we just kind of didn't play our game."
Girard goalkeeper Raegan Noel's busy evening began early Monday, as the Bulldogs' consistent pressure on the Indians' back line earned themselves multiple corner kicks and shots on goal.
After saving a shot by Ellie Lewis just shy of nine minutes into the game, Noel again stopped Lewis a minute later, this time thwarting a penalty kick for a handball in the box to keep the match scoreless. Moments later, Noel saved a close-range shot by Delaney Ankeles.
With the amount of time Poland spent on the attack, however, a goal appeared imminent, and that proved to be the case in the 18th minute, when Ashlynn Kushner finished a breakaway by putting a shot past Noel. Kushner nearly had another three-and-half minutes later, but her shot found the left post.
The Bulldogs did add to their lead not long afterward, with Ankeles slipping in between the Girard defenders on a corner kick by Ava Stabi to go up 2-0 with 15:41 remaining in the first half.
Although Poland took that advantage into halftime, its attacks did not cease, and Noel was forced to make several saves, including on back-to-back shots by Ankeles with three minutes left, to keep the Indians' deficit from growing.
"Our passing was just not where it normally is," Girard head coach Angelo LoCastro said. "We have a very good front, mid line that is excellent at passing, but they were playing against an aggressive team that's always first to the ball, and the physicality that they brought, it just kind of threw off our game."
The second half, fortunately for Poland and unfortunately for Girard, proved to be much more of the same.
The Bulldogs' kept up their attacks, dominating possession but failing to finish consistently. Meanwhile, the Indians remained on their back heels, unable to gain or maintain possession while playing most of the half in their own third. Faced with persistent pressure, Noel made several more saves before Avery Zmith scored the third and final goal of the match with a little more than three minutes remaining.
"I think this game we should have [won by more]," Kopanic said. "Every ball, it just either went a little wide, it hit the post. So I think we just need to compose ourselves and play like we know how to play: hit the corners, pass to the outside, cross it in like we do. We just weren't doing that. So the next game, we just have to go back to what we know."
With the loss, its second straight, Girard dropped to 3-3-2 overall and 2-2-1 in the NE8. The Indians began the season 2-0 but have since lost two, tied two and won one match. They continue league play Thursday with a game vs. Lakeview in Cortland.
"[Our message is] ultimately to execute and play like we practice," LoCastro said. "We do hard drills. [We aim for] excellent passing skills, excellent dribbling skills, and the way we have our plays designed should be quick and fast ball movement. We unfortunately just didn't bring that today."
As for Poland, which suffered its only loss to Niles on Aug. 24, it has won its last five games by a combined score of 34-0. The Bulldogs, half a game back from the Red Dragons in the league standings, host Hubbard on Thursday before facing Niles in a pivotal NE8 rematch next Monday.
"I think really we just have to come together," Kopanic said. "We came together as a team after the Niles game that we lost 5-1. We kind of switched things up a little bit. The last two games we had a different formation.
"I always tell the girls it's one game at a time," she added. "So obviously they're thinking about Niles, but when we went and played Hubbard the first time, it was kind of just like the second half was: We scored, it was 2-0, we could not score because they were packing the box. And then the second half, we kind of talked about it, we kind of dropped it back, we composed ourselves. So it's really game by game. Every game is going to be different. Every game is going to be a different strategy. So I don't want them to just think about Niles. I know we have to think about Niles, but we also have to beat Hubbard before we beat Niles."