ZANESVILLE ― With the first-half clock winding down, Sydnee Maxwell took aim for Rosecrans.
Forget the fact she was nearly 30 yards away from the goal and just eight seconds remained. The sophomore forward had done this before.
Her towering left-footed blast caught stellar Johnstown goalie Hailey Hill off guard, settled into the back of the net and suddenly, the Bishops’ 1-0 edge grew to 2-0 at the break. They went on to a 3-0 victory Saturday at their Mattingly Family Field, advancing to the Division III district semifinals.
“That goal hurt, a lot,” said Johnnies’ coach Chip Wall, whose resurgent team finished 8-6-4 after going 1-14-2 last year. “We definitely felt that.”
“All summer and during club ball, I practiced that shot in different positions. There’s no one on you and I’ve developed confidence with it,” Maxwell said. Coach and father Danny Maxwell concurred. “She’s actually had like seven or eight of them like that,” he said. “We were down 1-0 at halftime up at Buckeye Valley, she scored two of them and we won 2-1.”
The ninth-seeded Johnnies came out as the aggressors, but seventh-seeded Rosecrans (12-6) finally got going and Maxwell knocked home a direct kick from about 12 yards out at 29:32 of the first half for a 1-0 lead. That was after she was fouled while speeding ahead of the defense and taking a long pass. The Bishops would never trail, and now play at second-seeded Fairbanks (13-3-1), a 1-0 overtime winner against Bishop Ready, at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
“I thought we played well, especially in the first half, but we just needed to get that one goal. That changes everything,” Wall said. “We went at them pretty good for that first 10 minutes, but hats off to them. They played well and are a very good team. They packed it in there a little bit in the second half. We’re normally a second-half team, but it was not our normal game. We were just a little bit off today.”
Hill kept Johnstown in it with some excellent saves, finishing with 10 on the day, but the Johnnies never could get going against Rosecrans’ wall of a defense. They did have four corner kicks, but were out-shot 13-2 and the Bishops had four corner kicks the second half after getting only one over the first 40 minutes. “The second half was much better,” coach Maxwell said.
“It’s towards the end of the season, and playing in this system, they’ve really been buying in,” he added. “That’s why the defense is so strong. They’re very disciplined and keep balls out of the middle of the field. Jenna McLaughlin (6-foot-1 senior defender) is just a great athlete. She’s so talented, athletic and long, and now she’s heading the ball, too. And (sophomore) Kate (Ward) has learned how to play the goalie position.”
“Kate has stepped up, Jenna leads the team and our outside backs have really progressed,” Sydnee Maxwell said. “It takes a team effort to win the game.”
Rosecrans used a short corner to record an insurance goal with 10:31 left, with junior midfielder Avery Maxwell returning a pass to senior mid Chloe Zemba, whose cross in front of the goal was booted in by senior forward Ella Lambert.
“It was not one of our best games, and having a two-week break kind of threw us off,” Lambert admitted. “These next couple of games, we’ll bring our ‘A’ game and play our best of the year. I’m grateful they put us in the Central District, because we know we’ll have to play well.”
“I like the competition,” said Sydnee Maxwell, who leads the Bishops with 30 goals. “We’re at our high point right now.”
Hill turned in a strong effort in her final game for Johnstown, stopping a penalty kick late in the game. The Johnnies will graduate Hill, Rose Pasqualetti, Lauren Ellis, Eden Britton, Miranda Tyack and Abby Ruffle. They helped get the program turned around by winning four straight and six of seven heading into the postseason.
“Our seniors set the standard for excellence going forward,” Wall said. “They set the bar high, and we need to keep raising it.”
dweidig@gannett.com
740-704-7973
Twitter: @grover5675
Instagram: @dfweidig
Credit: Source link
