The Lakewood girls soccer began their season with a stiff test, facing the Burlington-Edison Tigers who had beat them 8-0, 6-0 last year.
The Cougars showed improvements all over the field, particularly in the middle of the pitch where Amanda Nunley and Erin Dierickx showed great ability to control the ball and distribute. The defense, led by Jeneca Hoidal and Stephanie Kushner also did an admirable job of keeping the Tiger attackers at bay throughout most of the game.
Unfortunately, Burlington provided too much offensive punch in winning 3-1 in the Sept. 4 contest. The game could easily have ended 2-1 but a last second garbage goal by Burlington secured the final margin.
As you might expect from a game that stayed tight nearly the entire way, much came down to style of play. Burlington managed to put together a consistent attack on goalkeeper Emily Steinborn, pressuring hard the entire second half. Lakewoods counterattacks were impressive but less frequent and their forwards lacked the support up front from the midfield to put together useful touches in the attack zone.
After Burlingtons first goal minutes into the game Lakewood came storming back. In the sixth minute Hayley took a through pass and got a semi-free break on goal. She drove a knuckleball shot at the Burlington goalkeeper who could only punch it beyond the end line for a corner. Not deterred, Bustad produced an improbable goal from the corner flag, tucking a cross into the back of the net at the far post to level the score 1-1.
For eight minutes the game stayed even before Burlington won a corner kick and converted it into their second goal of the match. A well-crossed ball found the head of a Burlington forward six yards from net, with goalkeeper Steinborn having zero chance of heroics.
After that both teams settled into a controlled possession game. Coach Jeremiah Wohlgemuth occasionally shouted for his midfielders to support the offense more up front to no avail. While they distributed well, they were sluggish in supporting the forwards.
Left to fend for themselves, forwards Bustad and Alicia Silva struggled to produce chances in front of the Burlington net. Neither team saw any more serious opportunities in the first half and throughout most of the second. In the 64th minute Lakewoods keeper Steinborn made a remarkable save on a clean breakaway from the left side. A Burlington forward slipped past the Cougars last line of defense to set herself up for the clinching goal, but Steinborn reacted efficiently and dove to her left to deny the chance.
Steinborn continued to be tested by an increasingly troublesome Tiger attack and each time she proved up to the task. She also benefitted from some excellent marking in the back by Courtney Prosser, who chased down a number of potential breakaways and cleared them out for Lakewood.
As the game approached full-time at 2-1, Lakewood began to pressure more forward. They managed a 20 yard attempt on goal from Silva that was saved by Burlingtons keeper. That was it for the Cougar offense and the late goal from Burlington made it 3-1, seconds before the referee blew his final whistle.
After the game Coach Wohlgemuth was pleased with his teams improvement.
This is a good barometer for us, said Wohlgemuth. Given the results last year 2-1 would have been a good moral victory, 3-1 not quite as much. Burlington is an excellent team but we are definitely improved given our core of 12 seniors.