by Erin Hogan
The cold weather and the rain didn’t stop the Lady Mountaineers from playing their season opener against Emma Willard on Friday, September 11. The game was a fair match from the beginning with Berlin and Emma Willard both taking various shots all the way through the first half. Rachel Gordon had the defense locked up, not letting any Willard girls get through. When a shot was fired off against the Mountaineers, it was wide of the net. On Berlin’s offensive side Maria Gordon, Emily Dooley and Rachel Ferris were working well together with excellent feeds from Deanna Nash. All their shots were close, but not close enough to change the 0-0 tie score. Towards the end of the second half the Lady Mountaineers started to let Emma Willard rule the field, but after an offside call on Emma Willard, Emily Dooley broke away and quickly fired a gorgeous shot that hit the crossbar and bounced out. Maria Gordon tried to push it in but slipped on the wet grass and was unable to connect. Thus ended the half.
As the second half started, the game was once again a back and forth match, with both sides taking shots and just missing. As the second half proceeded, both teams fought hard to score first. Maria Gordon had three breakaways but got stopped in the penalty box. Then Emma Willard was given an indirect free kick in front of the goal with ten minutes left. Ashley Vincent made a beautiful save but bobbled and dropped the ball. When she went to grab it an Emma Willard girl poked the ball into the goal to break the tie. Berlin didn’t give up fighting and came close to scoring, just missing the net by inches. Willard got another chance at a shot on goal and snuck another one by Ashley Vincent bringing the score to 2-0 with 5 minutes left. The Mountaineers battled strongly until the end but were unable to score. The Mountaineers ended their opener with an unfortunate loss. Ashley Vincent had 11 saves in goal.