Stratford vs Westside HS Wolves – Thursday, March 20th – ‘Bi-District‘ Round (Playoff Game #1)

Your Varsity Girls Soccer Team rolled into round one of the playoffs after a dominating performance in the regular season with a 14-0 District record and an amazing 108 goals made versus one goal allowed during that stretch. From here on out though, every game should get more and more difficult.

The Green & White went on the attack right from the opening whistle and at the 4-minute mark, Junior – Sydney Valentine worked the ball up the left side and slotted a ball to Senior – Mary Charlotte Paul in front of the goal, who quickly fired to the right post to put SHS up early, 1-0. Less than a minute later, the crowd would be treated to a great assist and goal when Sophomore – Audrey Brendel spotted Junior – Sara Benton making a run to the goal and lofted a pass over the last defender, where Benton would flick a quick shot over the keeper’s head to give Stratford a 2-0 lead. In the 14th minute, Senior – Allison Goodwin fired a shot from 20 yards out that the Westside goalkeeper couldn’t handle, and Valentine was there to clean up the loose ball and increase the lead to 3-0. Two minutes later, Senior – Ryann Weber worked the ball past three of the WHS defenders and laid the ball off at the last second to Goodwin, who found the back of the net by firing past the goalie and right post to take the match to halftime, 4-0.

In the opening two minutes of the second half, Goodwin worked the ball between two defenders in front of the goal and found Weber with a quick pass that was converted into the fifth goal of the match, 5-0. Less than 60 seconds later, off a throw-in deep in the Westside end of the field, Paul made a great pass to the top of the box, where Valentine was cutting to the goal and able to convert with a quick touch and shot to the left corner to increase the lead to 6-0. At the 55-minute mark, Paul made a long pass to Weber streaking up the right side of the field, who would take the ball to the end line and make a quick pass to the center of the field, finding Goodwin, who easily found the back of the net for the seventh Spartan goal of the afternoon. Two minutes later, Paul would find Weber wide open on the right side of the field, and Weber lined up a shot and fired with her left foot to find the back of the net for the 8th time for Stratford in the last 60 minutes. The game would be called quickly after this as the mercy rule would take effect for the 12th time this season.

Up next for the Spartans is the ‘Area Round’ where they will face the Katy Jordan Warriors at Stratford on Tuesday night at 7:00 pm. Come out and support the Lady Spartans as they get one step closer to the State Championship!