RIVERSIDE — After watching the boys soccer team win their first home game on the new Jim Spoerl-Steve Bartlett Field, the Carroll High School girls varsity team may have felt the pressure to do so as well, Aug. 21, in their first home game of the season. And they had to win against a Clinton-Massie team that had defeated Carroll last season in Clarksville.
Um, let’s just say Carroll handled any pressure they might’ve had.
The Patriots charged out to a 4-0 halftime lead, and claimed a convincing 7-1 win over the Falcons.
“You only get that one time to win the first game on your home field. And so it’s nice that they could get it under their belt, to say that they were the first team to win a match for our girls program on the new field,” Carroll coach Sarah Flach said. “It’s exciting that we got to do it, and now we can just move on.”
Some day, a historian will be scrounging through reels of microfilm and they’ll read this paragraph to learn that the first goal was scored at the 25:39 mark of the first half, when senior co-captain midfielder Alaina Casey took a corner kick from junior defender Lisa Kligbeil in front of the Clinton-Massie goal. Casey then chipped the ball over a Falcons defender and the Massie goalie for the score, with Kligbeil recording the first assist.
Carroll scored its first goal on the fourth of six corner kick tries they had in the first half.
Roughly nine minutes later, Carroll’s Allie Stefanek took a pass from co-captain Cat McNamara and launched a shot from about 30 yards out into the Falcon goal to put Carroll out in front 2-0.
In all, Casey scored her goal to go with two assists, Stefanek had two goals scored, McNamara had a goal and an assist, Kligbeil and Jasmine Buschur each had assists, while senior co-captain Jillian Roberts, Abby Bertke, and Brooke Grieshop scored a goal each.
“Casey and Stefanek are two really strong senior forwards for us in the middle. They’ve been on varsity all four years. In fact, we have four players who have been on varsity all four years with the team, so we’re really excited to see how they do this season,” Flach said.
Historians (and Clinton-Massie fans) should also know that Falcons freshman Aidan Eades was the first female opponent to score on the new field. Eades stole a pass with 10:30 left to play and bashed a shot into the left side of the Carroll goal to help Massie avoid the shutout.
Flach said her Patriots girls were possibly nervous in the very beginning.
“I think so. They got to watch the boys play on it earlier in the week (an historic 5-2 win over Troy on
Aug. 17), but I think the first time you’re on the field, in your uniform, against a really good team … I think there were some nerves, but they handled it really well,” Flach said.
Carroll is now 2-0-0 this season. They head to the Columbus area for their next match, a 7 p.m. Saturday
Aug. 24 evening contest at Granville. Clinton-Massie had defeated Carroll by a 2-1 score last season. The Falcons, now 1-2 this season, will host Wilmington at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 27 for their next scheduled match.
