The Concord Women’s Soccer team combined solid goalkeeping in the back with timely offense in the front to defeated Alderson-Broaddus, 2-0, in a first-round match of the 2009 West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic tournament Monday afternoon at Anderson Field.
Mountain Lions GK Kasey Hildebrand provided nine saves – some of them spectacular – while Nicole Dirnagl and Katie Cuviello scored goals less than two minutes apart down the stretch to lift CU.
Meanwhile, a young A-B team saw its season end despite winning the statistical battle. The Lady Battlers outshot Concord 22--- including a 10-4 advantage in shots on goal – and attempted 11 corner kicks to just one for Concord.
“I’ve never seen stat lines like that put up by team that lost,” said A-B head coach Pat McGinnis. “We missed some opportunities, but with our speed up front I thought we’d make up for that by getting enough chances that we’d convert on enough of them to put us in a position to win. But, that’s one of the things about soccer.”
A-B got the game’s first promising chance. In the 10th minute, off an indirect free kick, Brooke Logston put a shot off the crossbar. Kasie Shoemaker got to the loose ball but her kick from less than ten yards out arched over the net.
Then Hildebrand began to step up.
“In the beginning I was pretty nervous. This was my first tournament game,” the sophomore from Huntington, WV said. “But as it went along I got my confidence and felt stronger.”
In the 20
th minute, after the ball bounced over a Concord defender, A-B’s Gwen Brand got a clear look from 30 yards out. But Concord’s sophomore goalkeeper dove to her left and knocked the ball away with both hands.
In the 24th minute, Shoemaker got in close, but Hildebrand made a sliding block on her 12-yard shot.
In the 61st minute, Brand blasted a left-footed shot from just inside the box, but Hildebrand made another diving save to her left.
In the 75th minute, Hildebrand turned away another point-blank shot, getting her left hand on another attempt by Brand.
“Phenomenal. She was absolutely phenomenal,” Concord head coach Carol Bonnes said of Hildebrand’s effort. “She picked up her game at our match at Shepherd (a 3-1 Concord victory October 3) and has stayed at that level ever since. She did so much to keep us in the game. She was active and made great decisions. Tremendous performance.”
With Hildebrand building a brick wall, Concord began to build up their offense.
The Mountain Lions got their first major threat in the 23rd minute, when a centering pass from Kate Armentrout just eluded Gemma Nortcliffe in the penalty area.
Three minutes later, Concord’s Kelsey Ballard attempted a 15-yard shot in heavy traffic, but A-B keeper Kate Laird made the save.
In the 33rd minute, off an indirect kick, Ballard shot from about 20 yards out. Laird made the save, but the ball rolled free and CU’s Nicole Dirnagl got to the rebound. Dirnagl served a bouncing pass to Ballard, but Ballard couldn’t settle the ball and her shot looped over the crossbar.
The Mountain Lions broke into the lead in the 73rd minute off a free kick. Cuviello served the ball into a mass of players in front of the A-B net. Concord put a shot on goal that Laird turned away. But the ball rolled free, and after it bounced off an A-B defender, Dirnagl rammed it into the back of the net for a 1-0 lead.
About 90 seconds later, Cuviello made a run down the right side and angled toward the sideline. Facing an A-B defender, Cuviello lofted a graceful 40-yard shot that sailed over a backpedaling Laird and under the crossbar for a 2-0 Concord lead.
“It was a great shot from that spot,” Bonnes said. “To put the ball at that spot, at that height, it’s going to give any goaltender a difficult time. A lovely play by Katie.”
Alderson-Broaddus missed on its last best chance to score as the minutes wound down. After Concord was called for a hand ball in the penalty area, Katie Perry attempted a penalty kick with 9:46 remaining in regulation. But her kick sailed wide left and the Mountain Lions went on to secure the shutout.
Concord got some bad news when leading scorer Gemma Nortcliffe ran into Laird in the penalty area with just six seconds remaining was sent off with a red card. By rule, Nortcliffe will have to miss Concord’s next game – the league semi-final at Davis & Elkins on Friday.
Meanwhile, an Alderson-Broaddus team made up entirely of freshmen and sophomores hopes their post-season experience will make them better in 2010.
“It was one of the things we talked about after the game – ‘remember what this feels like so that it doesn’t happen again,’” McGinnis said. “This team has come so far. They have such a drive, such a hunger, they work so well together that it’s easy to get excited about next year.”
But the Lady Battlers couldn’t find a way past Hildebrand and their season ended at 12-4-1.
“Our defense was great in front of me today,” Hildebrand said. “I did feel I was getting stronger the longer the game went. I felt that if I did my job, everyone else was doing their jobs, so we’d have a good chance to win.”
Concord visits D&E for a WVIAC Tournament semi-final match at Davis & Elkins on Friday, November 6. The Lady Senators are 14-4 and went 10-0 in the conference to secure the top seed.
D&E defeated Concord 2-1, in overtime, in their regular-season meeting September 23 in Elkins.
[Monday's boxscore: www.wviac.org/sports/wsoc/2009/2009%20ws%20tournament/abcubox110209.pdf]