By jose Negron
After watching his group get off to a shaky start to the fall campaign earlier this week, Bentworth head coach Tyler Hamstra just wanted to see positive results Thursday night.
The Bearcats lost each of their first two section matches for the first time since 2010, suffering a 5-2 loss to Steel Valley Monday before falling to Seton LaSalle, 3-1, Tuesday.
Despite the early struggles, Hamstra’s bunch was determined not to let its season-opening losing streak get to three games as Bentworth cruised to a much needed 7-1 victory over visiting Monessen in Section 2-A play.
“I think the girls knew that if they just played their game, they would be fine,” Hamstra said. “In the first two games, they played excellent, we just didn’t create enough opportunities.”
While Hamstra noted that young attackers tend to dwell on missed opportunities, his trio of young goal scorers refused to do so in their third game of the season.
Sophomores Tessa Charpentier and Mallory Schreiber each scored a pair of goals, while classmates Reagan Schreiber and Carla Palla added one apiece. Freshman Emily Kisner found the back of the net for the first time in her varsity career, too.
“They were able to create opportunities tonight,” Hamstra said. “They had a short memory.”
It took some time for Bentworth (1-2, 1-2) to get its offense going as it failed to capitalize on a few opportunities, including a shot that sailed wide right off the foot of Charpentier and another on a breakaway for Reagan Schreiber that was saved by Monessen goalkeeper Zalendria Hardison.
The Bearcats finally cashed in just over 13 minutes into the game as Charpentier took advantage of a prime chance in close and scored on an empty net to make it 1-0.
“As soon as you get that first goal, everyone takes a breather. That’s even with a veteran team,” Hamstra said. “After that first goal, they took the game over.”
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