Warriors play to draw with visiting Indians
Elizabeth Forward’s girls soccer team enjoyed its senior night in Wednesday night’s battle against Indiana, but the vibes were dampered a bit as neither team could manage a goal in a 0-0 draw.
EF (3-6-1, 3-5-1) seniors Brooklyn Baldensperger, Isabella Crosby, Adysson Davis, Kyra Greenawalt, Taylor Snyder and Mia Valerio were joined by their family and their teammates before the match in a ceremony.
Once the game started, though, the Warriors were dead even with Indiana (3-8-1, 2-5-1).
“Our injuries have been tough to overcome because we have basically three starting offensive players out, including Brooklyn, that aren’t healthy,” Elizabeth Forward coach Sotiri Tsourekis said. “It’s been like that for a long time and that’s the way we’re gonna continue the rest of the season. That’s not to make excuses though because the girls have adapted; other players have been stepping up. Sometimes one doesn’t want to go and it doesn’t want to go in.”
That was the case in the Section 4-3A matchup. The Warriors have two more section matches, one at Greensburg Salem and one at home against Franklin Regional, which they will probably need to win to grab the final playoff spot in the conference. Indiana has three more matches to play as they are contending for that fourth spot, as is Greensburg Salem (2-7 in Section 4-3A).
Elizabeth Forward pushed forward early for the first chance of the match as Mia Johnston won possession from the Indiana backline and was dribbling towards goalkeeper Julia Antonacci when she was tripped right outside of the box.
The Warriors were just unable to score from the set piece before a shot from Maicee Smith a few minutes later also fizzled wide to keep it at 0-0.
From there, the Indians worked into the match and started getting some possession after about 10 minutes.
Indiana mostly looked to forward Jillian Ranes to get forward, but Davis and the EF backline made sure that they weren’t able to generate any scoring opportunities early on.
Apart from an EF free kick that was saved by Antonacci halfway through the first half, play went back and forth without many chances until just three minutes remained.
Johnston was sprung down the right side with a pass that was perfectly in between her and Antonacci, but it was the goalkeeper that came 20 yards out and slid to clear it away just before the EF forward could get a touch.
That was shortly before the halftime whistle brought the action to a halt at 0-0. Indiana came out with the better of the play to start the second half as Ranes looked to get the ball in a dangerous position, but Snyder was everywhere for EF making sure that the Indians couldn’t come up with a chance.
After those first few minutes, it was Elizabeth Forward that held the ball and looked to break through Indiana’s defense, but they similarly wouldn’t budge in what was a tight battle.
The first big chance of the half came with 12:11 left to play when the Warriors drew a free kick from about 25 yards out. The ball in was good, but Antonacci was out to come and clear it away from danger.
EF got another free kick from the same spot just a minute later, but that one was too close to the goalkeeper as she was able to claim it and avoid any harm.
The Indians almost came up with a goal out of nowhere after a failed clearance by the Warriors, but Sophia Scardina put the ball over the net out of danger.
With 3:50 remaining in regular time, Valerio was played through and looked to have a chance to score, but center back Emily Betsinger was on her back, providing just enough pressure to force her shot wide. Then, a minute later, she sped past every Indiana defender and was in alone against Antonacci, but the goalkeeper cut off her angle and made a perfect save to eventually send the match to extra time.
Both sides went back and forth in extra time, but they were unable to find the winning goal as Indiana’s Anna McKelvy almost found it with a long strike that was saved by Davis.
Right at the start of the second extra time period, Valerio flicked a header into the path of Johnston who forced Antonacci into another save, but the ensuing corner was headed wide and resulted in a goal kick.
No more chances came for either side as the stalemate continued through the final whistle. After two straight scoreless draws, the Warriors will hope to win Monday at Greensburg Salem.
“We need to win our next two games, and we fancy our chances,” Tsourekis said. “We’re getting close too. The last couple of games it’s been tough to score, but we’re getting closer and closer to creating more chances. So it’s just a matter of time until that new way of our new shape on the field leads to goals.”