Kalamazoo Gets 3-2 Double-OT Win on the Road at Alma in Rainy & Cold Conditions; Improves to 6-4-1 overall (2-2-1 MIAA)
October 11, 2006
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Kalamazoo Gets 3-2 Double-OT Win on the Road at Alma in Rainy & Cold Conditions; Improves to 6-4-1 overall (2-2-1 MIAA) October 11, 2006 |
The Kalamazoo College women's soccer team earned an exciting 3-2 victory in double-overtime at Alma College (MI) on Wednesday 10/11. With the win, the Hornets improve to 6-4-1 overall (2-2-1 MIAA) and move into 4th place in an MIAA race that is closer than it has been for years (7 of the 9 conference teams currently stand within 5 points of each other, as of today's games/results).
Against Alma, Kalamazoo carried most of the possession during the first 10 minutes of play, testing Alma's goalkeeper early and forcing her to make a few key saves. Alma ventured into Kalamazoo's end of the field a few times, as well, and in the 11th minute earned a corner kick. The Hornets defended the initial corner kick into the box, clearing it out of harm's way to the center circle area of the field. Unfortunately, Kalamazoo had dropped all of its players into the box to defend the corner kick, and when the clearance was collected at midfield by Alma's Christine Wheatley, there was nobody there to pressure her defensively. Wheatley settled the ball with one touch, and launched a long, high shot with her second touch. Traveling against the wind, the shot hung high in the air until the last second, when it dropped suddenly and beat Hornet goalkeeper Kassie Johnston at the upper right corner.
Down by a goal, the Hornets did a great job of battling their way back into the game. After a few minutes of chaotic play, the team gained possession of the ball again and began moving it around the field in an attractive, possession-oriented style. For most of the rest of the half, Kalamazoo dominated play and created numerous scoring opportunities (the Hornets out-shot Alma by a 9-4 margin in the first half, forcing Alma's GK to make 7 saves). In the 29th minute of play Kalamazoo earned a corner kick, which junior forward Aliza Caplan sent to the near post. Alma cleared the ball back to Caplan, who began dribbling down the endline toward the goal. Caplan beat the defender who had cleared the ball, and then sent a simple slotted ball to Katie Manstrom on the 6-yard line in the center of the goal area. Manstrom took a settling touch, and then hit a shot which beat Alma's GK to the near post. The two teams played out the rest of the first half with the score knotted at 1 apiece.
Kalamazoo's offensive dominance continued as the second half began, as the Hornets repeatedly threatened to score a second goal for the first few minutes of the period. In the 53rd minute, freshman midfielder Paige Howell passed the ball to Caplan, who turned and launched a long shot (reminiscent of Alma's first-half goal) into the wind. The shot beat Alma's GK at the upper right corner of the goal, and Kalamazoo went up 2-1.
Less than two minutes later, however, the referee evened the score with an extremely controversial penalty kick call in Kalamazoo's end of the field. Alma had played a long ball into Kalamazoo's back third, and an Alma forward had run down the ball and saved it from going out of bounds at the goal line near the outer-edge of the 18-yard-box. Pursued by senior defender Kari Brodsky, the Alma forward shielded the ball with her back to Brodsky (and to the Kalamazoo goal). She turned and tried to beat Brodsky off the dribble, to head down the endline toward the near post, but Brodsky tackled the ball away with her right foot and the Alma forward tripped over Brodsky's foot and the ball. The referee called a foul, and awarded Alma a PK which was converted by Rachel Comfort into Alma's 2nd goal of the day.
"I've not seen a PK called on such a soft foul before," said Hornet Head Coach Laura Passage. "Especially one that occurs when the attacker has her back to the goal, and is positioned on the goal line--near the corner flag area. She had no chance to score, and no teammates available to whom she could have passed the ball. Brodsky's tackle truly didn't keep her from capitalizing on a scoring opportunity, because she simply wasn't in position to score. It was a call that definitely shocked our coaching staff."
In the 10-15 minutes that followed, Alma repeatedly fouled Kalamazoo's players all over the field, but the referee rarely made a call. In two particular instances, a Kalamazoo attacker was running shoulder-to-shoulder with Alma's last defender toward the goal with the ball in a near-breakaway, and was fouled hard and brought down to the ground... with no call from the referee. On one of those two occasions, Kalamazoo's Paige Howell was actually thrown down inside the Alma 18-yard-box, in an altercation which was much more violent in nature than the controversial PK call a few minutes earlier. For the game, Alma out-fouled Kalamazoo by a stunning 17-5 margin--and that figure included only the calls that were actually made.
Despite a few good chances at Alma's goal, regulation play ended with the score deadlocked at 2-2. The two teams went through the first OT period without creating any dangerous scoring chances; neither team's goalkeeper had to make a save during this time frame. Entering the second OT period, Kalamazoo changed from a 4-4-2 into a 3-5-2, pushing senior defender Jenn Russart up into the midfield to create more offensive punch.
"Jenn's probably our best one-on-one defender, but she's also a very creative ball handler and a great distributor," said Coach Passage. "Coming into the last OT, we made the decision that we wanted to leave with the win. Moving her out of the back, given the strength of Alma's forward line, was a risk... but we also knew that she would make an impact on our team's attack."
Two minutes into the second OT, Kalamazoo earned its 6th corner kick of the game. The ball was played into the 6-yard-box area, where it rebounded to Howell at the far post. From about 10 yards out, Howell attempted to take a half-volley shot (off the bounce), but Alma's Rachel Dotson lunged forward and toe-poked the ball away before Howell's foot connected with it. Unfortunately, Howell's foot instead connected with Dotson's leg, and the collision created a loud cracking sound. Both players fell down, as the ball bounced backward to Russart who was waiting near the 18-yard-box. Russart hit a low, driven, far-post shot that hit the back of the net and ended the game, 3-2 in Kalamazoo's favor.
"I actually missed Jenn's shot, because I was busy watching to make sure that Paige got up," said Passage. "All I saw was the ball hitting the back of the net. It was somewhat surreal. I'm proud of our players for keeping their composure in the face of some tough obstacles created by officiating and a very physical game, though. We played hard for the entire 103 minutes, in some very rainy and cold conditions, which is to be commended. We're happy with the result, and are hopeful that Rachel Dotson is OK after the end-of-game collision that occurred."
The Hornets will travel to Albion College (MI) to battle for 2nd/3rd place standing in the MIAA race on Saturday 10/14 (12:00pm). Kalamazoo enters the game at 2-2-1 in the MIAA (7pts), while Albion currently stands at 2-1-2 (8pts). The two teams have posted extremely similar results so far in conference play, with the exceptions being their results against St. Mary's (Kalamazoo lost 2-1 to the Belles off 2 own-goals; Albion beat the Belles 2-1); Alma (Kalamazoo beat Alma 3-2; Albion tied Alma 0-0). Currently, St. Mary's holds 2nd place in the MIAA with a 3-1-0 record (9pts); but if St. Mary's loses to Hope on Saturday 10/14, the winner of the Kalamazoo/Albion contest will move into 2nd place.