Second half carries Black Bears to third straight win
WARSAW — Three up and three down for the River View girls soccer team as the Black Bears finished the week with a 3-1 win Saturday against Carrolton, giving them a clean sweep in this week's games.
They've now won four of their last five and are putting themselves in good position going into postseason play, but in the rain, wind and cold Warsaw weather, Saturday's game wasn't easy.
In fact, the Black Bears entered halftime trailing 1-0, after a ball hit the wet grass, skipping through the defense and a Carrolton player had a one-on-one opportunity with goalkeeper Lauren Krystek and finished.
The halftime message was clear for coach Dave Kridler — be proactive.
"You can't let balls drop in front of you and skip past you in these conditions," Kridler said. "You have to trust if the ball gets past you somebody will clean it up, but you can't be passive in these conditions."
The Black Bears responded to Kridler's message right away, as freshman Claire Warschauer got a shot on goal in the first minute. Then the attack that has scored 21 goals in five games, opened up.
"I could tell they wanted to change the game," Kridler said.
Jesse Vandenbark scored with 32:02 left in the game off an assist by Lexi Fry, as getting on the attack was the second-half plan Kridler said, with the postseason seeding in mind.
"Our whole tournament route could've been made more difficult if we didn't get this done," Kridler said. "They did respond."
The Black Bears stayed on the offensive for the most part in the second half, but with less than 15 minutes remaining the Warriors did create some offense.
A counter attack that looked like another one-on-one opportunity was coming, was stopped at the last minute by center back Kenzi Addy. Then after two corner kicks in a row by the Warriors, the Black Bears tool control back.
That control led to a goal by Zoe Smalley and eventually another goal by Mallory Giffin off a corner kick assist by Warschauer.
It's a formula that the Black Bears have had success with as of late: the offense controls the attacking play of the game and when the defense is needed they have found a way to step up.
"(The offense) allows us to push up so we don't have that much pressure on our goalie which is nice," Right fullback and senior Amy Jo Johnson said.
Kridler credited one freshman's improvement to helping the offense perform how they have in the last five games.
"I have to say that Lexi Fry's emergence has really changed things for us," Kridler said. "She takes her first touch to the goal, but she also has good vision and plays the right person in. That's helped us tremendously."
The Black Bears (8-4-2) have two games left before they enter postseason play, but Kridler still wants to shore some things up.
"We have to tighten up defensively. We are passing better in the midfield, but our possession is still not where we need to be," Kridler said. "As you get into the real meaningful tournament games you have to make your shots count and we certainly did not make that happen in thew first half."
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