Wildcats cap off 21-0 regular season at Lake Park

 

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By Dave Owen

A slight bobble was all it took for powerful Neuqua Valley to begin an offensive blitz on Tuesday at Lake Park.

With the Wildcats up just 1-0 with 7:08 left in the first half, Gianna Dal Pozzo lofted a 25-yard shot towards the goal that went through the hands of the Lancers' goalkeeper and narrowly trickled across the goal line to make the lead 2-0.

Neuqua Valley turned that fortunate bounce into a big lift, scoring twice more before halftime and again 2:18 into the second half en route to an eventual 6-0 win.

"It just gave us more confidence and we were able to play our game more," Dal Pozzo said of the goal. "After that it just came easy."

"I think we're a really dynamic team in general," said Neuqua Valley senior Allie McBride, "but sometimes we just need to get a little momentum as a team, start passing the ball and working it around the field. Once we were able to do that, you could definitely see that we switched from sort of iffy to the team that we know we are."

McBride contributed mightily to the momentum turn, pounding home the rebound of a Katie Ciesiulka shot with 1:24 left in the first half to make the lead 4-0. Megan Oyster then headed in McBride's corner kick just after the break for a 5-0 advantage.

"We work on corners a lot in practice and really like to emphasize our set pieces," McBride said, "We definitely like to capitalize on them because we have great players like Oyster and (Alexa) Wilde who can finish and are awesome in the air."

Neuqua Valley has been awesome in all aspects of the game this spring. The win at Lake Park on Tuesday gave the Wildcats a perfect 21-0 record entering regionals, and marked the team's fifth shutout in a row.

"It's really cool," Dal Pozzo said of the perfect record. "We're the first Neuqua team to do it (in the regular season) and hopefully we'll just keep going."

"I wouldn't say we're surprised to do this because we have a lot of confidence in ourselves," McBride said, "We're not a cocky team, but we're definitely aware of our talent and we play very confidently."

Neuqua Valley had taken a 1-0 lead with 24:57 left in the half when Zoey Goralski took a long pass from Dal Pozzo, sprinted past two Lake Park defenders and deftly tucked a close-in shot inside the right post.

After Dal Pozzo's slippery shot, a Meghan Kelly straight-on blast from the top of the box made the score 3-0 with 4:13 left in the half. Neuqua Valley's final goal came with 26:29 to go in the game, when Goralski made a great sprint in on right wing and sent a perfect cross to senior midfielder Noelle Leary for the putaway.

Minutes earlier at the 30:10 mark, Goralski came a millimeter away from another Wildcat goal when she powered a shot that hit the crossbar, bounced up off the ground and grazed off the crossbar again.

But that gravity-defying miss was about the only bad luck for a Wildcats' offense that had goals from six different players.

"What we like to say is that we have an awesome starting lineup, but everyone on the bench is just as useful and we're all at the same level," McBride said. "There's no one on the bench who can't produce as well as anyone on the field, We're really lucky that we have awesome chemistry with the starters, and if the subs come in they add even more."

The Neuqua Valley defense also had its shining moments. Most notable was goalkeeper Courtney Keefer's play in the sixth minute of a then-scoreless game, when she made a leaping deflection over the crossbar of a Lake Park shot targeted for the top of the net.

Keefer also made a nice grab of a 15-yard shot in the opening minute of the second half.

"Our defense has been super solid all season long," Neuqua Valley coach Joe Moreau said. "We play three in the back, and to give up nine goals in 21 games says a whole lot about our defense. And it's not just the players in back but it starts with the pressure from the forwards on their backs and our midfielders defending as well."

The Wildcats closed the regular season with 18 goals over their last three games, eventually finding their offensive footing Tuesday with the big surge late in the first half.

"Lake Park is a good team, and we always have good games against them," Moreau said. "Especially on this field it tends to be close. But we got a couple of quick goals like that and all of a sudden they put their head down a little bit. Then when we got the fifth goal at the start of the second half I thought that really was a dagger."