Dodson, Green deliver as Warriors slip past Mustangs

 

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By Bill Scheibe

With a world-class touch and the poise and patience of a senior, Waubonsie Valley forward/midfielder Kristen Dodson deked past Metea Valley goalkeeper Megan Geldernick, dribbled a few more steps and then safely tapped the soccer ball into a wide-open net.

And, affirmative, Dodson's only a freshman.

The sister of North Carolina-bound Ryan Dodson – a forward who has played with both the U.S. U-17 and U-20 national teams – Kristen continued to make a name for herself by scoring on another breakaway with a mere two minutes and 30 seconds remaining in the second half.

"I was nervous," Dodson admitted afterward as she pulled on her warmup jacket to stave off the cold. "And I wanted to score another goal. I love that it was (fellow freshman midfielder) Kristen Brots who gave me the cross. It was a really good pass and a really good play."

To say that Dodson is going to be a really good player on a really good Waubonsie Valley team this spring would be an understatement. In the Upstate Eight Conference Valley opener for both teams, Dodson scored twice and added an assist Saturday during a 3-1 victory over visiting Metea Valley.

Senior midfielder/forward Megan Green, the Illinois recruit, scored the game-winning goal with 9:52 remaining in the first half for Waubonsie (2-1-0, 1-0-0), the defending Class 3A state champions. Brots tallied a pair of assists and junior midfielder Shannon Donelson delivered an assist as well.

Facing a 2-0 halftime deficit, Metea (6-2-1, 0-1-0) rallied with an unassisted goal from junior midfielder Kristina Tomaras in the second half. The Mustangs missed converting on three point-blank chances in all before Dodson, her Warriors staring at a shakier 2-1 lead, cashed in her second strike to clinch.

Thank you very much.

"She plays hard and she's a goal scorer," Green said of Dodson. "That's good because that's what we need. We were fine, but I'm a little disappointed. We kept playing hard, but we kept kicking the ball – it was like a kick-ball game for us and I'm not sure why because that's not our style."

"Overall, we did really well as a team and we're starting to get that chemistry to work," Dodson pointed out. "We were working well together on our give-and-gos and I thought we played together as a team."

A first-year varsity team with no seniors, Metea made things more difficult for Waubonsie than what might have been imagined, particularly on a windy, sunny and chilly afternoon where wearing hoodies, hats and gloves was the order of the day.

The first sign of the Mustangs' resolve came in the 14th minute when sophomore forward Alyssa Fox corralled a tough bounce off the foot of Warriors senior sweeper Mary Wright for a breakaway and fired a point-blank shot at senior goalkeeper Jordan Myers (7 saves), who made a diving-kick stop.

In the second half, Myers thwarted a 25-yard shot by Tomaras and the subsequent rebound attempt of sophomore forward Abby Adams for the equalizer. With 12 minutes remaining, a rugby-like scrum at the near-side left post off a corner by Tomaras also, amazingly, went for naught.

The wouldas, the couldas, the shouldas.

"Exactly," Metea coach Pat Feulner said. "We're young and the girls have to learn when you have chances like that against a team like this you have to finish them off. We just didn't get it done, but I'm happy with the effort and the way our girls played.

"We definitely had chances to keep ourselves in it and to win it. Fox had the breakaway, we had the rebound and we had the scrum in front. They got their chances, they scored and they finished them, and that ended up being the difference in the game."

A huge difference in the pace of the game developed 9:53 into the second half. Tomaras trapped the ball on the top-left flank of the box, turned and uncorked a shot through a screen of defenders that eluded Myers and curved around the far-right post for a 2-1 deficit.

"I was surprised," Tomaras confirmed. "I was trying to cross it, hoping someone might get a foot on it, but the wind took it and it went in. I think it was surprising for everyone. And once you score like that, the first five minutes, the adrenaline gets going and the momentum really picks up."

Likewise, beginning with Dodson's goal, Waubonsie grabbed that momentum by the collar in the first half. Donelson drilled a tight crossing pass on a switch from the left outside of the midfield to Dodson, who sped in from the right and capped off the pretty sequence in picturesque fashion.

"Well, I saw Shannon kick the ball through and I thought I would be able to get to it," Dodson said. "I just ran toward it and got it, and I knew if I didn't take that touch, the keeper probably would have gotten it. I wanted to make sure that I would get the goal."

Coaches always talk about getting the next goal. Green ended up being golden after Dodson completed a sweet pass across the top of the box and Brots slid across an even sweeter feed past Geldernick (9 saves) to the streaking Green for a second straight empty-net goal.

"With the wind, we knew we had to keep it on the ground, which isn't hard for us because that's the way we like to play," Green said. "Dodson played a great ball to Brots and I was just there to finish it off. Thankfully, we got those two goals right away. We pulled out the win and I guess that's all that matters."

What mattered to Metea was the pushback, or as Feulner noted, "We came out in the second half, being down 2-nill, and took it to them." That is, until Dodson split the defense off Brots' through-ball feed and wrapped her shot inside the left post – a shot that should make big brother Ryan proud.

"I hope," she said shyly, "he would be."

Guaranteed.