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Girls soccer coaches get gauge on their teams
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RIVALS: Meredith Gleichert (14) of Canfield and Tatum Marucci of Poland battle for the ball during a recent game.
Canfield’s recent victory over Poland enabled Phil Simone and John Cavalier to assess their teams more clearly.
By JON MOFFETT
Vindicator Staff Writer
YOUNGSTOWN – Thursday’s girls soccer game between Canfield and Poland said a lot about the season each team is having.
After the Cardinals defeated the Bulldogs 2-1 on a late goal, the girls from Canfield were jumping up and down, screaming and cheering and celebrating excitedly. On the other side of the field, the Poland girls, with tears in their eyes, consoled one another on another tough loss.
“We’ve kind of been snake-bitten this year,” said Poland coach John Cavalier. The Bulldogs are 3-4 this season.
A controversial moment in Thursday’s game reinforced the tone of each team’s season. A Poland player kicked the ball, which ricocheted off the crossbar and went straight down, appearing to cross the goal. Canfield’s goalkeeper, senior Anokha Padubidri grabbed the ball and kicked it down field. Poland girls walked around with their arms in the air in utter disbelief of the non call.
“It looked like the ball crossed the line,” Cavalier said.
Canfield looked to take advantage while the Poland girls tried to rebound from the play. Sophomore Rachel Morris raced down and scored the go-ahead goal for Canfield with 1:05 left. The victory lifted the Cardinals to 5-2 on the year.
Cavalier and Phil Simone, Canfield’s coach, are both in their first season with their teams. Simone also coaches boys soccer at Canfield. Simone and the Canfield girls are enjoying a successful season while Cavalier and Poland are frustrated with their season so far.
“We’re 3-4 right now, and in three of our losses we’ve dominated the game,” Cavalier said. “We just don’t finish. We’ve been in control for five games.”
Cavalier said his team is young and needs to settle down to find a way to turn the season around.
“I tell them that it’s only one game,” said Cavalier, “and I tell them that we are going to take it one game at a time this season.”
Poland came out aggressively against Canfield and had multiple shots on goal that either just missed the net or were swallowed up by Padubidri.
“We’ve been pounding the goal,” Cavalier said. “We just need to finish.”
Canfield, on the other hand, has been having a very successful season thus far. Simone’s squad has managed to defeat tough opponents, including rival Poland.
“[Poland] came out faster than us,” Simone said of Thursday’s game. “We were a little flat and they beat us to every 50-50 ball.”
Thursday’s game was the first showdown between the two schools this season. The Bulldogs will travel to Canfield Oct. 2 for a rematch.
“We play [Canfield] again,” Cavalier said. “And we’ll definitely give them a battle.”
jmoffett@vindy.com