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Last-minute goal stuns YSU
By Matthew Peaslee
YOUNGSTOWN
All it took for Youngstown State to get on the board in its match Sunday against Bowling Green was a quick rest break.
For the first 74 minutes of the match, sophomore midfielder Heather Coonfare was all over Stambaugh Stadium, making plays and running out of breath. With 16 minutes remaining in the contest, she was pulled.
“It was just a mental break,” Coonfare said. “I was out to get focused real quick, we got another player in and I was ready to get back in.”
Three minutes later she did and got the Penguins on the board with her first goal of the season, also the first of her career.
She corralled a rolling pass from Geneva Strelka, got a good first touch on the ball and punched it to the back corner of the net.
“We were able to get some width in the attack and we found her and she was able to finish,” YSU head coach Will Lemke said. “It’s great because we don’t normally call on her to do that.”
Coonfare’s goal tied the game at one; the Falcons scored some six minutes earlier. Bowling Green found the net again with just 32 seconds left in the second half to down the Penguins 2-1.
“I was real happy with the way we were possessing the ball [in the first half],” Lemke said. “We controlled it and worked our pattern well offensively and defensively we made them shoot outside so I was happy with that.”
BGSU head coach Andy Richards said YSU made it difficult to gain an offensive rhythm early on.
“I think that Youngstown came out with a tremendous amount of energy in the first 15-20 minutes and that put us on the back foot a little bit,” Richards said. “I think it took us more than half of the first half to get into the game.”
The Warwick, England, native told his Falcons to push up the offense and attack more freely in the next 45 minutes.
They did.
Earning four corner kicks in the second half, Bowling Green controlled their possessions and finished the match with 15 shots.
The first goal of the game came on a corner from Megan Amann at the 71:06 mark. After a header from Alyssa Zuccaro, the ball rolled around the goal with no team fully controlling it. Then, forward Tracy Trogba came sliding in to net the goal.
It was just one goal, but Richards feels it could be one of the most gratifying of his career.
“It’s something we work on extensively in practice,” he said. “We try to get a lot of bodies in there to create some confusion. And keep the ball alive.”
Kaitlyn Tobin scored the second goal for the Falcons off a Sarah VonderBrink pass.
YSU finished with five shots, including a last-second attempt from freshman Jade Flory that hit the crossbar before bouncing out of bounds.