Thursday, September 29, 2011
By BRANDON JUDEH
POLAND
The Howland High girls soccer team arrived with the All-American Conference championship in mind. The Poland Bulldogs had other ideas, though, and nearly pulled off the upset.
But Olivia Nicholas’ second-half goal broke a stalemate and helped the unbeaten Tigers stay that way with a 2-1 win.
Howland (10-0-1) did claim the AAC American Division championship with the victory.
It didn’t take long for the Tigers to strike first. In the third minute of the game sophomore Seyla Perez notched a goal off of a pass from a free kick to give the Tigers the early momentum.
“The goal was big as far as giving us the early momentum, firing up our team and helping us along the rest of the way,” said Perez.
“It feels good to clinch the conference tonight especially against Poland. This is huge for us going on for the rest of the season and in to the playoffs,” said Perez.
Poland (8-4) tied the game in the 27th minute of the first half when senior Erin Gabriel kicked a goal past Howland goalkeeper Emily Price. After that, Price clamped down and made several big saves to preserve the win for the Tigers.
The Bulldogs had many chances to gain the momentum in the first half, but were unable to break through and steal the lead.
“I felt we moved the ball very well tonight, which we were unable to do the first time we played Howland and lost 6-2. I think we found some of their weaknesses tonight by passing the ball and getting quicker touches, which enabled us to get the ball past them a little bit,” said Poland coach John Cavalier.
Though the Bulldogs fell short, Cavalier said he was proud of how hard his team worked and how they hung around for the whole game.
In the seventh minute of the second half Nicholas weaved her way through the Bulldogs’ defense and scored to put Howland on top for good 2-1.
“This was a big win for us because Poland is our rival and to clinch the conference against them is big for us,” said Nicholas. “We didn’t play our best the first half, but we came out and played as a team in the second half.”
Poland had many chances after Nicholas’ goal to tie the game, but perhaps their best chance came in the 38th minute when Gabriel had a chance to put a header through the nets, but her attempt sailed just inches over the top of the goal.
Nicholas then brought the ball down field and appeared to score her second goal of the game, but it was called off with an offsides goal.
Perez likes her team’s chances as the season winds toward the OHSAA tournament, which begins the week of Oct. 17.
“Having an undefeated record so far is huge for us and it shows the other teams around that we are for real and one of the best teams out there,” she said.