Bruton’s Dasha Hill said she felt like she let her team down last Thursday when the Panthers suffered their first loss of the season, 4-1, at home against Tabb.
The junior forward made up for it by scoring the go-ahead goal in Bruton’s 2-0 road shutout at Grafton on Tuesday.
The Panthers (12-1, 6-1 BRD) scored both of their goals in the first half and then held on for the final 30 minutes to preserve their ninth shutout of the season.
“We didn’t play with the same intensity against Tabb, so we needed to treat this game as a way of reminding ourselves of the intensity we came out with against teams like York,” Bruton coach Joe Dougherty said after the game. “Today we left a few good looks out there I thought, but overall, I was pleased with how we played. We jumped on them early and didn’t let our guard down on defense.”
The rebuilding Clippers (5-6, 4-2 BRD), despite returning just two starters from last year, gave one of their better efforts of the season in the loss, but could not recover from a 2-0 halftime deficit.
After being dominated in possession during the opening half, Grafton’s attack, led by Aileen Ahlers and Sydnie Swartwood, was much more potent during the final 30 minutes. The Clippers often moved the ball to within striking distance but managed few quality shots as Bruton defenders Taylor Everett and Jess Holmes excelled at closing on the ball when Grafton penetrated the Panthers’ back line.
“I thought we played great in the field for the most part,” Clippers’ coach Brooke Feiner said. “We made some adjustments after the first half and I think we came out much stronger and possessed the ball for the majority of the second half.”
Bruton opened the scoring midway through the first half on a goal set up by Carley Shannon. After Shannon sent a cross in front of the cage, Kayla Copeman’s initial shot was kicked away by Grafton keeper Mary Kathryn Harrah, but Hill was there to collect the rebound and swat in the go-ahead goal to give the Panthers a 1-0 lead.
“It was big,” Hill said of taking the early lead. “I was down on myself a little [after the Tabb game] so I wanted to help my team today.”
Moments later, Grafton saw its best scoring chance of the half when Swartwood released a hard shot from the right side, but Bruton goalkeeper Haley Gardner was there to boot it away.
The Panthers would take a 2-0 lead with 2:04 left to play before halftime after Summer Zacharias got a stick on Copeman’s cross from the right side and deflected it in.
Grafton opened the second half with a promising run as Alaina Madeline, who played a strong game anchoring the Clippers defense along with Alice Grace (AG) Cherry, flipped a pass up ahead to Kaitlyn Reid who carried all the way to the goal line but was unable to get off a shot.
The Clippers attack continued to build momentum and earned its first corner of the game six minutes into the second half. They later closed the game with lots of pressure inside the circle during the final five minutes of regulation but couldn’t manage to put one in the back of the cage.
“We’re still a little weak in scoring, but we’re coming along,” Feiner said. “We improved as the game went on, we just couldn’t put one in.”
With Tabb’s 1-0 win over York in Tuesday, Bruton has all but clinched a second-place finish in the district for the second year in a row with games remaining against New Kent (7-5, 2-5 BRD) and Smithfield (2-7, 0-5 BRD)
Tabb 1 York 0
Tabb dominated possession without allowing a shot on goal or a corner, but coach Wendy Wilson said there was nothing easy about the Tigers’ 1-0 victory over visiting York on Tuesday night.
Wilson estimated that York keeper Kealsie Robles made “at least 30” saves in goal, the one exception being Lauren Mitcham’s goal on an assist from Melissa Progar off a corner with 15 minutes remaining in regulation that proved to be the game-winner.
“It was an intense game,” Wilson said. “We just couldn’t score. Their goalie [Robles] was amazing.”
With the victory, Tabb stretched its unbeaten streak to 12-0 while improving to 7-0 in Bay Rivers District play. York dropped to 5-2 in the district (11-2 overall).
