Cultivating Christian Minds and Character
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Spring Season
Another Comback = Another Victory!
It’s often said that things always happen in 3s. However, for the Lady Wildcats it has been a season of 2’s. The ladies started the season with 2 consecutive shutouts. They followed that with 2 consecutive overtime losses. Now, they’ve added to the list with 2 consecutive comeback victories. On Wednesday, the ladies came back to beat Villa Duchesne. On Friday, they came from behind to beat Ritenour by the score of 6-3.
In the most difficult weather conditions to date, the Wildcats took the field with temps falling into the 40’s and the winds blowing up to 40 mph. In what could be considered déjà vu all over again, Westminster got off to a rough start as they gave up an early goal. At 2:16, Ritenour was awarded a free kick from about 20 yds. The Huskies kicker curled a well placed shot around the Wildcat wall and into the left corner of the net to give Ritenour a 1-0 lead. Undaunted, the Wildcats recovered quickly and went on the attack. Playing a nice game of possession, the ladies moved the ball efficiently as they looked for opportunities to score. At 7:07, Kenzie Pfitzinger evened things up on a play that started with a long service from Haley Bettlach. Kenzie collected the ball, dribbled down the left side, and curled into the box. She looked up and hit a high hard shot into the upper left corner of the net to tie the score 1-1. Throughout the half, the Wildcats were firmly in control of the play but were stifled by the Huskies defense. At 28:18, a nice combination between Liz Crowell and Leah Beck led to a Westminster corner kick. Christine Ehrmann lined herself up and placed the ball nicely into the middle of the box where Kenzie easily put it behind the Ritenour keeper to put the Wildcats up 2-1. As the clock ran down, it looked like Westminster would go into halftime with the lead and in control. A questionable call very late in the half changed all of that. A normally innocent throw-in mistakenly awarded to Ritenour was collected by a Huskies attacker who blasted a shot that hit the bottom of the crossbar and went into the net at 39:59 to tie the score 2-2.
The 2nd half started much like the 1st only colder. An early defensive mistake allowed Ritenour to score only a minute into the half. A Ritenour attacker, breaking down the right side beat 2 defenders and capitalized on a 3rd who had fallen when she floated her shot into the high left corner of the net to give the Huskies a 3-2 lead at 1:15. Collecting themselves, the Wildcats began to gain control of the match. A ball thrown deep towards the Ritenour goal led to a mistake by the Huskies defense. Collecting the throw-in, a Ritenour defender poorly cleared the ball directly to Leah Beck who thumped a shot from 25 yds past the surprised Huskies keeper to even the score at 3-3. Defensively, Westminster handled itself well as Haley and partners Christine, Christina Dohr, and Adrienne Boyd prevented the Huskies from taking advantage of the wind and mounting any type of serious attack. At 20:02, Leah gathered the ball near midfield and worked past 3 defenders. She slipped a pass between a defenders legs (called a “nutmeg”) to Kenzie who scored her 3rd goal of the day to give the Wildcats a 4-3 lead. The clock wasn’t going down fast enough as the wind blew harder and the temps continued to fall. In a play similar to Kenzie’s last goal, Lauren Probst scored on a sweet pass from Kenzie at 32:10 for a 5-3 lead. Liz Crowell learned how obviously true the phrase “You can’t score if you don’t shoot” can be. At 36:20, Kenzie fed the ball to Liz who turned and took a shot that appeared it would be picked up by the keeper. As Liz turned to get in defensive mode, the crowd cheered as the ball slipped through the keeper’s hands and into the net for the last goal of the game. Thankfully, the final whistle blew and the shivering players shook hands and quickly scampered off the field. The 6-3 victory was a welcome gift on junior Anneleyce Alexander’s birthday.
The Wildcats travel to MICDS on Monday 4/14 where they will take on the rival Rams at 4:15pm. Student support has been very instrumental in the last 2 victories so the ladies hope you’ll find some time after school and cheer them on to victory.
Game Stats:
Goals: Beck, Crowell, Pfitzinger (3), Probst Assists: Beck, Bettlach, Ehrmann, Haverstick, Pfitzinger Shots: Beck (3), Crowell, Dohr, Ehrmann, Haverstick (2), Pfitzinger (4), Probst (3), Sherman Game Winning Goal: Pfitzinger