Facing off against the undefeated and top-seeded St. Joseph High in the FCIAC semifinals, Greenwich High was able to limit the Cadets to a lone goal in the first half, but fell victim to a pair of deflected goals in the second half to take a 4-1 loss.
Led by Leah Lewis’ pair of goals, St. Joseph will advance to play Ridgefield in the Championship game while Greenwich will prepare for the state tournament next week.
“We knew coming in that we were going to be playing a very good high-powered offense,” Greenwich head coach Danny Simpson said.”We knew they would get their chances and we knew we had to be defensively sound. It was a bit unfortunate with the deflected goals but I think we gave them a credible game.”
Greenwich came out with early pressure in the first half, forcing small mistakes for the Cadets early and holding them scoreless until the 31st minute.
Following a pair of saves from Greenwich goalie Emma Barefoot, Lewis was able to play the ball off a rebound and find the back of the net to score the game’s first goal.
Seven weeks removed from a season opening 8-0 loss to St. Joseph, the Cardinals kept the game within one score for the first 45 minutes of the game.
“The girls were really up for the game,” Simpson said following the loss. “They weren’t really intimidated by their undefeated record and they wanted to get at them early. By all means, we weren’t intimidated.”
St. Joseph High came out of the half hungry for goals and it didn’t take long for them to start adding up.
Jenna Bike and Lindsey Savko would each score a goal for the Cadets within six minutes apart of each other to build a 3-0 lead.
Greenwich’s Emily Berzolla had an opportunity to chip at St. Joe’s lead with a penalty kick in the 57th minute, but was unable to get the free shot by Cadets’ goalie Veronica O’Rourke.
Minutes later, a deflected shot off a Greenwich defender found its way into the Cardinals’ goal and the score was credited to Lewis to build a commanding and late 4-0 lead for St. Joseph High.
“I think Greenwich played more defensively this time around,” St. Joseph’s head coach Jack Nogueira said. “With any game in the playoffs, it’s a little bit more intense and there is a little added pressure so it’s hard to play free flowing soccer. Today we did a better job than we did in our quarterfinal game against Staples, but we certainly are not playing our best soccer.”
With eight minutes remaining in the game, Greenwich’s Kim Kockenmeister was able to connect on a goal just out of O’Rourke’s extended reach inside the right post to put the Cardinals on the board. Treloara Harrisson provided the assist on the score.
Greenwich will next play in the state tournament that starts next week, following an FCIAC championship match between Ridgefield High and St. Joseph High later this week.
“I think there is a little bit of a rest and recovery time needed,” Simpson said. “We got seven days before we play our state game, but we have a fantastic and very level-headed squad and I think they’ll be ready for states.”
