A successful debut for the new coach
The Gonzaga University women’s soccer team opened the 2009 season with a convincing 3-0 victory over the University of Montana in front of 605 fans at the Gonzaga Soccer Field Sunday afternoon.
Lori Conrad led the way for the Bulldogs (1-0-0) with a goal and an assist while Jessie Sorenson and Kelsey Werre each notched scores to give the Zags their seventh consecutive win over the Grizzlies (0-1-0).
“Scoring first was huge for us today,” commented Bulldogs first year head coach Amy Edwards. “We executed early. We turned some good offensive pressure into two early goals and we used some solid defense to pick up a solid win over a good Montana team today.”
Gonzaga’s early pressure led to a 2-0 GU lead just ten minutes into each team’s season opener. Just past the five minute mark, Conrad slipped a pass to a streaking Emma Dolcetti just inside the 18-yard box along the right side who fired a shot that was turned away by a charging UM keeper Grace Harris. Harris blocked the shot but was unable to corral the ball as it rolled away to her right and Sorenson came in and found the back left corner for the score.
Conrad was at the center of the action again in the tenth minute as her header off of Sheridan Jones’ corner kick into the right corner gave the Zags a two goal lead.
With her team holding a 2-0 lead, Gonzaga starting keeper Jessie Thalman made a save that changed the match. Montana’s Ashley Tombelaine had broken through the Bulldogs defense in the 13th minute and found herself one-on-one with the Zags senior keeper. Tombelaine had dribbled into the middle of the 18-yard box and fired a shot towards the right corner but had it turned away by a diving Thalman to keep the shutout in order.
“That was a match-changing play,” commented Edwards. “We had just taken the 2-0 lead and UM was fighting to get back into the match. Montana got through our defense but Jessie did what a good keeper does and stepped up and made a spectacular save. That effort seemed to give us some extra energy and confidence on the defensive end the rest of the afternoon.”
The Bulldogs continued with the up-tempo offense, continuing to stretch the field and attacked the goal later in the period. A couple of newcomers got into the act towards the end of the first half as Stevie Hamilton lobbed a pass through two Montana defenders to Werre who maneuvered her way towards the left side of the net and then slipped a shot past a charging Harris to the far right corner for the Zags third and final score of the afternoon.
Gonzaga was held scoreless in the second half while continuing with the pressure, outshooting UM 8-3 but could not get any more scores across. The Bulldogs finished the day with a 14-5 shot advantage and a 10-2 advantage in corner kicks.
“We had great execution on both sides of the ball today,” stated Edwards. “We took advantage of the 10 corner kicks and had a number of players produce around the net today. We are very excited that we were able to get so many players into the match and get a win in front of our home crowd.”
Thalman made one save to pick up the win while Amy Danielson made one save while playing the second half in goal for the Zags.
The Kennel: "You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy."
Bleeds Bulldog Blue
. Maybe I could bring my daughter to a match up there and really inspire her!
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