By Christopher Shaban
EAGLE TIMES STAFF
WINDSOR, Vt. — The Yellow Jackets Women’s Soccer team capped off homecoming weekend with a 2-0 win over a pesky Green Mountain squad on Saturday. Carolyn Hamilton brought a beat up and young Chieftains squad to face the high-flying Jacks with freshman Sophia Cherubini making her first ever start in net.
“It doesn’t matter if Green Mountain brings nine players or 15, they are a very well coached and dangerous team, we are glad to get the ‘W’ today,” said Windsor Coach Jeff Bachey. That proved true early as Sophia Rockwood was tested in the Jacks net with rockets coming off the feet of Linsey Miles and Abby Williams. If it wasn’t for the quick footwork of Miah McAllister and Brianna Barton, the score would have favored the visitors, but saves on the goal line by the Windsor defense kept the match square. Green Mountain sharpshooter Riley Paul was denied by Rockwood as the visitors were controlling play for big chunks of time before the momentum shifted in a hurry.
“Sometimes we tiptoe around trying to figure things out but once we do, it’s go time,” said junior Olivia MacLeay. MacLeay turned up the heat with an absolute blast from 25 yards out in front of the huge crowd along the sidelines that ripped into the top corner for a 1-0 Windsor lead. “She can hit it from 40 yards, her leg is tremendous,” said Bachey. That 1-0 lead would hold up into the break with Green Mountain having two golden chances off of corners that McAllister and Audri Pettirossi swarmed to to clear away.
Green Mountain came out of the break looking for an equalizer, but the midfield of Windsor had other thoughts. Audrey Rupp, Sophia Dufour, Kenzie Wescott and Kemari Wildgoose were spectacular and seemed to be everywhere the ball was doing all the dirty work in the center of the field. “Our defense is really starting to click, we overlap well, and our speed seems to track down the rushes when we need to,” said McAllister, as Windsor began to press play and looked to extend their slim lead.
With Cherubini under pressure and making some great saves, a corner off the foot of Rupp found McAllister in the box and her header gave Windsor a 2-0 lead as a fatigued Green Mountain team was on the ropes. “We outlasted Carolyn today, we tried to muck it up against their top scorers and it worked well today. It was a tough physical game but fun,” said Bachey.
The Jacks would finish with a 2-0 win and their third shutout in a row as they moved to 4-2 on the season while Green Mountain slipped to 3-4.
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