West High’s Women of Troy Defeat Little Hawks in Overtime

After being tied at one for most of the game, the Women of Troy broke the tie less than two minutes into OT to claim victory.

Jonathan House, Sports Editor|May 16, 2016

The City High varsity women’s soccer team was able to hold off the West High Trojans until the end of regulation. In the end, West High’s attack proved to be too much for the Little Hawk defenders who had been tested all day. West High’s Emma Cooper ’17 put away the winning goal not even two minutes into the sudden death overtime.

“As far as the effort and attitude to try to win the game, we did the things that we needed to,” Michael Prunty, head coach, said. “A lot of the girls worked their tails off to try and win the game.”

After a relatively slow start, West High lead the scoring with a goal off of a penalty kick in the ninth minute. The Women of Troy capitalized on the opportunity to take an early 1-0 lead.

Shortly afterwards, in the 12th minute, Ashley Smith ’16 found room to fire off a shot that found the back of the net to tie the game at 1-1. The Women of Troy almost broke the tie right before halftime; a ball from a free kick about ten yards outside the box hit the top of the crossbar and bounced back down in front of the goal. It eventually ended up in the hands of City’s goalkeeper, Naomi Meurice ’19, to keep the game tied 1-1 at halftime.

West High had many opportunities to score in the second half but couldn’t seem to capitalize. City defenders Lizzy Ward ’16 and Shelby Burden ’16 kept the West High forwards at bay for most of the game. Meurice had many saves in the second half to keep the Little Hawks alive. City was forced to play on the defensive for most of the second half. They had a few opportunities on counter attacks, but were unable to do much with them.

The Little Hawks were able to force the game into overtime, but West High’s persistent attacking proved too much for the Little Hawks’ defense that had been under attack for the entire second half.

“We didn’t do enough to be dangerous and attack, and it wears on you,” Prunty said. “We’re not as deep, and so it just kind of builds on itself. I’m happy, I couldn’t have asked for more outside of winning the game from the girls.”