MIKE MACKE
WZBD.com
On Wednesday evening, the Bellmont girls’ soccer team opened their season by taking on a very tough Homestead squad. Gone for the Braves from a team that went 17 – 3 – 2 last year were all-time scorer Carly Gilbert and college-bound playmakers Arabelle Laurent, Emma Scheumann, and goalie Taylor Louis, among others. Needless to say, coach Steve Lee’s squad is young and rebuilding this season.
The Spartans came in having played two games already, a 6 – 1 win over Leo and a 1 – 1 tie with Penn. Homestead took advantage of the youthful Braves as they started quickly and easily defeated Bellmont by the score of 9 – 0 in a game that ended with 45 seconds left due to the 9-goal differential rule.
Homestead dominated the possession for the first several minutes and just 3:36 in, Braylee Morris launched a shot from 25 yards straight-away which carried over the outstretched arms of Bellmont goalie Emily Barton and just under the crossbar for the first score. Just one minute later sophomore Audrey Johnson, who just returned from a summer playing in Europe, worked her way into the goalie box and shuffled a nice pass across to teammate Ashlyn Sager who put it away to make it 2 – 0.
With 28:18 on the clock, Morris went inside the far post from the corner of the box for her second goal of the night. About 1:20 later, Allie Heine rolled one past a diving Barton for a 4 – 0 lead. The fifth goal came from an own goal. The Braves defender was attempting to block a crossing pass on a corner kick and it deflected off of her outstretched leg into the Bellmont net.
At 14:35, Morris completed the hat trick with a 25-yard bomb that again just went over Barton and under the crossbar to make it 6 – 0, which was the halftime score.
The young Braves gathered themselves during the intermission and came out with increased effort in the second half. The impressive Johnson, just a sophomore, cashed in on a nifty Messi-esque move for the seventh score at five minutes in, but it was the only goal given up for the first 35 minutes of play in the half. Bellmont even mustered a few chances and forced the Homestead goalie to make some nice saves. With five minutes left, Johnson found herself ten yards out with the ball and hit a rocket past Barton, who stood no chance. Senior Nola Hadi then ended the game with the ninth goal at the 0:45 mark.
“Well, we are young and we lost a bunch of senior talent,” summed up coach Lee after the game. “But I liked the fight and spirit the girls showed, especially in the second half. We made a slight formation change at half and the girls took to it very well. We knew it would be tough playing one of the best teams in the state this early, but that’s why we have the early schedule we do, to get us where we want to be at the end of the season.”
It doesn’t get much easier as the girls are at the always tough St. Joseph Invite this weekend and then travel to Bishop Dwenger next Tuesday.
The Bellmont JV started their season with a win, defeating Homestead 6 – 0.
Scoring:
1st Half:
36:24 Braylee Morris (Hom) 1-0 H
35:25 Ashlyn Sagan (Hom) 2-0 H
28:18 Braylee Morris (Hom) 3-0 H
26:40 Allie Heine (Hom) 4-0 H
20:10 Own goal 5-0 H
14:35 Braylee Morris (Hom) 6-0 H
2nd Half:
35:45 Audrey Johnson (Hom) 7-0 H
5:08 Audrey Johnson (Hom) 8-0 H
0:45 Nola Hadi (Hom) 9-0 H
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