Coming off a tightly contested rivalry game that resulted in a 1-0 Rams victory over Darien on Friday, New Canaan girls soccer took to Conner Field again on Monday afternoon poised to not have any letdowns against the Crusaders of Trinity Catholic.
They certainly did not let down.
The team netted four first half goals from four different individuals and never looked back on their way to a 6-0 victory, extending its season-beginning win streak to four as well as its shutout streak.
“We created a lot of good chances today,” head coach Kirk Bamford told NewCanaanite.com. “Credit to Trinity’s goalie (Jazmune Maolia) who had some special saves. All in all, I can’t really grumble. We had a lot of good chances and we finished on a lot of good chances as well. We were dangerous today which bodes well for the future.”
Senior co-captain Mia Carroll boots the ball back to her teammates in the offensive end to jump-start the scoring in the Rams 6-0 victory over Trinity Catholic on Monday. Credit: Amy Murphy Carroll
Madison Starr kicked off New Canaan’s scoring when in just the eighth minute of play she finished a cross from forward Julia Ozimek, who was pushing the ball up the left side of the field after receiving a nice feed from her teammate Katharine Kuchinski.
“Julia had a great run,” Starr told NewCanaanite.com when recalling the first goal of the game. “She dribbled past a couple players, then played it across to me and I just happened to get my foot on the ball and it went in.”
Three minutes later, the Rams were back on the attack and found the back of the net again. This time Ozimek connected with another teammate of hers, sophomore Braeden Dial, who collected her third goal in as many games.
Junior Paige Freyre pushing the ball upfield past Trinity Catholic defender Tiara Starks. Credit: Amy Murphy Carroll
A flurry of chances for New Canaan came over the next fourteen minutes. But as Coach Bamford stated earlier, credit must be given to Manolia for keeping the Rams off the board during that stretch.
However, with senior co-captain Sami Stewart coming down the far right side, virtually uncontested, she crossed a pass to her classmate, Kylie Murphy who sent the ball into the net for the third New Canaan goal of the half.
That score prompted Bamford to put in many of his reserves and give much of the seniors on the team a well-deserved breather for the rest of the afternoon. The level of play did not falter as about six minutes later sophomore Eliza Pohle fed the freshman Brooke Volpe for the fourth Rams goal of the half — proving the quality depth that this squad has.
Freshman Brooke Volpe connecting on a goal to cap off New Canaan’s four-goal first half. Credit: Amy Murphy Carroll
“I think it’s just good to get all the players out there and give them good playing time,” said Bamford. “It helps with their confidence in themselves and gets them into a game scenario. Fortunately there are not many players who haven’t played yet, which is good. Again, when you’re able to give your players some extra time to get out there and show us what they can do, it’s good for us and it’s good for them.”
New Canaan would notch two more goals in the second half. The first coming from sophomore forward Freia Mierendorf and the final one coming on Starr’s second tally of the game, effectively book-ending the scoring for the Rams on the afternoon.
The win over Trinity Catholic (0-4-0) is the first of three games for the Rams this week, continuing with two road games on back-to-back days — the first at Trumbull on Thursday at 4 p.m., followed by a contest at Westhill on Friday. Bamford knows that the schedule will just keep on getting tougher.
“We’re going to be challenged which is what we expect,” said Bamford. “We’re ready for the challenge. Obviously we don’t control how the games come in terms of who we play when, but we just got to be ready. And we’re getting a consistency in our game now where we’re turning up and competing at the right level to get the results that we want. So hopefully that will continue.”