AUBURN – After spending most of Tuesday’s game trying to seize momentum in its Eastern A preliminary game, the Edward Little girls’ soccer team finally got it late in the second half.
Maintaining it and taking advantage of it, however, was another story.
The Red Eddies tied Erskine with 16:30 left in regulation but watched the Eagles punch in the game-winner with 2:38 left in a 2-1 victory.
Sasha Bender scored both goals for Erskine, which beat EL 3-0 in the regular season.
“You’ve got to play for 80 minutes, and we didn’t,” said EL coach Tom Grossman. “(Bender) was the only player on that team we worried about, and she stuck us both times. She had two chances, and she scored on both of them.”
Bender scored on a breakaway just 2:56 into the game. EL (8-5-2) spent much of the game trying to get that one back. Opportunities were hard to come by for EL. Lindsey St. Hilaire, Kelsey Pettengill and Katelyn St. Hilaire created some pressure in the first half but couldn’t produce many quality bids.
In the second half, a Pettengill cross was redirected just wide by Alyssa Levesque. Katelyn St. Hilaire had a shot saved by Erskine keeper Ericka Malley.
“We’ve had a problem capitalizing on offense all year long,” said Grossman. “We don’t attack the goal well. When we have a corner or a free kick outside the box and Olivia (Welch) takes the kick, we have a chance, and that’s what happened.”
EL got its lone goal with 16:30 left. Off a dead ball, Welch put a cross into the goalmouth where Pettengill was there to redirect it in.
Erskine (9-5-1) responded with a strong finish. They had a cross from the left corner bounce around in the box before EL keeper Brittney French pounced on it.
“We tried to pump ourselves up and fight through it,” said Bender.
With less than three minutes to play, Bender snuck between defenders and got space for herself. She put a low shot toward the right corner that eluded the diving French.
“I trapped it and dribbled it up,” she said. “I just shot it with my right foot. I saw the right corner of the net. So I shot it there.”
Bender’s first goal came off a Rachael Siegfriedt pass from the middle. She got behind the defense and had an uncontested shot.
“They’re a decent team,” said Grossman. “I give all the credit to them. They capitalized when they had the opportunities and played tough defense.”
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