POLAND — Kelsie Taylor is used to scoring goals.

It just makes it that much easier when teammates serve the ball to her on the tips of her toes.

Taylor scored her third goal of the game on a perfect through ball from Jen Powell that sailed over three defenders and landed perfectly at her feet, lifting Poland to a 3-2 victory over Traip Academy on Thursday.

Her strike from just outside the six-yard box clanged off the left post and ricocheted into the cage, just past the outstretched foot of keeper Selena Lorrey.

“She was giving it to me a little,” Taylor said. “But I’m pretty good at keeping it low and far post, that’s the shot I like.”

“She’s definitely a threat any time she’s on the field,” Poland coach Aaron Rand said. “That’s her strength, cutting the ball, going against the grain. She really created some separation today. Any time the ball touches her foot, she has a chance to score.”

Taylor scored one in the first half, and another early in the second on a penalty kick. Still, Traip never singled her out or tried to mark her with a shadow.

“We felt when we try to do that, sometimes we open up the rest of the field too much,” Traip coach Sooz Watson said.

The Rangers (0-5) took advantage of some sloppy early play. Kaytie Ziegler fired the ball to the far right post and past Poland keeper Samantha St. Pierre just 5:14 into the contest.

“It was a frustrating start, we had a bad warm-up today, and they came out and scored in the first five minutes,” Rand said. “That put us in the hole, and we had to battle out of that hole all game long.”

Taylor split a pair of defenders, out-dribbled a third and found the net with 10:18 to play in the opening half to even things at 1-1. Sophie Geelhoed nearly had another for the Knights (1-2-1) in the 13th minute of the second half, but her boot from just inside the 18 just missed the crossbar.

Four minutes later, the Rangers benefited from a penalty called inside the box, and Darilynn Birse scored on the ensuing penalty kick to give her squad another one-goal advantage.

But just 26 seconds later, a Rangers’ defender tripped Taylor in the box on the other end, setting her up for her second goal, also on a PK.

“Coach is pretty big on PKs, and I practice them a lot, especially before the game and in the practice before,” Taylor said.

Poland played most of the rest of the half in the Traip end, but it wasn’t until Powell collected the ball on the right sideline at the 35-yard line that the Knights were able to find a seam big enough to spring Taylor.

“I thought the second half, we dominated play,” Rand said. “We were going to score at some point.”  

Later, St. Pierre juggled the ball on a cross into the 18, but fell on it before a Traip striker could follow with a shot.

“I was a bit nervous,” St. Pierre admitted. “But I knew I had to go out and get it. I pretty much pummeled my way through everything and went to get it.”