Strong start for local girls’ soccer teams

BY COREY GESFORD

Correspondent

Montrose kicked off their season with three lopsided wins; Mountain View and Elk Lake registered thrilling victories; and Forest City got off to an undefeated start in the opening week of Lackawanna League Girls soccer action. 

Maddy Gilhool kicked off her senior campaign with four goals as Montrose routed Dunmore, 7-0, in the season opener. Freshmen Cici Adams scored her two goals in the first half to get Montrose going. Adams scored after setting herself free and earning an unassisted goal. She also nailed a penalty kick to give the Lady Meteors a 2-0 halftime advantage.

Gilhool took over in the second half getting free for four unassisted goals and fellow senior Gabby Davis capped the scoring when she found the back of the net.

Montrose owned a 20-5 shot advantage and Lady Meteor goalkeeper Katie Puterbaugh denied the Lady Bucks five times.

“Everyone is contributing offensively and defensively we are defending well as a unit,” said Montrose Coach Jenton Esworthy.

On Wednesday, Montrose rolled to a 10-0 win over Western Wayne in the Lady Meteors home opener. Gilhool led the way with four goals; Davis added two and each recorded two assists to lead Montrose.

Gilhool took a pass from Harper Andre and scored at the 11-minute mark to get things started for Montrose. Three minutes late Davis found Gilhool and the she deposited her second goal of the evening. The pair hooked up again to score at 19:37 and establish a 3-0 lead.

Chalice Guyette took a Breanne Spence pass a little over three minutes later to score the first of her two goals. At 35:19 Gilhool returned the favor when she found Davis who laced a shot into the net, and with 55 seconds left in the half Gilhool fed Spence for a goal and dominating 6-0 halftime lead.

The second half found the Lady Meteors getting unassisted goals from Annalise Ely, Davis, Guyette, and Gilhool. Montrose dominated the ball outshooting the Lady Cats 35-3. Puterbaugh recorded one save on the three shots by Western Wayne.

“The girls are communicating well and are very organized and coachable right now,” added Esworthy.

Montrose registered another double-digit victory on Saturday, as the host Lady Meteors jumped on Holy Cross 17 seconds into the game when Adams sent a ball through to Gilhool who put it in the back of the net. Montrose never looked back on their way to an 11-0 win.

Montrose, which outshot Holy Cross by a whopping 40-1 advantage, scored again when Gilhool fed Breanne Spence for a goal four minutes later and Rachel Sorenson garnered a ball from Gilhool at 8:30 to give Montrose a 3-0 lead.

Gilhool took matters into her own hands four minutes later when she got past the Lady Crusader defense to score. Adams got her own goal at 24:27 when Gabby Davis sent Adams a pass that she deposited into the net. Annalise Ely scored unassisted with just under four minutes to go in the first half; and less than two minutes later Adams scored her second goal to give Montrose the commanding 7-0 halftime advantage.

It was more of the same in the second half when Gilhool found the back of the net twice, scoring unassisted three minutes into the half and taking a Spence pass to score at 61:26. Sandwiched between Gilhool’s goals was Adams getting a hat trick with an unassisted goal at 53:15. Defensive stalwart Harper Andre closed out the scoring with a goal with just under 12 minutes to play.

Montrose goalie Haley Dalton recorded a save on Holy Cross’s only shot. 

Mountain View opened their season with a thrilling 2-1 victory over Western Wayne. The teams deadlocked for 63 minutes when Rebecca Plomchok found the back of the net on a pass from Natalie Cross. Western Wayne knotted the game when a battle in front of the net found the Lady Wildcats coming up with the score.

The Lady Eagles countered two minutes later Sydney Barhite broke free from the defense and laced a shot past Western Wayne keeper Gracie Guarino.

Mountain View edged Western Wayne 18-17 in shots, while the Lady Cats held and advantage in corner kicks 3-2. Lady Eagles Goalie Sydney Newhart had 16 saves.

Wednesday, Mountain View found itself down early as Lakeland’s Stephanie Rissmiller scored at the 6:31 mark, but then the Lady Eagle defense tightened and held the Lady Chiefs scoreless the remained of the game on their way to a 3-2 victory.

At nearly 28 minutes Cross broke past the Lakeland defense and scored unassisted. The game would remain tied for over 30 minutes until Cross found Marissa Ostir going to the goal and the Lady Eagle sophomore found the back of the net to seize the lead for Mountain View. Two minutes later Barhite would find herself free and put the ball past the Lakeland goalie to seize the momentum for Mountain View.

Lakeland cut the deficit to the eventual outcome with a goal with five minutes to go, but Mountain View would let nothing else by to secure the win. Newhart registered 15 saves for Mountain View on Lakeland’s 16 shots. Overall Mountain View outshot Lakeland 21-16 and had a 7-4 advantage in corner kicks.

Shots were at a premium opening night at Elk Lake and both teams struggled to get on the board until Elk Lake’s Katie Cusatis broke free and scored the game’s only goal in the 77th minute as Elk Lake edged West Scranton, 1-0.

West Scranton outshot Elk Lake 9-5 but Lady Warrior goalie Lucy Ives maintained the shutout with six saves.

Forest City got their season off on a positive note as the Lady Foresters jumped out early with four goals in the first half with the first one coming off the foot of Katie Keller 2:45 into the game.

The match played to a standstill from that point until Forest City when on a flurry as Maggie Kowlaewski scored just under the 19-minute mark and was followed by Jessica Curley two minutes later. Isabelle Richner capped the scoring with goal at the 32-minute mark to give Forest City a 4-0 halftime lead.

Mid Valley stymied the Lady Foresters most of the second half before Curley found the net at the 72:53 mark. Richner added another goal and Emily Kelleher closed out the scoring with a goal with 40 seconds remaining. Forest City outshot Mid Valley 27-5, Goalkeeper Maddy Bailer earned three saves.

Wednesday, the Lady Foresters hosted Elk Lake and scored two goals in a 12-minute span in the first half and outlasted the Lady Warriors 2-1 to move to 2-0 on the year.

Kowalweski broke through the Elk Lake defense to score unassisted at the 15-minute mark for the game’s first points. Twelve minutes later Richner did the same to give Forest City a 2-0 lead heading into halftime.

In the second half Elk Lake finally got on the board when Cusatis worked her way through the Forest City defense and buried a shot at the 63-minute mark. The two teams would play to a standstill from there on to give Forest City the win.

The Lady Foresters enjoyed a 20-8 shot advantage and took the only two corner kicks in the game. Bailer recorded seven saves on those eight shots, while Ives denied half the Forest City shots to garner 10 saves.

Keller broke a deadlocked game nearly six minutes into the second half as the Lady Foresters defeated West Scranton 2-1 on Saturday to start the season out 3-0.

After West Scranton struck first 24 minutes into the game when Zaynah Williams got a shot past Bailer, Forest City benefitted by a West Scranton mistake when an own goal knotted the game for the Lady Foresters with three minutes to go in the first half. Bailer recorded four saves for Forest City.