Varsity Girl's Soccer: Middletown Shows Resiliency in Defeat Against Hubs

By Ben Spector
Winning After MidKnight

 

The Middletown High School Knights Varsity Girl’s Soccer team is only four games deep into their season but already they have shown a talent that it takes some teams years to develop.

Resiliency.

Middletown is a resilient as a team as they come and they proved it on Tuesday September 13^th when they fell to the North Hagerstown High School Hubs by a 3-2 score.

Those who pay attention to the result would have seen what everyone else sees, that the Knights fell to the Hubs 3-2 at home. But, for those at the game the story is just a little bit different. Middletown fell behind twice over the course of the game only to dig their heels back in and find the tying goals in both instances.

And, if that doesn’t give Middletown fans some solace the fact that the Knights were the better team for most of the game should as Middletown played strong on attack but couldn’t break the wall of North Hagerstown junior goalkeeper Maddie Foltz who picked up 13 saves for the Hubs on the night.

Things were calm throughout the first half as both teams went through a feeling out process at first with both teams trying to get a feel for their opponents’ tendencies and strengths throughout the course of the first 20 minutes.

About midway through the first half, is when the Knights would shift things into gear as Middletown’s midfielders began to connect with their forwards and they would have a couple of chances that would test Foltz for the first times that night.

Even after Middletown’s chances were denied during the first half the Knights would still control the pace of play during the first half as Middletown senior goalkeeper Cortney Renninger would not see a lot of action coming her way in what was a first half where the field was tilted in Middletown’s direction.

At the break, the Knights would have registered five shots on goal with many more close calls on top of that while the Hubs only has one shot in goal in what was there only real legitimate scoring chance.

Middletown would head in the half with the momentum on their side but with both teams lacking any goals to show for their efforts in the first half. The Knights’ resiliency would be tested early in the second half.

North Hagerstown would strike early as in the 44^th minute Allison Gose would slot home for the Hubs and take the 1-0 lead in a game in which the Knights had deserved to have the lead.

This is where the trait we mentioned earlier would come in. Just six minutes later Middletown senior forward Lindsey Brant would get alone in on the goalie and would make the Hubs pay as she would slot home to tie things at one in the 50^th minute after some determined midfield play by the Knights led to the goal.

Resiliency.

The pace of the game would pick up from there as both teams would be looking for the goals that would end the game in regulation and give each team an early season win.

Even though the Knights held the majority of the chances in the second half as well the play had opened up significantly leading to chances for both teams and that would put Middletown junior goalkeeper Caylin Clingan, who replaced Renninger in the second half, to the test.

The Hubs would be the next one to draw blood as in the 70^th minute and with time slowly escaping both teams as Hubs junior forward Alexis Pate put a goal in the back of the net that very few goalies at the college level could have stopped as North Hagerstown would go up 2-1.

The late goal would seem to put the Knights into dangerous waters as Middletown would have ten minutes to equalize but again that trait would come back to play.

Resiliency.

The Knights would need someone to play spoiler for the Hubs and Knights junior Madison Michael would be perfectly up for that role as inside the final two minutes Michael would find the ball at her feet and slot it home past the outstretched arms of Foltz to tie it at two at the end of regulation.

The first half of overtime would pass by with nothing happening for either team but in the second half of overtime that trait would come up again.

Resiliency.

The Hubs would test Clingan early on and she would come up with a ten-bell save as the young goalkeeper was thrust into action on a big stage and held up to the test holding the game at two.

Minutes later, though, the Hubs would tally the winner as junior midfielder Ally Goetz would put one home and give the Hubs a 3-2 win, but in the end the result was secondary to the one thing the Knights put on display more than anything else, something that is a quality that will come up big during playoff time.

Resiliency.