And though the playing turf was nice and dry, Lady Trojan coach Drew Ebensberger’s ball club still had to endure cold, windy conditions in taking down the Lady Tigers with the mercy-rule victory.
“Yeah, it was cold. The weather’s been a little crazy on us this year. We’ve had to reschedule several games, and it was good to get this first region win under the belt in dry conditions. It was a little cool and windy, but we put in a good performance. The girls were dying to play. I mean, we haven’t played in [a week], so I think that helped them. They had that drive, that hunger, because they wanted to get out and do something. It paid out for us in a big 10-0 win,” Ebensberger said.
No. 5 Carrollton (2-2, 1-0 Region 5-AAAA) got a hat trick from Lauren Dressander, while Emily Bryan and Sarah Bryan both pushed a pair of goals into the back of the net and Isabel Rothschadl, Perilynne Morris and Falen Kizunga also got in on the scoring action with one goal each.
The Lady Trojans took a 4-0 lead into halftime, though they missed out on some early scoring opportunities before Morris broke through with the first goal of the match at the 33:46 mark. Sarah Bryan then made it a 2-0 contest off an assist from Morgan Hufnagel and Dressander got the first of her three goals with 28:18 remaining on an Emily Adams cross with 28:18 left. Rothschadl’s unassisted score with 10:25 to go made for the 4-0 halftime margin.
Carrollton broke the game open in the second half, with Dressander getting her second goal on a Caroline Seeman cross less than eight minutes into play, which was followed by an unassisted Dressander score just a little more than a minute later for the 6-0 advantage.
Sarah Bryan then netted her second goal off a Dressander assist, which was followed by Kizunga getting loose for a breakaway score with 24:13 left in the second half. A pair of Emily Bryan goals closed out the game at the 12:29 mark due to the mercy rule.
The Lady Tigers (1-3, 0-1) never really threatened to get on the board Tuesday, as Carrollton dominated possession for the better part of the match.
“Which is what we talked about needing to be able to do is hold onto it, possess it, knock it around and when the opportunity comes, take those shots. We had a few chances early that we didn’t capitalize on. It could have been 1-0 or 2-0 early on in the game. It took us a little bit to find the back of the net,” Ebensberger said. “In the second half, we were able to come out a little bit better. We really started putting it in.”
Ebensberger said it was encouraging to see several different players get in on the scoring action Tuesday night to mix it up a little.
“It’s nice to have some different options rather than having to rely on one person. It makes it nice being able to get scoring. You know, Lauren Dressander, Emily Bryan, Falen Kizunga, Anna Camp, [Perilynne] Morris and then [Hufnagel] putting in some good crosses for us. I mean, the options and the attack was there,” Ebensberger said.
And while he hasn’t gotten to see his team in live action a whole lot early in the year, the bits and pieces Ebensberger has taken in have been positive.
“We’ve still got some things we’re working on. When you have to replace people and you’re filling them in, it takes a little bit. The weather hasn’t helped us. It’s slowed us down a little bit by not being able to get to practices like we want. But they’re coming along. We’ve got a long season and I look forward to them getting better and better each game,” Ebensberger said.
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