Riverside Women’s Soccer picked up a huge win last night against East Chapel Hill on their home turf. The Pirates came into the game with a record of 5-3-3, and the Wildcats at 4-4-1. This game had massive implications for both teams, in the conference standings and looking ahead for a bid to the state playoffs.
Riverside had two opportunities to score in the first twenty minutes of the game, one on a breakaway by Jackie Wenzlick, and the other on a corner kick from Zoe Cordell that resulted in a contested header attempt.
With 18 minutes remaining in the first half, a ball looked to be going out on Riverside, but at the last second, Wenzlick was able to tap it off of the foot of one of the Wildcat defenders. That gave the Pirates a corner kick from Cordell to Riley O’Connor, who tapped it in from 5 feet out.
The Pirates ended up on defense for the majority of the rest of the first half, and with a minute left before halftime, conceded their first goal after two saves earlier on in the half.
Riverside continued to get corner kicks throughout the game, usually off of breakaways by Wenzlick. With 30 minutes left in the second half, Cordell got another opportunity at a corner kick, and for the second time in the game connected with O’Connor to take the lead.
The Pirates would stifle the Wildcats on defense for the remainder of the game, forcing them to attempt long shots. East was able to move the ball around well, but never got close to the goal.
Senior defender Libby Flowe played higher up in a staggered press, and stepped to every 50/50 ball. Flowe’s ability to get the ball back across midfield not only helped the defense, but also set up midfielders Cordell and O’Conner to advance the ball.
Keeper Abby Cho had six saves on the game, including back-to-back saves in the first half on long shot attempts by the Wildcats
With this key 2-1 victory, the Pirates now sit at 6-3-3, and sit in 4th place in the conference, close behind East and Jordan. While Chapel Hill is the clear front-runner in the conference, the race for second place is very much alive. Riverside now starts a string of four road games, the first of which will come against Clayton on Friday. They return home on April 25th against Southern Alamance.
