2012 SEASON: MY SITE NEWS: EVERYONE ON THE SAME PAIGE: EISENLOHR, COLES SHINE IN VICTORY

The Lady Comets were apparently reading from the same script last night, as they put together a coordinated effort and acted with a single purpose in beating the Western Wayne Wildcats 4-1 on the road in Varden. Although the synergy of the whole team won the game, the sparkling play of goalkeeper Melanie Coles and two memorable goals from Paige Eisenlohr accentuated the performance.

So far this season, only Scranton Prep has been able to attack the Abington goal with more accuracy and consistency than Western Wayne. The Wildcats on-target shooting forced 7 saves from Coles--many of which were spectacular. Coles leapt high to grab driven balls out of the air, gathered up sharply-struck grounders headed for the corner of the net, and dove dramatically to her right to deflect a rifle shot that would have likely flown by any other keeper in the league. The score of this game would have been much tighter if not for these timely and highly-accomplished saves. Coles also read the field well with her distribution and helped keep the team organized and active with her vocal support.

Meanwhile, at the offensive end of the pitch, Eisenlohr scored with both her head and her foot, to make sure that the Lady Comets had a decent margin of victory. Both of her goals were well-executed and demonstrated alert play within the box.

Abington would receive additional goals from Abbey Burke and Isabelle Clauss.

However, before any of this happened, the Lady Comets fell behind early, when just over three minutes into the game, Western Wayne's Annie Bateman powered a direct free kick into the nets from 25 yards out. The score would hold at 1-0 for the next 20 minutes, before another direct free kick would precipitate the game's second goal. This goal would come from the combined effort of Burke and Clauss, a pair of juniors who have played a ton of soccer together over the years, both for the Lady Comets and for various club teams. Clauss absolutely pulverized the ball when she drilled a free kick that was too poisonous for goalkeeper Hannah Robinson to handle; when the keeper spilled the ball, Burke was on the spot in front of the goal and drove the rebound into the back of the net to tie the game at the 26:29 mark.

It would be at the 34:21 mark that Eisenlohr would score the game-winning goal; she slipped into the box and headed home an athletic entry pass played to the far bar by Katrina Helcoski. Both the goal and the set up were "big league" and provided the team with some excellent momentum going into halftime. 

Clauss, playing mostly out of the midfield, also had a monster day, leading the team with 8 shots, 5 of which were on target. At the 59:22 mark, Clauss dribbled to the top of the box and fired an on-target shot with a force similar to that of her earlier free kick--this time the keeper could not reach the ball and the score was extended to 3-1.

Finally, with less than two minutes left in the contest, Eisenlohr would get forward yet again and pound in a goal off of a through ball, a shot that, for the Wildcats, must have stabbed like a driven nail. 

Sarah Sopinski and Heidi Frantz were punishing along the back line--as was Perrine Wasser who played much of the game out of the back. Recently, Lydia Lovecchio has taken over the sweeper position during those portions of the game when Clauss has been moved forward. And it is fair to say that Lovecchio has done a fantastic job in this new and much more challenging role. In fact, it says a lot about the confidence Coach Hunter has in Lovecchio. It is unusual to give a first-year player the reins of the defense, but so far Lovecchio has risen to the responsibility, even as she continues to work to learn the critical position. 

Yesterday's victory was a good win. The girls from Wayne county have a winning record, have beaten teams like Valley View, and certainly came to play last evening. The scoring margin misrepresented the game to some degree. Western Wayne attacked the Lady Comets' defense with athleticism and agility. But they were victimized by Coles' remarkable effort in goal.

The team now plays West Scranton on Wednesday at 4:30. Let's hope for a fine crowd for our last home game of the regular season. The weather---dare we say it?--should be beautiful!

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