FREEPORT – One big save followed by one big goal produced one big victory Friday for Freeport in the Western Class B schoolgirl soccer tournament.

Abby Roney made the save and Aubrey Pennell scored the goal as the seventh-seeded Falcons downed 10th-ranked Poland 3-1 in a prelim game.

After Freeport (8-7) led 1-0 at halftime thanks to a Macy Stowell goal, Poland threatened one minute into the second half. Emily Bolduc had a golden opportunity to tie it from the left side of the box.

Bolduc nailed a shot toward the lower right corner, but Roney, who saw just one shot in the first half, came up with an outstanding diving save.

“I was a goalie,” said Freeport Coach Elayna Zachka-Girardin, “and I know what it can be like to have games where you don’t see a lot of action and you need to stay mentally sharp. So we’ve been warming Abby up a second time at halftime.”

Freeport countered immediately, with Ashley Richardson carrying deep down the left side before crossing in the middle to Pennell.

From 25 yards, Pennell one-timed a blast high into the left side of the net at 2:06 to make it 2-0.

“I saw Brooke (Heathco) go for it and she probably could have scored as well, but I was closer and got to it first, and I was able to get off a good shot,” said Pennell.

“That was probably the difference,” said Poland Coach Aaron Rand. “We missed our chance, their goalie made a great save, and they went down in transition and took advantage of their opportunity.

“That’s soccer.”

Naomi Otis made it 3-0 after 10 minutes of the second half, chasing down a loose ball in the left corner after a Heathco corner and nailing a shot into the inside high part of the net.

Roney came up big again with a leaping save on a Lindsey Theriault 35-yarder off a Paxton Arsenault corner, but Bolduc finally scored for the Knights (5-10) with 3:43 remaining, taking a feed from Emma Turton in the right corner and hitting the upper part of the net inside the post.

Stowell made it 1-0 at 23:23 of the first half when Emily Johnson, in the middle of the box, passed to Stowell on the right, and Stowell grounded a shot into the right corner.

“We’ve been working on our scoring this year,” said Zachka-Girardin. “The last couple of years we’ve been working on defense and now we’re getting better on offense.

“The kids have been getting their confidence and we now believe we can win, and this is the first time Freeport’s been over .500 in years. We just want to keep playing with intensity.”

“We came out knowing we have a chance to go far,” said Pennell. “We’re definitely coming on.”

 

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