Bedford girls soccer never lets up in win over Concord
Bedford High School girls soccer coach Michelle Winning said her team took its Tuesday bout at Concord seriously and that attitude was evident throughout the contest.
CONCORD – Bedford High School girls soccer coach Michelle Winning said her team took its Tuesday bout at Concord seriously and that attitude was evident throughout the contest. Four different players scored for the Bulldogs en route to their 5-1 victory at Memorial Field.
Bedford turned its 1-0 lead into a three-goal advantage inside the final five minutes of the first half.
Gabby DeAngelis scored in the 35th minute after receiving a cross from Saylor Clark in the box to build a 2-0 Bulldogs’ advantage. Teammate Mackenzie MacEachern followed up with a goal of her own one minute later. MacEachern curled the ball into the top right corner of the Concord net on a shot from about 16 yards out.
Clark opened the game’s scoring when she scored on a penalty kick in the 21st minute.
“Certainly, you never want to go down 3-0 in the first 40 (minutes), in the first half,” Concord coach Jeremy Duclos said. “And against a team as talented as Bedford is, finding yourself in a 3-0 hole is difficult to fight back from.”
The Crimson Tide (6-3) responded with a more aggressive approach in the second half by pushing forward and maintaining possession for longer stretches. Concord put pressure on the Bulldogs defense and its efforts were rewarded in the 53rd minute when sophomore Grace Devanny found the back of the net. Devanny found space in the penalty box and fired a low shot past Bedford goalkeeper Lauren Johnson (three saves).
Bedford (8-1) did not allow the Crimson Tide to build momentum off Devanny’s goal. The Bulldogs played smothering defense and added two more goals over the final 19 minutes to ensure the victory.
“(Concord’s goal) kind of woke us up for a second and brought reality back and then we just started to play,” Winning said. “I was happy that we didn’t sit on a 3-0 lead and just sit back and wait for too long.”
Shayna Salis scored both second-half goals for Bedford. She scored her first on a shot from about 20 yards out from the left of goal that found the top right corner of the Concord net in the 61st minute to give Bedford a 4-1 lead.
Salis capped the Bulldogs’ scoring inside the final two minutes. The midfielder sprinted through the Concord defense and beat Crimson Tide goalkeeper Stephanie Oberg (eight saves) in a one-on-one situation.
Winning felt the final score did not reflect what Concord is capable of and the amount of pressure it was able to put on the Bulldogs.
Duclos was proud of how his team battled throughout the contest and said the loss will help his team improve going forward.
“We have some tough games ahead of us and we just played one of the best, if not the best team in the state right now,” Duclos said. “We got a great sense of what it takes to play at that level. This is a great opportunity to see what that level looks like and what our level has to be at to compete with (Bedford).”
