Coach’s advice helps Bow girls soccer beat Pembroke
PEMBROKE – Gianna Celenza has heard Bow High School girls soccer coach Jay Vogt stress to her and her teammates countless times about the importance of getting to the back post.
Celenza remembered Vogt’s words Thursday when she scored the deciding goal in the Falcons’ 2-1 triumph at Pembroke Academy.
Following a Bow free kick, a scrum ensued in front of the Spartans goal. Celenza maneuvered through traffic to the back post, where she corralled the ball just before it went out of bounds and tucked it into the net with five minutes remaining to break a 1-1 tie.
“Coach (Vogt) is always telling us to get to the back post because there have been a lot of opportunities where we’ve had the ball to go to the back post (and) we have executed but we haven’t executed enough,” Celenza said. “Just having that in mind, I was just there and then (it was just) right place, right time I guess.”
Bow (9-3) did not allow the Spartans (8-4) to register a shot on goal following Celenza’s tally.
“It all comes down to our passion and that’s what we really played with in the last 10 minutes, I think,” Celenza said.
Bow opened the game’s scoring in the 11th minute when Anna Lafreniere directed the ball into the top right corner of the Pembroke net from inside the penalty box. Lafreniere received a cross from Celenza, who saved the ball from going out of bounds just wide of the right post.
Pembroke knotted the score on a rebound goal by Danielle Parent in the 25th minute following a long-range shot by Casey Bardier.
The Spartans logged just one shot on goal in the second half compared to Bow’s six but they were not without their chances. Emilee Harlow crossed the ball to Kayla Paquin two times inside the penalty box but Paquin was unable to tally a shot on goal either time.
Pembroke sophomore Hannah Serafin fired a promising shot from about 15 yards out in the 66th minute. Bow goalkeeper Bridget Ehrenberg (four saves) was able to get her hands on the ball before it found the top right corner of the net.
“We got some great crosses and just (had) some narrow misses in the second half,” Pembroke coach Jess Croft said.
Bow’s Danielle DesRuisseaux had a one-on-one situation with Pembroke goalie Vicky Mudgett (eight saves) in the 63rd minute but her shot soared over the crossbar.
The Spartans tried most of the game to create offensive chances on the right side by getting the ball to Paquin. Bow had multiple players swarm Paquin almost every time she touched the ball and largely kept the Spartans offense to the outside throughout the contest.
“I thought we put great pressure on them defensively, which forced them back,” Vogt said. “That was our hope was to get in there and put them under pressure and see if we can get mistakes and take advantage of it.”
Vogt said it is important for his team to be able to pull out victories like the one it did Thursday. Celenza noted the win was beneficial for another reason.
“Well, it gets us one step closer to the playoffs so that’s all that matters,” Celenza said.
