‘Frantic’ Bedford advances past Everett
BEDFORD — The Bedford Area High School girls soccer team manged to keep its undefeated record intact and advance to the semifinal round of the District 6 Class 2A playoffs.
The Everett girls soccer team wrapped up a 12-8 season by coming up on the short end of a hard-fought game.
To hear the respective coaches talking about it in the aftermath, however, it was difficult for an uninformed observer to determine which team had actually won Thursday night’s quarterfinal-round game at the Bedford Area High School soccer field.
Bedford did, building a 4-1 lead at halftime and improved to 19-0 on the season by staving off Everett, 5-3. But Bedford coach Jeff Thomas wasn’t very enthusiastic about his team’s overall performance.
“It wasn’t our best soccer,” Thomas said. “We were frantic at times.”
Everett coach Rom Kalinauskas appeared to be much more pleased about his team’s showing.
“Our girls played their hearts out,” Kalinauskas said. “That’s all anybody can ask of their players. Bedford has a powerhouse team offensively and defensively. Their midfield is great, their passing is crisp. I’m sure that they will go far in the playoffs.”
Top-seeded Bedford plays Richland in the semifinal round of the playoffs on Monday at 5:30 p.m. at Hollidaysburg’s Tiger Stadium.
Thursday’s game was tied, 1-1 before Bedford took the lead for good, 2-1 at the 19:06 mark of the first half on the first of two free-kick goals in the game by sophomore midfielder Amber Thomas.
Amber Thomas booted in a long shot after one of her Bedford teammates was tripped up on the field.
“I was just looking at the target. It was a little further out, and my shot went in right over the top of their (goal)keeper,” she said.
The teams traded goals in the first 14 minutes. Bedford senior midfielder Lydia Grimes converted an Amber Thomas assist for the opening score, and Everett junior midfielder Makayla Donahoe scored on a corner kick.
“The first 20 minutes of the game were horrible for us,” Jeff Thomas said. “Then we settled in after that.”
Following the Amber Thomas goal that made it 2-1, Bedford scored the final two goals of the first half to build its 4-1 lead at intermission.
Junior midfielder Megan Oyler made it 3-1 with a goal at the 20:26 mark, and freshman striker Brooke Bollman converted an assist from Oyler at 28:05 for the 4-1 Bedford lead.
“We had a decent lead, so there was room for error,” Jeff Thomas said. “If we missed a play here or there, it wasn’t going to cost us the game.”
Everett still put up quite a fight in the second half, however. Senior forward Kristen Mills, who left the game with 23:02 left due to a knee injury, got Everett’s second goal of the night at the 2:13 mark of the second half.
Donahoe’s second goal of the game, off an assist by Mills at the 14:51 mark of the second half, pulled Everett to within 4-3.
Bedford didn’t get any breathing room until Amber Thomas’ second free-kick goal at the 22:36 mark. An Everett player was called for a foul, and Thomas capitalized on the opportunity by booting a long shot from the left side past Everett senior keeper Abby Johnson.
“I just kinda felt it when it left my foot,” Amber Thomas said of her second goal. “It had a spin on it, and I knew that it was going inside the near post.”
Everett won the Inter-County Conference title this season while playing several underclassmen.
“We evolved as a team this year,” said Kalinauskas, whose squad had lost a 9-0 regular-season decision to Bedford. “We’re going to try to come out and do better next year than we did this year.”
Bedford hopes to continue to advance against fourth-seeded Richland, a 2-1 quarterfinal-round winner over Penns Valley, when the semifinals roll around Monday night.
“They defend well,” Jeff Thomas said of Richland. “We’ve got to concentrate on possessing the ball. If we are patient, sooner or later, the goals will come.”
SCORE BY HALVES
Everett 1 2 — 3
Bedford 4 1 — 5
First half: 1, B–Grimes (Thomas), 13:08. 2, E–Donahoe (unassisted), 14:12. 3, B–Thomas (unassisted), 19:06. 4, B–Oyler (Beland, Pittman), 20:26. 5, B–Bollman (Oyler), 28:05.
Second half: 6, E–Mills (Maxwell), 2:13. 7, E–Donahoe (Mills), 14:51. 8, B–Thomas (unassisted), 22:36.
Records: Everett (12-8); Bedford (19-0).
Shots on goal: Bedford 19, Everett 5.
COMMENTS