Depleted roster takes its toll on Wildcats
By JOHN BRONZA depleted Alpena soccer team fell 3-1 to Gaylord in Big North play Friday at Alpena High School.
The Wildcats (3-5-2) played without defenders Sarah Burg and Amy Kish, who is out with an ankle injury, and also without forward Kristin Tanner.
“We didn’t have a true defender as a sub,” said Alpena soccer coach Craig Barrett.
The Blue Devils took advantage of a tired defense in the second half by getting mutiple free kicks, which led to their first goal from Katie Hall. The second was on a corner from Hall to Bailey Gooding for a 2-1 Blue Devils lead, and on the third goal Gaylord’s Stefanie Schmidt got in behind the defense and had only Alpena goaltender Sam Dziesinski to beat.
“At half, that was one of the things we talked about — too many free kicks,” said Barrett. “I don’t know if we got tired mentality, but we gave up too many free kicks.”
Sophia Przewozniak, though, did give Alpena some life after the Blue Devils went up 1-0 less than two minutes into the second half. She stole the ball from Hilary Puroll and managed to beat her on the wing and score, tying the game more than a minute later.
“I tend to cross it a lot and they expect that from me, but I was faster than her so I dribbled around her,” said Przewozniak. “(On the shot) I didn’t want to shank over the net so I tried to keep it low.”
The goal gave the Wildcats momentum for a couple minutes, but the Blue Devils pushed the ball to Alpena’s defensive end and forced a corner kick. On the ensuing corner Hall crossed a nice low ball right to Gooding’s foot for a 2-1 Gaylord lead.
Alpena had a couple of chances to score with Sarah Kendziorski getting the best shot on net at 26:48 that was stopped by Gaylord’s Rose LeBlanc. Six minutes later, Schmidt put the Blue Devils up 3-1.
“Every game we have lost this year has been 3-1,” said Barrett, who fell to Traverse City West 3-1 on May 8. “I’m getting sick of 3-1.”
Late scoring chances for the Wildcats included a free kick inside the goalie box that Kristen Kennedy sent over the net at the 12-minute mark, and Hannah Skiba had a chance directly in front of the net about seven yards out that sailed over the net.
“We had all kinds of scoring opportunities in the second half,” said Barrett.
Dziesinski was busy in net making 15 saves, but also stopped a lot of opportunites by leaving the net challenging shooters. Her style kept the game tied 0-0 at the half.
“I’m aggressive to the ball so the defense doesn’t have to fall back,” said Dziesinski.
In the first half, Alpena spent most of its time defending the Blue Devils’ offense. Przewozniak had Alpena’s only shot on net in the first half, and that was with three minutes remaining. She also had a cross that just missed the far left post for a goal.
However, the best scoring opportunity came at the 15-minute mark when LeBlanc challenged Skiba and fell down. Skiba then found Kennedy, who had a wide-open net that missed the far right post.
Despite the loss, Przewozniak remains optimistic for the next meeting with Gaylord.
“I thought we could beat them without a full team,” she said. “With a full team we can beat them.”
The JV team fell 2-0 to Gaylord. Lauren Hoeksama had 19 saves in the loss.
John Bronz can be reached via e-mail at sports@thealpenanews.com or by phone at 358-5690.
