Soccer playoffs end for Westchester girls
Michael Lindsay | Enterprise Sports Writer
GREENSBORO — Westchester Country Day held firm all the way into the final minutes. But eventually rival Caldwell broke through.
The seventh-seeded Wildcats kept the Eagles off the scoreboard for more than 70 minutes and had a handful of good scoring chances of their own.
But second-seeded Caldwell scored twice in the final seven minutes to beat Westchester 2-0 on Thursday at Caldwell in the second round of the NCISAA 2A West girls soccer playoffs.
“I felt like we should’ve at least won that game 3-2,” Wildcats coach Kendal Leak said. “But we fought. Like I said from the start, we’re trying to make a statement. We did that in the first round and then here — it took them all the way until six minutes left to get a goal. So, I’m proud of my girls.”
Westchester (3-11), coming off a hard-fought 1-0 loss against Caldwell last week and a 5-2 win against The O’Neal School earlier this week, played a strong first half in which the score remained tied into halftime. Then they really clicked during about a 10-minute window 10 minutes into the second half.
The Wildcats’ best chance came in the 51st minute when they lofted a ball across the goalmouth and had a couple players in the vicinity for an open look on goal. But they couldn’t quite connect for a shot, and the Eagles (9-6) eventually cleared the ball away to keep the game scoreless.
“It’s more practice,” Leak said of creating chances and now looking to finish them. “More and more practice just finishing. That’s all we do in practice is finishing. But then when the time came no finishing. We moved the ball well, made great runs. … We made mistakes, but we’ll fix them next time.”
Caldwell, led by sophomore forward Isabella Rocque, took the lead in the 74th minute — making a run upfield while fending off the defender and sliding a shot into the right side of the net. It added another goal in the 77th minute off a short pass, step and shot from the left side.
Anna Beth Merritt finished with 10 saves — including a couple difficult stops in the final 20 minutes that kept the score tied — for Westchester, which loses senior Dory Keever next season but should return all their other key players and looks to keep building under the tutelage of Leak.
“Next season, it’ll be different,” he said. “With it being my first season, I’ve learned a lot. I’ve learned a lot about the program, about the girls and about me. I’m still learning, I’m still a young coach.
“I’m 25 about to be 26 in June, so I’ve got a lot to learn. I’ve only won three games at Westchester so far, but give me a couple times to learn the teams we play against so I can strategize against them next time.”
Michael Lindsay | Enterprise Sports Writer
GREENSBORO — Westchester Country Day held firm all the way into the final minutes. But eventually rival Caldwell broke through.
The seventh-seeded Wildcats kept the Eagles off the scoreboard for more than 70 minutes and had a handful of good scoring chances of their own.
But second-seeded Caldwell scored twice in the final seven minutes to beat Westchester 2-0 on Thursday at Caldwell in the second round of the NCISAA 2A West girls soccer playoffs.
“I felt like we should’ve at least won that game 3-2,” Wildcats coach Kendal Leak said. “But we fought. Like I said from the start, we’re trying to make a statement. We did that in the first round and then here — it took them all the way until six minutes left to get a goal. So, I’m proud of my girls.”
Westchester (3-11), coming off a hard-fought 1-0 loss against Caldwell last week and a 5-2 win against The O’Neal School earlier this week, played a strong first half in which the score remained tied into halftime. Then they really clicked during about a 10-minute window 10 minutes into the second half.
The Wildcats’ best chance came in the 51st minute when they lofted a ball across the goalmouth and had a couple players in the vicinity for an open look on goal. But they couldn’t quite connect for a shot, and the Eagles (9-6) eventually cleared the ball away to keep the game scoreless.
“It’s more practice,” Leak said of creating chances and now looking to finish them. “More and more practice just finishing. That’s all we do in practice is finishing. But then when the time came no finishing. We moved the ball well, made great runs. … We made mistakes, but we’ll fix them next time.”
Caldwell, led by sophomore forward Isabella Rocque, took the lead in the 74th minute — making a run upfield while fending off the defender and sliding a shot into the right side of the net. It added another goal in the 77th minute off a short pass, step and shot from the left side.
Anna Beth Merritt finished with 10 saves — including a couple difficult stops in the final 20 minutes that kept the score tied — for Westchester, which loses senior Dory Keever next season but should return all their other key players and looks to keep building under the tutelage of Leak.
“Next season, it’ll be different,” he said. “With it being my first season, I’ve learned a lot. I’ve learned a lot about the program, about the girls and about me. I’m still learning, I’m still a young coach.
“I’m 25 about to be 26 in June, so I’ve got a lot to learn. I’ve only won three games at Westchester so far, but give me a couple times to learn the teams we play against so I can strategize against them next time.”
