Health & Fitness
#3 Coginchaug Defeats #14 Windsor Locks
The Blue Devils advance to the Class S Quarterfinals.
Seeded 3rd in the Class S State tournament, the Coginchaug Girls Soccer team came off a first round bye to play the 14th ranked Raiders from Windsor Locks at home on Wednesday.
Coginchaug was in control of nearly the entire match, although it took them close to 60 minutes to deliver the knockout punch.
Senior Co-Captains Kasi Whitaker and Victoria Buonanni furthered their standing as team leaders with their impressive play on both sides of the ball. Whitaker kept the defense locked down while Bounanni helped maintain possession and set-up the offensive attack.
CRHS scored the games first goal before 10 minutes had expired off the game clock. Buonanni headed a failed clearance passed the defense to the charging sophomore Amy Arcari. Amy came into the match on a hot streak scoring 4 goals in the teams last 4 games. She kept the streak alive pounding the bouncing ball passed the diving keeper.
Buonanni was there again on a failed clearance with twelve minutes to play in the first half. With great field vision she found Senior Morgan Kuehnle open down the left sideline. Kuehnle fired a shot over the keeper and in for the 2-0 halftime lead.
I have a soccer theory that a 2-0 lead with a lot of time on the clock can be a dangerous position for a team. Up 2 goals, many teams tend to pull back the attack and try to ride the clock out. The danger is that the opponent usually gains momentum by being the aggressor, especially if they can score and close the lead to one goal. CRHS started the second half playing very slow and flat. Windsor Locks had the hammer down.
It took them nearly 20 minutes but a 25 yard shot on goal went over the outstretched hands of Kara Mather and in. The "comfortable" 2 goal lead was now a thin 1 goal margin and it seemed that the Raiders were in the driver's seat.
The Lady Devils did the one thing they needed to do; respond quickly. Just 3 minutes later Senior Alison Luther delivered possibly one of the best direct kicks I've ever seen from a High School player (maybe even a college player.) It's right up there with a direct kick from last year's senior Alan Haberern when he bent a shot around a six man wall. This one may have the edge coming in a playoff game when the opponent had just scored.
She was 40 yards from goal. The strike was perfect. It had the distance, height, pace and accuracy that put it one centimeter under the crossbar and 4 inches over the leaping goalie's hand. If a shot was ever a dagger - that was it.
The game was never in question after that and Coginchaug cruised to the 3-1 win. They advance to a quarter final match at home on Friday at 2:00. They will face #11 Old Saybrook. Coginchaug improves to 13-3-2 on the season. Old Saybrook will bring a 10-5-2 record knowing that 2 of their 5 losses were delivered by CRHS. The Devils beat O.S. early in season 2-1 on the road, and 3-0 two weeks ago at home.
