The Hughesville girls soccer team doesn’t get too upset. When the team scores a goal, they don’t dwell on it. So when Millville scored two goals in a three-minute span early in the second half to cut the lead to two, the Spartans remained unfazed and continued to play their game.
That was evident in Hughesville’s 4-2 victory over the Quakers on Saturday at Raymond H. Perritt Stadium, where they didn’t allow Millville to shift the momentum or fight back, improving Hughesville to 5-1.
“It’s unfortunate, things happen and they work their way through.” said Kylie Temple of Hughesville. “We’re really good at staying calm and recognizing that these things happen and just fighting back.”
After Larissa Evans scored Millville’s second goal of the day with 26:59 left in the game, Hughesville didn’t allow the Quakers a shot the rest of the way.
Evans’ first goal came on a penalty kick, then an 18-yard shot from 15 yards out that drifted left to turn a four-point deficit into a 4-2 game. Those were Millville’s only two 18-yard attempts throughout the second half.
“Obviously, if we keep the ball, the other guy can’t have it and can’t score. We always practice staying on the move, but I think moving off the ball is key.” “We’re just trying to get the team going,” Hughesville coach Cody Hack said. “Once you let it go, you have to find the space to get it back, and these girls are doing that so well.”
Hughesville continued to push throughout the game, and the Spartans finally broke through with 23:30 left in the first half when Temple fired a shot inside the right post from just outside the six-yard box, and seven minutes later, Sadia Amar Koca scored from inside the 18-yard box with 16:29 left to take a 2-0 lead.
The Spartans’ final goal of the first half came when Avery Pudderbach got inside the 18-yard line and fired a shot over Millville goalie Kayla Buye-Nugmes’ head with 6:59 left for a 3-0 lead.
Hughesville continued to mount an offensive attack in the second half, with Sierra DeWire scoring eight minutes into the second half to give the Spartans a 4-0 lead.
“That’s been our policy ever since I took the job. We don’t want one team to focus on one player. That player needs to be able to guard the whole team.” “We had four players scoring on Saturday,” Hack said. “The girls have been supportive and we’ve been getting the job done across the board.”
“We’ve been working on our offense and it’s been really good so far. Defensively, we’ve had some mistakes, but that’s OK, it happens a lot. But our offense was really good today.” A temple has been added. “We found some kids that made some really beautiful plays. Unfortunately, not all of our shots went in, but we were really pleased with how just about everyone on the offensive side made some really beautiful shots and goals.”
Millville had chances to score, but all of them missed or flew high. With 4:45 left until halftime, Evans had a one-on-one with goalie Bailey Gavitt from 10 yards out and took a nice shot to the right, but it missed by two feet, giving Hughesville a 3-0 lead. With 33:57 left in regulation, Cork broke free and rolled the ball slowly toward the far right goal post, but it went out of bounds a foot from the goal post.
While Millville struggled to get shots on goal, Hughesville had the opposite problem: the Spartans recorded 20 shots on goal, 37 total shots and frequently attacked goalie Buye Ngumes.
Hughesville nearly got its fifth goal with 35:06 remaining when DeWyer’s shot from outside the six-yard box hit the post. The shot stayed in the goal and fell at the feet of Ali Taggart, who quickly tried to get the rebound, but it hit the crossbar and was eventually cleared. The Spartans saw four shots hit the crossbar on Saturday.
“Thankfully, we have a lot of kids who have been playing together since they were little, so we know each other’s ways of moving and working and each other’s limitations and capabilities.” Temple said. “It’s really great to find that. Everybody watches, everybody finds their girl, nobody is selfish on the team, it’s really nice.”
Amar Hodja had a chance to score early in the first half after winning the ball just outside the 18th line, the Spartans shot to the right but Buyenugumez flicked the ball away with his fingertips for a corner kick, but the resulting corner kick came to nothing as Millville cleared the threat.
Coach Temple wasn’t at all surprised that Hughesville had 20 shots on goal, and she knows her team can get shot after shot at will.
“We have a lot of kids with great feet. They’re very powerful players. What I really like about our team is we don’t have one or two dedicated shooters like other teams.” Temple pointed out. “We have pretty much every guy on our team who can shoot from anywhere, and it’s going to be a good, powerful shot.”
And that was more than what was shown on Saturday.
“We’re trying to find different ways to score. We’re trying to keep the ball more, not over the top balls and stuff, but keep the ball the whole time.” Hack said. “We’re doing a pretty good job of that. We’re focused on defense and keeping zeroes on the other side of the scoreboard. We didn’t do that today, but we’re focused on that and obviously that gives us the best chance to win.”
Hughesville travels to Milton on Tuesday night to take on the powerhouse Black Panthers before hosting Lewisburg and Muncie in back-to-back games at Raymond H. Perritt Stadium.
Hughesville 4, Millville 2
H – Kylie Temple (Bella Remsnyder), 23:30. H – Sadia Amar Hodja (Kaladin McGinley), 16:29. – Avery Puderbach (Amar Hodja), 6:59. H – Sierra Dewire (Kylie Temple), 32:21. M – Larissa Evans (Penalty Kicks), 29:20. M – Evans (Brianna Cork), 26:59.
Shots: M 2, H 20. Corners: M 1, H 7. Saves: M 13 (Kayla Bouyenugmez), H 0 (Bailey Gavitt).
Records: Millville (3-6), Hughesville (5-1).
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