Marengo stays on pace for East title

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MARENGO – Jim McKinnon paused for a moment and looked at his four Marengo girls soccer players still milling around the Indians’ bench after Tuesday’s match against Richmond-Burton.

“What do you say, girls?” McKinnon asked them. “Do we want to win these games?”

The four shouted ‘Yes,’ as loud and enthusiastic as if all 17 Indians had responded.

When you’re in the midst of the best season in school history, the intensity just keeps rising. After the Indians’ 3-2 victory against the Rockets in a Big Northern Conference East Division match, their passion for the task at hand was almost palpable.

“We can see it and we can feel it,” senior forward Alexa Torman said. “We are so close, and we want this more than anything.”

“This,” of course, is a BNC East Division title, and the Indians (13-4 overall, 7-2 BNC East) buckled down to win their last two matches to stay in the championship race. Marengo can capture the program’s first crown with a win against Burlington Central on Thursday.

Thus, the enthusiasm of four players sounds like that of dozens, and the matches are unfolding with extra gusto.

R-B (9-7-2, 4-4-1) went ahead 2-1 with 22 minutes left in the second half when senior forward Sarah Springsteen slipped a ball past Marengo keeper Britany Berrier (five saves) when she popped out of the net to defend the play.

The Indians scrambled to come up with the right combinations to get the equalizer, and Torman eventually answered. With 9 minutes to play, she won the ball on left side of the field, cut across and then back until she found an opening and launched a shot into the top of the net to even score at 2.

“I didn’t really know I was going to shoot it,” Torman said. “[Sophomore forward Samantha Meehan] took her player with her when she moved [onside], so when I cut it I had a wide opening and just took it.”␇
Torman scored the go-ahead goal, too, with 3 minutes left to avoid an extra session. She received a through ball from senior defender Chelsea Velasquez and hit a shot into the left corner for the final mark.

Marengo had jumped ahead 1-0 in the opening 2 minutes of the game on freshman forward Kassidy Girmschied’s goal, and R-B had tied the game at 1 at the 26 minute mark in the first half on a goal from sophomore midfielder Kendall Winkler.

R-B coach Eric Hunt thought the Rockets’ play reflected his philosophies and goals for the team, but was disappointed they couldn’t hold the lead in the second half.

“Our focus really has become ball control and possession, and I saw that today,” Hunt said. “We just didn’t do some of the things we needed to do.”

The Rockets weren’t given many chances, though.

“They want it real bad,” McKinnon said. “They’re working really hard to get it.”