GIRLS' SOCCER: Packers sink Trojans, 5-1

WORTHINGTON — Sophomore forward Hannah Voogd recorded an assist and a goal four minutes and seven seconds apart midway through the first half Saturday afternoon, helping the Austin Packers claim a 5-1 victory over the Worthington Trojans in a high school girls’ soccer game at Trojan Field.

Austin (5-6) stretched a 2-0 halftime lead to 4-0 before Worthington got on the board with 18:35 remaining in the second half. The Trojans’ Bernadette Boever scored on assists from Paige McCabe and Ana Castillo, trimming the gap to 4-1.

Voogd answered with her second goal of the game a minute later, completing the scoring in a well-played Packers’ victory.

“We tip our hats to Austin for coming in here, playing well and earning a nice victory,” Worthington head coach Smitty Ektnitphong said after the game. “We were hoping for a better outcome on our part, but we just didn’t play very well overall. We struggled with ball control and a few other little things, which led to some good scoring chances for Austin.”

The game was evenly-played in the early stages of the first half, as most of the action took place near midfield and minimal scoring chances were made available. Worthington’s Lydia Kemper did get a pair of shots on goal, with one of those looks just missing wide to the right.

Austin started to gain control of the ball as the half progressed and had two prime scoring opportunities near the 28-minute mark. A cross by Voogd to Carley Grunewald was thwarted by Trojans’ goalie Alivia Rowley in front of the net, and the Packers also sent a close-range shot wide to the left moments later.

The Packers’ hard-charging efforts paid off with 27:22 on the clock, as Rowley made a nice two-handed save on another left-side shot by Voogd. But this time, Grunewald was able to gather in the rebound and knock the ball into the net for a 1-0 lead.

Austin was awarded a penalty kick 4:07 later, with Voogd shooting the ball past Rowley into the lower left corner of the net — increasing the Packers’ lead to 2-0 with 23:15 remaining.

“It seemed like we couldn’t catch a break on the first two goals that Austin scored,” Ektnitphong said. “But you have to give credit to Austin for capitalizing on our mistakes. We just couldn’t get control of the ball consistently, and we didn’t make good passes to our teammates when we did have the ball in the open field.”

Worthington (1-8) shut out Austin for the rest of the half, as Rowley made a number of nice stops — including one on a corner-kick opportunity by the Packers. Kemper hustled to chase down a potential break-away chance by the Packers, as well.

Whitney Coriolan, Alina Keoduangsy and Yesenia Esparza each had a shot on goal for the Trojans, who were unable to score before the halftime intermission.

“I thought we played well for the first 20 minutes and didn’t have anything to show for it,” Ektnitphong said. “We have the potential to be a good team, but we need to get better at understanding the game and doing the little things correctly.”

Austin kept the momentum to begin the second half, as Grace Ewing found an open area in the middle of the field and fired a 25-yard shot into the back of the net. Ewing’s goal gave the Packers a 3-0 lead at the 35:33 mark.

The Packers continued to threaten in the ensuing 10 minutes of action, but Worthington was up to the challenge defensively. Rowley made several diving stops in front of the net, while the Trojans defended back-to-back corner kicks.

However, a third corner kick in a span of five minutes by Austin resulted in the Packers’ fourth goal of the game. Nicole Lipari sent a shot in from the right corner, and Kaelyn Matthews was waiting in front of the net to punch the ball in for a goal, extended the margin to 4-0 with 22:01 remaining.

Worthington displayed some nifty passing a few minutes later, as McCabe and Castillo were credited with assists on the Trojans’ lone goal. Boever collected the ball in an open seam 25 yards out in the middle and drilled a shot past Austin’s goalie, making it 4-1 with 18:35 to go.

“The opportunity was there, and Bernadette took advantage of it,” Ektnitphong said. “That was a very nice play, as we had at least two crisp passes to get the ball up-field. Bernadette was aggressive and scored a nice goal to get us on the board.”

Austin responded when Voogd scored her second goal at the 17:34 mark, completing the game’s scoring at 5-1.

Kemper then briefly took over as Worthington’s goalie and came up with a nice save before transitioning back her to normal position as a midfielder. Rowley finished the contest with a couple of more sliding stops in the closing minutes.

Worthington will travel to play Glencoe-Silver Lake today at 4:30 p.m. The Trojans return home Thursday, as they will host Mankato Loyola at 5 p.m.

Austin 2 3 — 5

Worthington 0 1 — 1

Tags: sports, prep, soccer, trojans