PREP GIRLS' SOCCER: Worthington bests Glencoe-Silver Lake with 2-0 shutout

GLENCOE — The Worthington girls’ soccer team entered Monday’s game determined to win the battle at midfield against Glencoe-Silver Lake.

The Trojans did just that, with midfielder Whitney Coriolan setting up a pair of goals by Alina Keodouangsy in a 2-0 victory.

Although Keodouangsy and Ana Castillo had a pair of goal scoring opportunities in the first half, the two teams entered the break in a scoreless tie.

“The first half we were kind of struggling,” WHS head coach Smitty Ektnitphong said. “It didn’t seem to me that we were playing with a sense of urgency. We controlled the ball at midfield, which we wanted to try to do, and we got a good number of shots… we were OK, but we were just struggling to get a hold of the ball and were giving Glencoe some chances.”

After 16 minutes had passed in the second half, Coriolan got the ball at midfield and spotted Keodouangsy up front at the left-hand corner. Keodouangsy made a nice run to receive the ball and put her strike into the bottom right-hand corner of the net to give Worthington a 1-0 lead.

Nine minutes later, Coriolan lobbed a ball forward from midfield, which Keodouangsy controlled with one touch. She then turned around and dribbled the ball into the 18-yard box and fired a shot from the right side that found the left-hand corner of the net to make the score 2-0.

“The second half we did much better as far as control of the ball,” Ektnitphong said. “It seemed like we put a lot of pressure on the ball, we were able to challenge the 50-50 balls and win most of the time.”

The Trojans managed 14 shots on goal compared to four for the Panthers, with WHS goalkeeper Alivia Rowley earning her first career shutout in the contest.

“I’m really proud of Alivia having a shutout,” Ektnitphong said. “She got four saves, which is nice. She came out and challenged a breakaway opportunity and was able to get to the ball first and was able to deflect the ball out — that was when the game was still 0-0. I’m really happy with her play and I think she deserved to have her first shutout of the season.”

WHS will host Mankato Loyola on Thursday — a team the Trojans lost 1-0 to on the road on Sept. 13.

WHS 0 2 — 2

G-SL 0 0 — 0

Tags: sports, prep, soccer, worthington, trojans