Kellett tallies 4 more goals leading Rosary to regional title
From the 33rd second through the 80th minute, Rosary found itself in control of Saturday’s Class 2A regional title match with IMSA.
The Royals took the lead after a half-minute when Quincy Kellett latched onto a Molly Piech pass and scored. Not much went wrong the regional hosts from that point. Rosary cruised to a 6-1 win for its fourth straight regional title and a Wednesday encounter with host Nazareth in the sectional semifinals.
“It was nice to get that one right away, though one goal in soccer doesn’t mean that much,” Rosary coach Kristy Kane said. “You always want to get more. But it was good to start with that goal. You always want to play from ahead.”
Kellett figured largely in the victory. The freshman scored four goals, taking her season total to 26.
“I really wanted to win the regional title,” Kellett said. “It was our last home game for our seniors. I wanted us to do well for them.”
The early goal served to calm any Rosary jitters. IMSA (12-12-1) never had a chance to settle into the match.
“We knew we had to come out hard because we knew it was going to be a hot day.” Kellett said. “We knew that we were going to be tired by the end of the match. So we wanted to get the early goal to give us a little leeway.”
On a very hot day, Rosary (17-5) passed the ball all over its home field. The match kicked off at 11 a.m. And so was played in the worst part of the hottest day of the year.
“That’s what we’ve worked on all season,” Kane said. “These girls are really talented. But when they’re younger, they’re taught to dribble. When you get to this level, you can’t really do that any more. To be a top team, you have to pass the ball. When we do it well, everything falls into place, and we did it well today.”
Passing moves also involve a number of players in the attack. Although Kellett scored four goals, many different players were involved in the creation of those scoring plays.
“Haley Kilbride has some great passes into the corner and (Piech’s) crosses were perfect, landing right on my feet, so that was good,” Kellett said.
Rosary’s lead grew to 3-0 by halftime after Lizzie Kelley scored from a Haley Kilbride corner kick and Kellett put away another Piech pass.
Piech scored the fourth Rosary goal in the sixth minute of the second half from a Kellett pass before IMSA scored its goal, a Rae Hohle tally 10 minutes into the half.
Kellett scored the final two goals of the match within 19 seconds of each other. First she took a Piech pass and then she walked through a tiring IMSA defense to score.
“She has that ability, that drive, to want to score,” Kane said. “Sometimes you can’t teach that. It’s just something that the players have.”