Girls soccer: Freshmen find the net in WW South win over Neuqua Valley
The Wheaton Warrenville South freshmen found a surefire way to gain the approval of their older girls soccer teammates.
Paige Miller scored a pair of first-half goals, and freshman classmate Evelyn Damsher added another in the final minutes of the game for a 3-0 Tigers victory over visiting Neuqua Valley on Friday afternoon.
“Our issue has simply been our finishing in the final third,” Tigers coach Guy Callipari said. “We had a little bit of that today. We created some pretty good opportunities. When you keep teams like this around long enough, then certainly they might find their way eventually. You can't always play perfect.”
Miller's first goal came in the sixth minute. The left midfielder took a pass from striker Anna Fank, cut inside and cranked a 21-yard shot into the far upper corner of the net. It couldn't have been better placed.
Callipari said he's been working with Miller to pick out her spots in the net rather than hitting the ball right at the opposing goalkeeper. The freshman showed progress with her fifth and sixth goals of the season.
“She's working instinctively under pressure, and that's when I think she's at her best, when she doesn't have the time. A lot of what we've seen so far is her getting in behind and having time 1-on-1 with the keeper, and then it doesn't go anywhere. Here, she slides, she slides, she hits it. She's working on instinct at that point.”
Miller's big day got better in the 35th minute, this time from 15 yards after the Neuqua Valley defense failed to clear the ball from its penalty area.
“I'm pretty proud of it,” Miller said of her 2-goal day. “I have a hard time finishing, so today was definitely good on that side. It was a good day today.”
It wasn't a good day for the Wildcats (6-8-2, 3-4-1 DuPage Valley Conference).
“They outplayed us,” Neuqua Valley coach Joe Moreau said. “They're the third team this season to outplay us. The first goal, great goal. The second goal, we don't clear. The third goal, (Yanel Ortiz) is a great goalkeeper and she's mad at herself for giving up that one. She made some terrific saves throughout the game.
“But we've just got to battle for 80 minutes. and try to get some quality shots. I don't think we had any quality shots.”
Credit the Tigers defense for keeping the Wildcats from getting close to goal. This was the 11th shutout of the season for WW South.
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