Warriors Overcome Scoreless Streak, Defeat St. Clair

By: Derrick Forsythe
Posted 6/5/09

And the Warriors celebrated each score as if it were a milestone victory. To them, it was more like a significant breakthrough. Warrenton had not scored a goal since its third game of the season, a …

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Warriors Overcome Scoreless Streak, Defeat St. Clair

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And the Warriors celebrated each score as if it were a milestone victory. To them, it was more like a significant breakthrough. Warrenton had not scored a goal since its third game of the season, a 1-0 win against Sullivan. Subsequently, the Warriors had dropped 12 straight contests, unable to find the nets during that stretch. On Thursday, a season that began with an uplifting 2-1 start, finally regained some positive energy. "It kind of feels like the beginning of the season again, which is nice" said senior Malory Toebben. "It's a lot more fun to play when you get the ball on your foot." Finally, the Warriors were playing a game in which they could relax, control the ball and not have to spend the entire time battling for possession. Warrenton scored just once during the first half but with each goal, attacking the box became a little bit easier. Junior Kayla Clemens booted in the Warriors' initial goal, connecting on a breakaway assist from senior Annie Craven. "Kayla's goal came off a really good run from Annie," said Rhomberg. "Kayla did what she was supposed to by crashing the nets." Warrenton led 1-0 at intermission. Then Craven caught the St. Clair keeper off guard and netted the Warriors' second goal of the night. She immediately raced toward teammate Madeline Finnern, arms opened wide and face glowing with fulfillment. Craven had assured her team she would score a goal during Thursday's game. "Annie is a very determined individual," said Coach Kim Rhomberg. "She came to the field today knowing she would score at least one goal. She's focused and has sheer determination and hard work and effort. She looks for challenges and really likes to play against the odds." Amanda Bardwell and Finnern also each scored during the final 10 minutes of play. Craven says nothing could match the feeling of getting back on a winning track. "It feels amazing," said Craven. "I think we really stepped it up today because we were tired of losing. We had trouble controlling the ball on offense (in previous games) but tonight we stepped it up and gave our defense a little bit of a break. We worked on that all day in practice yesterday and really applied it to the game today." She says it was most important for the team's morale. "It feels really great," said Craven. "We really needed this because I was kind of feeling down. We talked a lot at practice yesterday and we had to win sometimes and tonight was good. The intensity was definitely there. We were so tired of losing and our girls were fired up to go out there and come away with a win today." Rhomberg says the team had become frustrated with its inability to generate any offense and that Thursday's triumph was a breath of fresh air. "I'm happy for the girls because they thoroughly enjoyed being out here today," said Rhomberg. "It gets to be a bit tiring and emotionally deflating when for so many games in a row you can't seem to hold on to the ball long enough to string up an attack and put something on goal and see what happens. It just a relief for them to go out and know that this really is fun and there is a reason they go and practice hard every day."


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