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The last time a Patterson Mill girls soccer team walked off a field, it was celebrating a 2019 Class 1A state championship.
On Wednesday, the 2021 version of the Huskies team opened its season on the road at Aberdeen and left with a convincing, 10-1, win.
Also, Edgewood was a winner on Wednesday, earning a 5-0 victory at Kenwood.
In Aberdeen, the Huskies used scoring from seven players and it started early.
Senior Isabelle Toni (two goals, two assists) scored the game’s first goal just over four minutes in. Toni drilled a direct kick from 20 yards out and the Huskies were off and running.
“Being down for two years and watching the game until now playing, it feels amazing,” Toni said.
Toni, who was a member of the title team, actually missed the playoffs that year after suffering an ACL tear in the Huskies final regular season game. “I feel back to how I used to play and maybe even a little better. I think our team this year is pretty good and I’m glad I’m back and the goal is still to win back-to-back state champs.”
It was seven minutes after the initial score that junior Ava Wheeler sent a low shot into the net for a 2-0 lead. Fellow junior Claire Dalling pushed the lead to 3-0 with 19:24 to play in the first half. Dalling got behind the Eagles defense and easily won the one-on-one with Aberdeen goalie Annika Thompson.
Three goals is all the Huskies scored in a first half that saw plenty of other opportunities. There were a number of corner kicks that yielded no real shots and other opportunities that saw shots sail high or wide. Other attempts were stopped by Eagles’ keeper Thompson, who finished with 10 saves.
“Very happy with the game and not the score...it wasn’t about the 10 goals,” Huskies head coach Mike Parker said. “It was about what we were doing off the ball, what we were doing with the 1-2 touch. Now that we’ve emphasized the triangles, working triangles on the field, changing direction, switching field. The first half there were signs of brilliance like we expected, but then there was chaos at times.”
Clearly, brilliance out-shined chaos in the second half.
The Huskies scored four goals over a five-minute stretch in the opening 10 minutes of the second half. Naomi Rich started the scoring with an assist from Toni and senior Abby Wysong banged a shot in after a scrum in front of the Aberdeen goal.
Toni added the third goal, her second of the day, and the lead was 6-0. Right at the 30-minute mark, Wheeler added her second goal. After the many empty corner kicks, Wheeler curled her free kick right inside the far post.
The Huskies also got goals from Alyssa Antonakas and Dalling, who added her second score off an assist from Kelsey Price.
Aberdeen avoided the shutout with a corner kick goal in the final five minutes. Senior Abi Guicheteau sent the ball across and sophomore Jenna Stevens placed it into the net.
“We are, as a team, extremely proud of our first half. The score said 3-0, but in our eyes it was a 1-0 game,” Eagles head coach Justin Markel said. “We feel like as the half went on, we started to get more of a midfield battle and we started to win the midfield battle. So, I’d say the first 40 and last five, we were extremely happy with those results.”
Patterson Mill closed the scoring with 1:05 left. Junior Eliana Joslin netted the goal with a high shot from 35 yards out.
Patterson Mill goalie Caitlyn Welker, a junior, had no saves. Aberdeen sophomore keeper Annika Thompson had 10 saves. Freshman Kalynn McDonough came on to make one save for the Eagles.
OTHER SCORES:
Edgewood 5, Kenwood 0
In the Rams’ win, Kamela Peterson and Tori Figinski scored twice each for Edgewood (1-1).
Niaya Gordon added one goal, while Nikayla Lee and Lynn Ekwonye both had an assist.