Hall hosted South Windsor in West Hartford Monday night in girls soccer.

Sports reporting is sponsored by Keating Agency Insurance

By Paul Palmer

The Hall girls soccer team passed an early season test by handing unbeaten South Windsor its first loss of the season with a dominant second half of soccer and a 2-0 win. After a fairly evenly played first half, the Titans took control with an aggressive midfield, solid defense and hard-working offense that resulted in both goals.

“We just wanted it,” said Leah Berey who scored the first goal of the game. “We played well as a team.” That was true for the final 40 minutes of the game, but in the opening half each side had their chances but failed to convert.

“I knew this would be our most difficult game so far,” said head coach Scott Ferguson. “Seeing our progression to 3-0 has been nice.”

The Titans start just two seniors this season so it is fair to call it a rebuilding year. It is also fair to call it a learning opportunity for the players, and Ferguson knows there will be a learning curve, especially when they start playing some of the CCC West powerhouses. Monday night, however, the Hall midfield was nearly flawless at both ends of the field. They hustled and went after the ball for 80 minutes, enabling the Titans to quickly turn defense into offense, especially in the second half.

“Our midfield is dynamic,” Ferguson said. “We can move and do so many things. They worked hard last year and they found that level again tonight.” Berey, Kyra Baum, and Aliza Schlief – all underclassman – were constantly in motion, communicating and fighting to win every ball.

“We are strong in the midfield, we stayed pretty composed and aggressive,” said Berey. The times that South Windsor did manage to get the ball past the midfield, they met a strong back line lead by Sienna Calabro. “She (Calabro) is just a junior and she’s replacing Talia Sortman,” Ferguson said. “She has held it together for us. She’s commanding and people listen to her.”

Her leadership and her play do not go unnoticed by one of the two seniors on the team, goalie Mabel Cook. “Sienna is a fantastic communicator,” she said. “We struggled in our scrimmages on keeping our shape on defense, but we’ve gotten better,” said Cook, who has not allowed a goal this season.

On Monday, Calabro demonstrated her play and her value over and over, but probably had her best moment just five minutes into the game. A Bobcat player came in on an angle to Cook, forcing the goalie to come out to cut the angle. The shot floated across the goal towards the far side of the empty net before Calabro calmly cleared the ball out of the air and out of danger.

At the other end, it was Berey and Schleif working a smart give and go in the right side of the box with a cross coming in and bouncing across the mouth of the goal, before rolling out of bounds. Later it was Berey, who was dangerous all game on her overlaps, squaring a ball into the box, and Hall managed two chances, but both were blocked by South Windsor defenders.

When the second half began it looked like it would be more of what everyone saw in the opening half as South Windsor had the better of the opening four minutes before Hall battled back. This time though, the Titans launched a dominant midfield and front-line game that kept putting pressure on South Windsor’s defense.

Berey and Schlief hooked up again and almost combined for the first goal but Schlief’s shot was blocked by a defender. Hall also dropped in a pair of dangerous corner kicks, but the Titans could not get a solid scoring chance off either one.

With 19 minutes to play, Hall finally found the right combination when Maya Reilly hit Berey with pass just across midfield. With another Hall player making a run in the middle, Berey was left in a one-on-one situation, and when the defender fell, Berey knew exactly what to do. “I knew I had to get by the defender and once I did, I was in.” The goal was well deserved for both Hall and Berey after a strong 20 minutes of pressure.

Ten minutes later Hall would score its second goal of the game on a play that can best be described as a hustle play paying off. Senior Kiki Melick had spent the 50 minutes of the game running, but not getting any results. Her speed was obvious, but she could not get herself into position to take advantage of it. Ferguson gave her a breather and then put her back in and with 9:07 to play her persistence and his faith in his player paid off.

When South Windsor goalie Olivia Lopez came off her line to play a ball that had been sent past her defense and into the box to the left of the net about 10 yards out, Melick sprinted to the same spot and when Lopez could not secure the ball it rolled free at the feet of Melick who calmly squared it to Reilly who deposited it into the unguarded far side of the goal.

“Those two goals were wildly different,” Ferguson would say after the game. “The first was just skill and on the second Kiki didn’t give up and then unselfishly passed it to Maya for the goal.”

For Ferguson, the biggest takeaway from the win was seeing his team play a complete half. “At the half I said we didn’t play well. The second half was the best I have seen us play so far. Now we have to put together a full game,” said the coach. Hall will look to move to 4-0 on the season when they meet E.O. Smith on Friday.

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