At Toledo WARRIORS 2, RIVERHAWKS 0 Rochester2 0 — 2 Toledo 0 0 — 0 Scoring Summary ROC (20’) — Kenna Pratt ROC (38’) — Harley Frahman (assisted by Emily Beasley) TOLEDO — Kailyn Black has been a four-year varsity contributor and three-year captain as the center back for the Rochester High School girls soccer team. She’s been the constant in the back-four since her freshman season. This younger group that features a grand total of 15 underclassmen is one of the closer-knit teams she’s been on.
“I’ve never felt the amount of cooperation that we’ve had,” Black said. “We’ve really come together as a team and I love that.” The struggle has been to take the bonding off the field and translate it to wins on the field.
That changed on Wednesday night. Powered by the first clean sheet of the fall and two first half goals, the Class 1A Warriors nabbed a 2-0 verdict over 2B Toledo at Toledo High School for their first win of the year. After allowing a late goal in Monday’s 2-2 draw versus Onalaska, Rochester (1-2-1) made an emphasis on first touch and communication.
That paid off with a shutout and holding Toledo to four shots on goal in the second half. That was with dropping eight-to-nine back to combat the Riverhawks offensive pressure. “Our touches and our communication, they have to understand, speak and yell at each other if they have to, to get the message across,” Rochester head coach Matt Ashton said.
“They have to play together, they have to trust each other.” Toledo (3-2) nearly broke through several times in the final 10 minutes. A short free kick sailed wide, then the first corner kick from either side took place in the 75th minute.
Black deflected a shot towards the right corner and Warriors goalie Alondra Uribe snatched the rebound shot. Every time the Riverhawks got their first touch, one or two and even three Rochester swarmed the attackers. “I probably should have thrown a third (attacker) up there; hindsight is 20/20,” Toledo head coach Horst Malunat stated.
“We didn’t get that breakthrough. I’m overall (feeling) happy.” Even after losing to 3A Evergreen (Vancouver) 1-0 last week, Ashton and Black viewed that performance better defensively.
Still, both were pleased in one of the last non-league tuneups before beginning Evergreen League action next week. “We played to their level,” Ashton said of the prowess against Evergreen (Vancouver). “We have to play at that high level every single game.
” Rochester broke the scoreless tie in the 20th minute on a Kenna Pratt goal that flipped the momentum to its side. Off a free kick by Emily Beasley, Harley Frahman buried the rebound shot in the 38th minute to double the cushion. It was a stark contrast from the first 10 minutes of the night.
The Riverhawks had a goal wiped away by an offsides in the sixth minute, then back-to-back shots rang off the crossbar in the ninth minute. “The girls know we can play with them and the confidence is there,” Malunat said. “You have to score to win.
We played really well, but we didn’t score. It is a beautiful game, but I also hate this game sometimes.” With five games in 12 days, Ashton is trying to keep everyone fresh for 2A non-league matches to take place and the 1A opener versus Elma.
Rochester started McKenna Bocook in net for the first 24 minutes before Uribe came in. Bocook kept the game scoreless. “I was trying to give our starters a break,” Ashton said.
“We weathered that storm.” The Warriors are hopeful a win of this magnitude can be the turning point to “snowball” wins together as Ashton phrased it. “It will provide the confidence boost we need,” Black said.
Toledo has just one senior on the roster and Malunat, a coach with three decades of experience, believes his approach is working as someone that is well-connected to the Riverhawks. “Our theme for the year is constant improvement,” he said. “This is all preseason.
I’ve never heard of a preseason champion; I’ve heard of the end of season champion. It is easy to be excited, all sunshines and unicorns, but the bottom line is, you still made mistakes and you gotta learn from them.”.
