The Woodland girls soccer team hosted Holy Cross on Monday afternoon in the second of two regular season meetings.
For the second time this season, the final score was 3-1. This time, however, the score was in favor of the Hawks. When the teams met on Sept. 9 at Ray Snyder Sr. Field (Municipal Stadium complex), the Crusaders won, 3-1. Both teams are in contention for the top spot in the upcoming NVL tournament.
“I think that the biggest thing is no matter what result you have at what point in the season, come NVLs, you’ve got to throw that all out the window, because it’s whoever shows up that day,” Woodland head coach Cait Hernon said.
The Hawks went into the wind in the first half, but were still able to score a pair of goals and claim a 2-0 halftime lead.
“It was big, it was absolutely big,” Hernon said. “Two is not an unimaginable hole to crawl out of, but it’s hard. It’s hard to be up against two.”
Woodland eventually made it 3-0 before Holy Cross got on the board with a Grace D’Amico goal in the final minutes. Michaela Gasparri had a pair of goals and Giuliana Celotto added a goal for the Hawks. Tianna Franklin assisted on the Celotto goal, and Ava Naclerio made six saves. Holy Cross freshman keeper Gabriella Rosado was outstanding with 12 saves.
Gasparri picked up her first goal on a ball in front of the Crusader goal just 4:31 into the match. With 20:27 left in the first half, Celotto scored off a nice pass from Franklin, who’s been a great revelation as a freshman. Gasparri added her second goal of the game with 8:51 to play in the second half on a shot that was least 25 yards out.
D’Amico got Holy Cross on the board by connecting on a long shot from outside of the box after her corner kick was knocked back to the outside. That goal came at the 3:27 mark.
The next time the Hawks and Crusaders see each other could be in the NVL tournament. Expect both teams to look different if that meeting happens, just like they did in the two regular season matchups.
GALLERY: Here are my photos from Monday afternoon’s game.
