OH Girls Soccer Team Unbeaten After Five Games

The OH girls soccer team has outscored opponents 29-0 over its first five games.

The OH girls soccer team has outscored opponents 29-0 over its first five games.

The Olympic Heights varsity girls’ soccer team is off to perhaps its best start in recent memory with a 4-0-1 record over its first five games of the season. And even though the team won its first four games scoring a total of 29 goals and shutting out each of those first four opponents, perhaps the team’s most impressive effort came in the 0-0 tie against rival West Boca on Wednesday, Nov. 28.

Up until that tie against West Boca, the OH girls team had lost every game played against the perennially strong Bulls team with some of those losses being blowouts. “Tonight everyone gave it their all, and it was a great game to watch,” OH head coach Jim Cappello commented after the game.  “I do not think we had the best performance, and the offense that has been on fire seemed to struggle a little.  I believe that is something that can be fixed, but we got the monkey off our back that we are not a guaranteed win anymore.  But we need to stay hungry, and need to continue being better than we were today.”

The Lions had their best shot at pulling off the upset win against West Boca when forward Ariana Steighner beat the Bulls’ goalkeeper to the ball and fired it toward the empty net, only to have a sliding West Boca defender clear the ball off the line at the last moment.

In fact, the Lady Lions had control of the game throughout most of the first half, showing the Bulls that they meant business. The first OH opportunity came in the first five minutes when a ball came across the West Boca net to OH midfielder Jordan Lanson, who got an unlucky bounce and was unable to convert.  Just minutes later, a shot by OH forward Sydney Durrance went just high of the net.

The Lady Lions continued to send waves of attacks throughout the first half.  OH forward Kaley Tanis’s shot on goal was deflected by the diving West Boca goalkeeper and rebounded to OH midfielder Lindsey Poloskey whose shot on goal was saved by the goalkeeper.

OH goalkeeper Victoria Barreto, who earned her fifth shutout in as many games, was not really tested in the first half; however, she was forced off her line to take a ball off a foot of a West Boca forward in the corner of the penalty box which turned out to be the only West Boca scoring threat of the first half.

In the second half, the Bulls started to play the possession game. The OH defense held firm, but the attacks by the Lions’ offense were not as strong as in the first half, even though the quality of opportunities seemed better. Two OH corner kicks bounced around the six-yard box, bouncing off bodies but did not find their way into the West Boca net.

Moments later, an OH pass across the box landed on Steighners foot, but went over the crossbar. Meanwhile, Barreto was tested on two occasions, first on a give-and-go which lead to a breakaway and a shot fired from 12 yards out that Barreto saved.  Another West Boca shot sent toward the corner of the OH goal was saved by Barreto with no trouble.  Barreto ended up with five saves on the night, preserving the tie.

“Our tie last night can be attributed to all the players who have worked hard in building our program’s foundation,” Cappello explained. “We have been getting extremely competitive with West Boca over the past few season, [playing with] heart and hustle. But we won’t be satisfied until we beat them.”

The Lady Lions had little trouble dispatching their first four opponents beating Atlantic 7-0, Fort Lauderdale 6-0, Northeast 9-0, and Boyd Anderson 7-0. Forward Skylar Deutch had a hat trick (three goals) in the Atlantic game and had a two-goal game in the Fort Lauderdale game, as did Steighner. Durrance had back-to-back hat tricks in the Northeast and Boyd Anderson games. Tanis scored two goals in the Northeast game.

To date, Durrance leads the Lady Lions with eight goals and five assists on the season. Deutch has six goals and six assists. Both Durrnace and Steighner have 16 shots on goal.

The Lady Lions will take on Coral Springs Charter in a home contest at 5:00 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 30 (with the boys’ team playing Blanche Ely afterwards).  The following week will see the team at Northeast on Dec. 3, at Spanish River on Dec. 5, and at home against Santaluces on Dec. 5.