CCHS 4, Canajoharie 1
A tale of two halves. The first half showed numbers well in favor of CCHS, but the scoreboard in favor of Canjo; the second half showed numbers in favor of CCHS, and the scoreboard way in favor of them.
The whole game - or at least the 1st half - was overshadowed by an injury. Hate when that happens, but it's a part of the game. Canajoharie's Morgan Koelbl, already with some noticeable past knee problems, thanks to the hardware covering this knee, went down with a nasty one very early in the game. Saw it right through my camera lens... good thing I didn't eat before, or it would've been all up in front of me. That ish was nasty. Dislocated kneecap. Wish her the best. In the flow of the game, this caused some changes. Normal goalie Lauren Balfe moved to midfield, and Andrea Dingman moved into goal. She did a nice job in replacement, and it took quite a while for the undefeated Crusaders, ranked #10 in the state in Class B, to put one on her. As a matter of fact, the Cougars struck first. About midway through the half, they got some breathing room up top, and the quickness Canjo's strikers display took over. Jordan Hammons played a ball through to Jordyn Logan, who got one past CCHS GK Lauren Paravella to give Canjo a 1-0 lead with about 21 to go in the half. CCHS outshot Canjo 14-3 in the half, forcing Balfe to make 2 saves and Dingman to make 6, but Canajoharie still held the 1-0 lead at halftime.
Canjo did continue to challenge to put #2 through, but it never happened. With around 29 minutes to go (no scoreboard), CCHS' 2 studs up front started to impose their will. Alexis Riffelbach attempted a shot, which was saved by Dingman. However, the rebound went right to a charging Madison Purcell, who tapped it through to tie it up. A few minutes later, Riffelbach put one through herself on a header to give the Crusaders the 2-1 lead. At this point, Canjo looked deflated, and I figured it was all said and done. Jenelle Dillenbeck gave them a couple decent attempts, and Dainara Veeder made a few nice runs from the back line, but nothing could connect for an equalizer. Riffelbach gave CCHS an insurance goal with around 15 minutes to play, and if they needed more insurance, Purcell did the honors with just over 6 to play, making the score 4-1. Canajoharie is a very nice team, especially in Section 2 Class C. They're not state-ranked at the moment, but they're definitely a team that's knocking on the door. The loss dropped them to 9-3 - their 3 losses came to CCHS twice, who's #10 in B, and Schoharie once, who's #6 in C. It also snapped a 7 match winning streak, in which they outscored their opponents 51-4. However, CCHS is very strong. Of course - they're in the top 10 in Class B. The win boosted them to 11-0 - as a matter off fact, this game was only the 3rd time they've scored less than 5 goals. 2 goals apiece from Riffelbach and Purcell gave Riffelbach 17 goals on the season, and moved Purcell's goal total up to 16. It was a good game between two good teams. Wouldn't mind watching either squad again.
#ByTheNumbers - CCHS was stronger. Didn't totally dominate, but the numbers definitely were in favor of the Crusaders. They outshot the Cougars by a large margin, forced Canjo goalies to make 10 saves and handle 9 other non-save situations, and forced Canjo to take a much higher number of goal kicks - all showing they were putting the added pressure on Canajoharie. Canjo just was able to hold them off for the majority of the game.
Shots - 23-7 CCHS
Corners - 1-1
Saves - 10-1 Canajoharie
GK Touches - 9-3 Canajoharie
Goal Kicks - 10-3 Canajoharie
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