CCHS 4, Albany 1
I wonder if Catholic Central is sick of me yet. Starting to get some repeats going - 2nd time this week at CCHS watching them play, and 2nd time catching Albany girls on the road. Albany needed 100 minutes to get by Holy Names 0 - CCHS needed about 10 to get by Troy. It took a bit longer for the Crusaders to break it open against Albany, and the visiting squad continued to challenge for all 80 minutes even when it was apparent they wouldn't be coming back, but Catholic Central was able to show their dominance once again.
If one thing has struck me about CCHS, it's that they can and will jump on you early. They did that once again, thanks to the duo of Madison Purcell & Alexis Riffelbach, a.k.a. High Octane. Purcell had a gorgeous redirect on a Riffelbach corner, putting them up 1-0 in the first 4 minutes. Unlike the game Tuesday, one didn't turn into four in a heartbeat. As a matter of fact, Albany answered to even up the score. On one of their few legit opportunities, Adrianna Guidetti let one fly that was initially saved by the CCHS goalie, but it went through her hands and trickled to the right side of goal. After finding an avenue in between a couple defenders and the recovering goalie, Nina Rouse was able to sneak through the equalizer, tying it up with 20 to go in the half. Quick strike Madi came back though - Purcell ripped a ball from 20 yards out that bounced down into goal off the top post just a couple minutes later to give CCHS the lead, one they would never relinquish. Their coach continues to preach 'first 5 minutes, last 5 minutes' - score early, score late. The stress pays dividends. Purcell was able to find Lauren Drake, who finished to make it 3-1 with 1:30 left in the half. The lone goal in the 2nd half came from Catholic Central's Hannah Field, who put one through with around 20 minutes to go. Purcell finished with 2 goals & a dime for CCHS; Lauren Drake had 1 & 1, Field had a goal, and Alexis Riffelbach and Claire Chaisson had assists. Nina Rouse scored for Albany.
The Crusaders continued to put pressure on Albany's GK, Emily Andrews. Mind you, she's a damn good goalie. Only so much you can do when being pressured almost non-stop. She made 6 legitimate saves on SOG, including a couple diving stops, but she controlled possession 23 times between saves and non-saves. Albany also had 12 goal kicks and were outshot 23-6, along with giving up 8 corners. That's a lot of scoring opportunities and a whole lot of time with the ball hanging near goal. This is all with Riffelbach out for most of the game - apparent injury. Neither team I've seen CCHS play has matched their quickness and physicality - when they match up with one, I'm there!
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