Troy 5, Johnstown 1
The Johnstown train derailed not long before takeoff on Monday night, and Troy used a dynamic 1st half to blow out the visiting Lady Bills. 0-0 turned into 2-0 quickly, and the wheels on the bus fell right off.
Johnstown started off looking like they were up for the challenge. Troy wasn't getting anything going, and it was a lot of in between the 18s passing for both sides. After a few minutes, the Flying Horses started to get on track and let a couple shots fly, and in the 10th minute, a Carlee Lockrow cross was deflected & after Lauren Paravella directed it over some more, Eliza Stewart buried it to give Troy a 1-0 lead. It didn't take long for that to double - Theresa Stinson let one fly from nearly 25 yards out about as far right as Rush Limbaugh, and it snuck into the left side of goal to make it 2-0 with 28:26 left in the half. Troy continued to pour on the pressure, turning that even play into some Fox News one-sidedness. Carlee Lockrow, a consistent scoring option with an assist already, struck a beauty to make it 3-0 in the 27th minute. A shot from the left side around 20 yards out ended up a right upper 90, and Troy was up and running again. With 6:33 left in the half, a Stinson corner bounced off a Johnstown defender that we'll call Player Player, like the Michael Jordan characters in the 90s video games. The ball trickled into goal, and the own goal made it 4-0. Johnstown was able to get an opportunity not long after, and the ball ended up in the back of the net. Couldn't tell who finished it off. I thought Reily Kotwasinski may have finished it, but the official scorebook gave her the assist and Payton Sardella the goal. Oh well, we may never find out. Ooh, scary. Johnstown brought it back to 4-1 late in the half, but they would get no closer. Troy only tacked 1 more on themselves, an Eliza Stewart finish after her and others put Johnstown GK Briana Esposito under a firing squad for a couple minutes. Troy would shoot, Esposito would secure or there would be a goal kick, Troy would win the 50/50 ball and get right back to business. That 5th goal with 19:27 remaining cemented Troy's dominance in this one.
Troy ended up outshooting Johnstown by a ridiculous margin, 37-7. Let that marinate for a minute... 37-7. That's brutal. Troy had 7 corners to Johnstown's 4, and Esposito had way more work to do. She touched the ball 34 times in this game, which is a record for me at games that I've covered. 14 of them were legitimate saves, and another 20 were non-save controls. They also had 16 goal kicks. Yeah, the ball was down there all game. This game showed me one thing - I have a love/hate relationship with possession style soccer. I've watched enough and worked in the game over the last 8 years to the point that I know what I'm watching and talking about. Nothing keeps my attention like a good team that plays a possession game. Ball movement, player movement, some nice footwork and good spacing, a good possession game is a hell of a fun thing to watch. However, when teams try to play a possession style game and they're not good enough on the ball for it, it can lead to some ugly soccer. The few times that Johnstown was able to work the possession game, it looked great, but when it didn't, the small increments of moving the ball forward backfired and allowed Troy to barrel down the throats of their opponent. I guess the moral of this game was 'know your strengths - do what it takes to be competitive. If you're not going to keep it close playing a possession game, ditch that thought.' Whether it's Johnstown or the Red Bulls, do what it takes to win.
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