It was a windy night on Oct. 15 when the Brookhaven women’s soccer team faced off against Richland. A strong crosswind blew toward the home goal at the 7 p.m. kickoff. That wind would tilt the field slightly, making clearances difficult and quality saves more treacherous. The defending national champions held strong against the headwind.
Brianna Flores, Lady Bears freshman star goalkeeper, made several quality saves during the first half. Amidst great defensive play, freshman defender Amiah Brown stood out. She positioned brilliantly and played the ball confidently, not panicking and bringing the ball forward steadily to avoid risking the ball dying in flight in the 29 mph gusts of wind.
On the other end of the field, the Lady Bears’ offense made great plays off the foul kicks they were granted. A few great balls into the box barely managed to avoid the back of the Richland net.
At halftime, the score remained 0-0 despite several excellent attacking chances by both sides. With the field flipped and the strong winds only growing worse, now it was the Thunderducks’ turn to fight against the gale in their face.
Right from the jump, the Lady Bears’ offense got right after their opponents. Making two consecutive runs into the box, they were narrowly thwarted by sudden gusts creating goal kicks and solid defensive play on the part of Richland.
It was a physical game, players were not afraid to sacrifice their bodies to make plays on the ball, but it was never overly aggressive by either side.
Defender Amiah Brown continued to play an impactful defense, this time aided by the wind at her back. On a Brookhaven corner, two terrific shots resulted, but Richland managed to keep things scoreless.
At 58 minutes, Brookhaven forward Brissa Henandez went down with an injury on what appeared to be shin-to-shin contact. After a lengthy injury timeout, she walked off on her own strength. Visibly in pain, she made her way to the sideline.
After multiple substitutions, Brookhaven made a threatening run into Brookhaven territory and two consecutive corner kicks resulted alongside a fantastic save by Brianna Flores to keep the score level. It would not stay that way long though as Brookhaven forward Daniella Porto drilled a goal in from short off of an excellent assist from forward Gianna Antovoni to make the score 1-0 in favor of the Lady Bears.
Following the resuming of the game, a shot from Porto again flew just over the crossbar. The onslaught did not end there as Brookhaven continued the fierce offensive pressure with the wind pushing them effortlessly up-field.
Three consecutive threatening runs into Richland territory occurred when all of a sudden the momentum halted by a Brookhaven foul at 88 minutes. Poor defensive play on the left wing nearly resulted in a goal as a Richland forward made it almost unmarked into the box. At the last minute, a gust blew up and the play is thwarted, but a close call left fans’ hearts racing into the final buzzer.
With a 1-0 win, the Lady Bears took a five-game winning streak into the district semifinals.
