News for the Week of Aug. 20, 2012

Program Notes for the Week of 8/20/2012:

Schedule:
Our next game will be on Monday 8/27 at Rocky River. JV game will start at 5:00 and the Varsity will start at 7:00 p.m.  The games will be played at the high school stadium on Detroit Rd.

Practice this week will be as follows:

Monday   3:30 - 5:00 p.m. at the ALHS Stadium
Tuesday   3:30 - 5:00 p.m. at Troy
Wednesday - No practice
Thursday  6:00 - 8:00 p.m. at the ALHS Stadium
Friday - No practice


Game Recaps:
Another season is underway as we led off with the annual "Golden Shoe" game against Avon:

AL at Avon   8/18/12

AL  1       Avon  1

Goals:
AL -    Emily O'Connor

Avon - Maggie O'Donnell

Goalies:
AL -   Abby Rogers - 3 saves
          Amy Crooks - 0 saves

Avon - Kayla Wysocki - 5 saves

Game Summary:
Avon Lake travelled to Avon for their annual local derby and played to a 1-1 draw in the season opener for both teams.  The two teams played to a scoreless first half in which Avon Lake had the decidedly better scoring opportunities and even had a ball
deflect off the crossbar. In the second half, Freshman forward Maggie O'Donnell scored first for the Eagles at the 60:00 minute mark.  Her goal came after a mad scramble in front of the Avon Lake net on a ball which just eluded the fingers of Shoregal goalkeeper Abby Rogers.  She was assisted by senior Macey Slunski.  Avon seemed to take control of the game after this point, but then Avon Lake junior Emily O'Connor stole a ball in the Avon defensive third of the field. She was able to dribble through multiple Avon defenders to score the equalizer on a shot to the right upper 90 of the Avon goal with only 7:26 remaining.  Afterwards, O'Connor commented “I was
frustrated because I wasn’t getting the shots I wanted tonight so when I got that ball I was determined to make a shot for myself. We were disappointed when we let that one get in but we never got down and kept battling.” Despite spirited play by both teams over the last few minutes, the game was destined to end in a tie.  Last year's game ended in a tie also and there have been 4 ties in the all time series which Avon Lake leads with a 7-3-4 record. In goal for Avon Lake was senior Abby Rogers who recorded 3 saves and for Avon senior Kayla Wysocki made 5 saves.  Another exciting installment of the Avon - Avon Lake rivalry.

The game also featured the coaching debuts of Danie Schnaufer for Avon and Daegen Duvall for Avon Lake.  Not only were the head coaches new, but both teams were hit hard by graduation with 2011 District champion Avon losing 8 players and Avon Lake losing 12 players.  Not surprising with all the new personnel on the field that the game ended in a tie. Afterwards, Coach Schnaufer commented “As long as I have been coach here we have always been a second-half team. I think the girls were just nervous in the first half being that it was the first game and we didn’t have a lot of scrimmages." "I really didn’t know what I had with the defense before tonight,” Schnaufer said. “We have been shifting people into different positions to find out what we needed.” In his first game as the Shoregals coach, Daegen Duvall found a lot of positives in his team’s performance. “Of course it’s not the result you want coming in, but I thought we really dominated the first half,” he said. “We just missed a couple of chances to get a goal. We have a motto on this team - To Be United — and to be able to have everyone contribute is important to us.” He further commented, “These girls have passion for the game and it showed tonight, I could not be any more proud of their effort.”

As would be fitting, the JV game also ended in a 2-2 tie with junior Molly Jeffries and sophomore Kayla Osberg scoring for the Shoregals.