Freshman goalkeeper Samantha Pelcher made six saves over 100 minutes of play to register her third shutout in three varsity games as Hilton and Gates-Chili played to a scoreless tie in girls’ soccer at LeBeau Field.
“280 minutes without a goal against; she has done her job communicating with the “D” and a lot of credit goes to the girls in front of her keeping second chances to a minimum and forcing many opponents to shoot from a distance,” Hilton head coach Steve Sorensen said of Pelcher.
Seniors Jo Jo Ban and Allyson Strauss anchor that back line along with sophomores Julianna Murphy and Megan Letta.
The Cadets had several scoring chances over the first 40 minutes starting with a cross by Kyndal Hetzel in the eighth minute that just missed connecting with Victoria Bisciotti.
A shot from Alexis Distefano on the right wing needed a leaping save to stay out of the net in the thirteenth minute and, just four minutes later, Caitlyn Lloyd one-touched around a defender but had her shot go just wide of the right post.
Taylor Eccleston fed a pass to Bisciotti in the 23rd minute, but her redirect banged off the right post.
Early in the second half a Hetzel shot from 30 yards was bobbled by the Gates-Chili goalkeeper and she almost carried it across the goal-line while falling to the ground in the 46th minute.
The Spartans had their best scoring chance in the first overtime with a mini-breakaway, but Murphy made up about ten yards to catch the attacker and knock the ball away from behind.
Hilton had three more chances in the second overtime from Sienna Saluzzo, Murphy and Eccleston, but could not connect. They improved to 1-0-2 in the season, but have scored just one goal in 280 minutes of play.
“We were young last year,” Sorensen said about his squad, which started two freshmen and five sophomores. “The ones who did the scoring last year should be scoring again this year, but we just haven’t been able to connect. We tried some different combinations later in the game. It’s a good news-bad news situation.”
