New Jersey’s Chatham High School girl’s soccer team played a lackluster first half. In fact, Cougar head coach Anthony Correale had a choice word for their performance.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!But Chatham (1-2-1) upped its level of play in the second half and the preceding two overtime periods.
Unfortunately for the Cougars, despite their improved performance, it walked away with a 0-0 double overtime draw against Randolph (2-1) Tuesday afternoon at Hass Field.
Correale tinkered with the Cougar’s overall approach, and it was effective. But they ultimately failed to find the back of the net, he noted.
“They were atrocious in the first half,” Correale blatantly said. “I know my girls here, and I know what we have here. And I told them plain and simple; they have to be better because I know they can be. We switched some things around in the second half, we did some different things. We change the formation a little bit. We weren’t getting high enough. We had no threat in the attacking third. So, we did something where we would get a little higher. And I think it worked really well. We just didn’t put the ball in the net.”
Not much action happened in the first half, as both squads were evenly matched, and both of their efforts were thwarted at every turn.
Chatham had its chances but shot high on goal with less than 32 minutes left in the first half.
The Rams had their opportunity, too, as they missed the goal wide right with less than 28 minutes to go in the contest.
Then, Randolph’s free kick attempt sailed high with 15:35 remaining in the game.
The Cougars applied solid pressure, but Rams’ goalkeeper Evelyn Hendrickson covered up an attempt after she made the initial save.
Chatham junior goalie Charlotte Nelson made a save of her own to keep the match tied with 4:45 to go in regulation.
Moreover, neither club scored the rest of the way, forcing overtime.
Cougar junior Lucy Arps took a nice, deep rip, but the ball went wide left during the first overtime.
This time it was the Rams’ turn, but the shot wound up rising over the crossbar, with the game remaining scoreless late in the first overtime.
There was a moment that it appeared Chatham had broken through to win the contest. But the ball hit the outside of the net, disappointing most of the home crowd in the second overtime period.
In last ditch efforts, two Cougar shots on goal went wide left and wide right, respectively, keeping the match deadlocked at nil all.
All in all, Correale took solace in Chatham’s second half and overtime performances.
However, he feels that the Cougars are on the right soccer track now.
“We see what we need to do, so it was very positive to see,” he said. “I know the result was a tie against Randoplh. It was two evenly matched teams that played really well. It was okay, but the way we played in the second half, we want to win that game. And that’s what we’ll figure out going forward. Little by little, it’s getting better.”
Chatham hosts Morristown Thursday at 4:00 p.m. Then, West Morris Saturday at 11:00 a.m. at home.
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