By HUNTER O. LYLE
PORTVILLE, NY – After a quiet first half, the Portville girl’s soccer team exploded in the second, scoring goals in rapid succession as they built up a 5-0 win over Olean for their second victory of the year.
Unlike the Huskies, who entered Monday’s contest with six games already under their belt, the Panthers had played just two. However, both of those matchups came as Chautauqua Cattaraugus Athletic Association Division 1 opponents, leaving Portville with no choice than to rise to the occasion early.
“We had to come out of the gates fast, because the league is going to come at you fast. Obviously, every game counts towards playoffs so there’s no grace period,” said Portville head coach Mike Matz, whose team emerged with a 1-1 record through the opening two games. “There’s no warm up period, you just have to hit the ground running.”
Taking on their third such opponent, the Panthers stuck to the gameplan. Leading their attack with two or three at a time, Portville quickly found routes deep into Olean’s backfield with crisp through balls to hustling teammates. Led by their dazzling midfielder Grace Gariepy, who breezed by defenders with both speed and ball handling, they maintained constant pressure and sustained possession for minutes at a time.
However, Olean held strong. Playing frantic but effective defense, the Huskies managed to keep Portville just one pass away from a shot. Using both their back and midfield lines, they were able to elevate the pressure at just the right time, but at the cost of their offense. Doubling down in close produced shaky, one-and-done drives that barely crossed the field.
“I think they key was containing. That was what we really focused on,” said Olean head coach Dan Freeman. “When you have a really good passing team, the way you shut them down is to contain and I think the girls did a really good job containing, containing, containing and finding those mistakes that the other team made, which wasn’t many to be honest.”
As the period wore on, Olean’s passing became inaccurate, resulting in constant turnovers that only added to the strain on the other side of the ball. Despite Portville’s continuous attack, which began peppering the net, the stalemate held and both teams walked off the pitch empty handed.
Portville would come back with an amplified aggression. Starting with the ball, their first touch would be a lob downfield that instantly put them in prime field positioning. They would quickly unload a barrage of shots, getting off three in just as many minutes. Finally, after just four and a half minutes of play, one would find the back of the net. A great lead pass through traffic from Allie Bray found Kiyah Mohr, who punched in the first goal of the day. Thirty-one seconds later, Portville would strike again, this time via Gariepy who took it upon herself to weave upfield and score.
“I was a little bit concerned with our finishing in the first half but at halftime, I said, ‘if we get one, we all take a deep breath and then two and beyond will be easier to grab,’” said Matz. “I think you could kind of tell that they seemed a little more at ease once the first one went in.”
Deflated and fatigued, Olean struggled to pull off the same dynamic defense that they had created in the first half. Portville would continue to force through their lines for point blank looks at the net, scoring three more goals in the next 20 minutes. Bray, Emma Rhinehart and Gariepy all netted goals as the Panthers pulled away by five.
“I don’t know if we got tired, I don’t know what it was but it was like stab, stab, stab, (Portville) scored a goal. Stab, stab, goal,” said Freeman of the scoring stretch. “It just kind of broke down. I don’t know if we got tired or the first goal put us out of the game.”
In the final 15 minutes, the Huskies found some life. Their front lines finally assembled to find drives past midfield. Still though, Portville’s reserves held off their advances, holding out for a shutout, sealing their second win of the season.
Moving forward, the Panthers face another CCAA Div. 1 opponent in Jamestown on Wednesday before getting a reprieve against non-league Buffalo Public Schools on Friday. Then it’s back to the grind as they will take on six consecutive league opponents.
“This league is going to challenge you every night so it’s part of the reason we wanted to get into it. Olean is a no slouch, we’ve played competitive games with them and Jamestown, enrollment-wise, is way bigger than us but that’s fine,” said Matz. “We knew that coming into it and we’re excited about the challenges.”
