ConVal girls’ soccer leans on defense in 1-0 loss to Souhegan

With three defensive captains leading the way, the ConVal girls’ soccer team is tough to score on — and once the Cougar offense comes along, they could be a force to reckon with. 

Take away ConVal’s season-opening road loss at John Stark, and the Cougars (1-3) have only allowed one goal per game on the young season. Take away ConVal’s 6-1 win over Manchester Memorial earlier this month, however, and the Cougars haven’t scored at all. Still, there are worse things to hang your hat on than a strong defense. 

“We definitely try to focus on defense because our motto is, ‘If we don’t get scored on, then we can’t lose,'” senior co-captain and middle back Emma O’Brien said after Friday’s 1-0 loss to visiting Souhegan. “That’s a big part of how we play our game … We really try to lock down defense. Obviously so we don’t get scored on, but also so we can build it up and have more opportunities up top.”

O’Brien and her co-captains Olivia Healey and Kinley Moore form an imposing back line supplemented by freshman Isla Davis and sophomore Elsa Hanchett as rotation and gameplan dictate. The group held the Sabers at bay on Friday, with Souhegan’s only score coming off an Averie Curran free kick that got around the wall and past keeper Amelie Davis.

“They played hard,” ConVal coach Hagen Wegmueller said of his team. “They fight hard for the 50/50s. Souhegan was physical and we held our own against that. I like to see that.”

The Cougars have the right midfield to move the offense forward, with tireless Larianna Trudel battling and newcomer Gia Lothrop making plays upfield. Kierra Deloria, Ashlyn Beckman, Charlotte Broadley, Khloe Rusin and Viktoria Petrov all have an opportunity to step up and and stake their claims as offensive weapons, and then ConVal will be heading in the right direction. On Friday, though, there weren’t a lot of chances for the Cougars. 

“[We need to] just work harder at it,” O’Brien said. “Want it more. It’s tough for us. We have a lot of younger players and we’re really still rebuilding our team from a couple of years ago when we lost basically our whole team. So we’re really working hard, building confidence, playing on a higher level. I think we just need to keep pushing forward and wanting the ball more than the other team.”

When they’re generating chances, the Cougars look great. ConVal poured on six goals in their win over Memorial, and they’ll need offensive output like that going forward, starting with Tuesday’s game against undefeated No. 1 Bow. If they can win all their games against lesser opponents (Plymouth, Kingswood, Memorial and Lebanon are all coming up) and steal a few against the teams currently higher in the standings, the blue-and-gold have a good shot at the playoffs. 

“They [are] learning to settle things down and keep the possession,” Wegmueller said. “That, to me, gives them confidence and they just need to do that a little more. Once they go through those sequences, I think everything just chills and that’s what we need to see. If they can get more of that going — passing the ball back, swinging it, I think it just settles everything down and then passing lanes open up. But you know, we’re a young team. There’s a lot of freshmen on there. I think they’re doing excellent. So I’m really encouraged with how they’re doing so far.”

ConVal (1-3) hosts Bow (4-0) on Tuesday.