When your offense does whatever it wants, you’re going to win big.
Before Riverhead took the field against Brentwood on Friday, head coach Ashley King emphasized over and over again, “Don’t take them lightly.”
Though Riverhead came into the day just one win better than Brentwood, it didn’t seem as such. Six different Blue Waves found the back of the net on their home field in the 13-4 shellacking of the Indians.
“We didn’t expect to blow them out of the water because Brentwood comes out every year feisty, speedy and quick,” King said. “So we never really know what to expect. But it’s halfway through the season and our girls are really trying to turn it around. So games like these are important for our confidence going forward.”
Courtney Troyan led all scorers with four goals to add to her team-leading 24. On her third goal, she left the defender laying on the ground after a quick aggressive spin move.
Assistant head coach Jim Janecek couldn’t believe what he just witnessed.
“Did we get that on tape?” he asked. “That right there is called an ankle-breaking crossover.”
Kate Zaneski found teammates time and time again crossing the ball over the front of the net, assisting on two scores to go along with her three goals. She scored the first goal of the game after forcing the goalie to commit a turnover.
Amanda Dickerson dominated the midfield by holding possession at well and chipped in two goals in the effort. 8th-grade sensation Kayla Kielbasa added two goals.
“We run a lot of offensive sets which frees up opportunities for anyone to score,” King said. “We also give them freedom to do what they want so sometimes they just get creative and it ends up working.”
Jess Purick was solid in the net all game long, converting five saves–many of which were point-blank.
The win puts their record in Division I at 3-5 and with six games remaining, they still have a shot to make history. Last year’s team set the record for wins in a season with five. They’re on pace to beat that but King wants to take it one step further.
“We’re trying to make it a winning second half of the season,” King said.
Four wins puts them into the playoffs.
Riverhead doesn’t play again until next Thursday. They’ll travel to Lindenhurst for a 4:30pm start.
RiverheadLOCAL photos by George Faella
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