The first game of the season can always be one of the toughest. Although a team may have put in all the work, they simply don’t know what they are made of until the games count. On Tuesday, Milford hosted highly regarded Caravel Academy in the season opener. While both teams shared a scoreless first quarter and appeared to be on equal footing, the second quarter played out differently as Caravel began to take control of play.
As the pressure mounted on the Milford defense, the inevitable goal came with 5:06 reaming before the half as Caravel sophomore Paige Losten scored the first goal of the game. Besides being behind, Milford did not bring the intensity that coach Andrea McPike wants from her team for four quarters.
“We did not play up to our standard and it showed,” McPike said. “It was something we have worked on repeatedly, yet we got really flat for a while in this game.”
Following the halftime break, it looked as if Caravel was simply the better team on the day. Applying constant pressure for the majority of the third quarter, it was only the solid defense and sterling goal keeping of Milford freshman Sophia Daniels which kept Caravel from extending their advantage.
“It’s my job to keep the ball out of the net,” Davis said. :While Caravel was in the circle a lot, the defense really did a great job and I made the saves I needed to. I believed we would find our way back into the game and we did.”
Towards the end of the third quarter, Milford finally began showing signs of life. Connecting on passes through the midfield, Milford generated offensive pressure of their own. While they didn’t find the back of the net, it was becoming apparent they were not going to go quietly.
“You could really sense that we were coming out of whatever funk we were in. I felt that if we could start strong in the fourth quarter we would have a chance for the win.” McPike said.
McPike was indeed correct as Milford started the fourth quarter in full blown attack mode. No longer complacent, they were breaking the pressure and making big passes. It didn’t take long for Milford to equalize as sophomore Aiyana Atkins scored Milford’s first goal of the game with 9:53 left in the game. While there was a sense of relief in the crowd, the Milford players wanted more. They would waste little time in getting it either, as Atkins scored her second goal of the game on a beautiful pass from inside the circle from fellow sophomore Cara Calvert just 50 seconds later.
“It was just my turn to score; we win and lose as a team. I had some good looks, so I took my shots. It was a really good job by everyone to stick together and not give up.” Atkins said.
While Milford had the lead, the game was far from over. Caravel had multiple good chances to score but were repeatedly denied by the Milford defense and Daniels.
“Caravel is such a good team, so to be able to get a win against them was special. However, we have a long season to go and a lot of work to do before we get to where we want to be. We need to play for four quarters to play our best, we didn’t quit today and that was the most important thing. I believe we can improve as the season goes on.” McPike concluded.
