Every player was on their A-game in this win over Detroit City FC II.
By Garrett Pogg
RIVERVIEW - Let me take you behind the curtain just a bit.
As a reporter for a semi-pro soccer club, my top priority is to highlight the good in every event I cover for them.
The second priority is to highlight the players, to give the hard-working women their shine and props for performing at a high level, preferably as many as possible.
When everybody on Troy City WFC (3-1-1) has an absolute masterclass performance, that makes it extremely difficult for me. Their 4-0 win over Detroit City FC II (0-4) was probably their strongest play they’ve had all season.
Sydney Hewer (Heidelberg) said it best after the game, stating how proud she was of the complete 90 minutes that each player put in. The level of dominance was unparalleled in all aspects of the game.
With the #1 placement in the MPSL standings in sight, Head Coach John Arndt made it clear before the game that he wants to win each and every game moving forward, and that starts by having a big impact in the first 10 minutes.
Not only did they score twice in the first 10 minutes, I’m not even sure DCFC got a good touch on the ball in that entire span.
Troy City put a lot of pressure on the back line early forcing a few corners to start the match. Hailey Matthews (Detroit Mercy) would swiftly send them across the box, and those culminated in the 5th minute when Reese Carmody (Ferris State) would head it into the woodwork, only for the ball to bounce into Rebekah Delia (Olivet Nazarene), who knocked it in to give TC their first score of the match.
Following that, it didn’t take much for Delia to get the ball back at her feet, and she was able to send a wondershot from the right side of the box to the back left top of the net. She looked astonished, yet not surprised that she had racked up 2 goals in just 8 minutes.
Detroit City recognized they were under pressure, and started to apply their own once the subs came in at the 15 minute mark. Troy City defended very well, and made a counterattack of their own when newcomer Kendall Croteau (Illinois State Commit) sent an excellent through-ball to Delaney Batur (Adrian Commit), who played phenomenal with the ball at her feet tonight. Batur finished with many shots towards the goal, making the goalkeeper think twice whenever she had control.
The ball-dominance continued all throughout the first half, with DCFC never obtaining a shot on goal for the first 45. Izzy Baron (Ferris State) had a chance just before half to put the game further out of reach, toying with her defender by moving the ball back and forth, before sending a shot directly into the Detroit City keeper, giving us a 2-0 score at the half.
The message from Arndt was simple: Nothing too crazy, just possess the ball, push their back line, and win the game.
Troy City would do that emphatically, dominating possession from the opening minute, with Hewer breakups and Taylor Facca (Olivet) drives to create chances for themselves in the box. The latter has shown a lot of improvement in her movement off and on the ball, and I imagine Facca’s confidence is through the roof as a result.
Batur continually had chances to move the ball in space, and drove the ball to the right of the box before finding Sydney McMillan (Ashland) towards the top, who spun around and hit a swift shot into the net to put the game out of reach with 19 minutes to go.
Detroit City FC started to possess the ball, and found themselves with a few opportunities to make something of it, before kicking it into the diving hands of GK Emmy Rodger (Lourdes), who only had to make 2 saves to give herself the clean sheet. Pretty impressive, considering she played through the entire match with a herniated disc.
Towards the end of the game, the players on the bench became amazed, as Troy City had their poetry-in-motion moment with slick passing from one player to the next, with probably more than 6 players involved, all to get Facca a shot on goal, which was deflected away. This led to a corner, where Hewer sent one deep into the zone, where Camryn Pepper (Liverpool) flicked her head to give the TC fans an extra shot of dopamine before the final whistle. She had never scored a goal off a header prior to that.
This 4-0 win gives Troy City WFC their first shutout win in club history, and Rebekah Delia couldn’t be more proud of that.
“This is probably the best I’ve felt after a game,” she started, “the team effort was there all around. We had so many good connections, and we took advantage of them.”
Arndt added to that, saying “This was a team effort. It was there throughout the whole game, I really liked the chemistry they had. [Croteau] came in brand new today, and she fit right in. Just a complete game the whole way.”
The level of play has certainly improved, especially considering the types of scorelines Troy City had at the beginning of the season, compared to now. The culture seems to have really taken off.
“Everyone getting to know each other as the season’s gone on has been good, there’s some differences in rosters, but there’s a core group that’s been together consistently. They’ve learned more about each other, and that chemistry’s made a huge difference on the soccer field.”
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