By RYAN WALKER
The Norwell girls’ soccer team fell in the semi-final sectional match to the host team Bellmont 2-1 Thursday night. The Lady Knights had a 1-0 lead with under 10 minutes remaining, but two goals at the seven and three-minute marks proved to be the difference.
“I’m very, very impressed with how we came in tonight,” head coach Dan Batdorff said. “We played against a very good team. Their team’s great, incredibly talented. Probably a lot more talent than we are as a team. But we play as a team, and we played hard.”
That difference in talent showed with a dominant first half by the Braves—at least in everything but the scoreboard.
Bellmont controlled possession and kept the ball on its own half throughout the period, including nine shots on goal compared to Norwell’s two. The pressure kept coming, but the Knight’s defense, plus goaltender Gracie Rinkenberger, fought to keep the ball out of the net.
On a few occasions, Norwell would have a chance offensively, all of them fast breaks and getting a small window to either take a shot or have it stolen away. However, freshman Grace Mann was able to find a lane, pressed toward the goal, and got the scoring started at 26:05.
Bellmont continued to press on its attack until the end of the half, but Norwell held the Braves at zero.
Although the scoreboard was in favor of Batdorff’s squad, he knew something needed to be changed to halt the attack on the defense.
“We talked at halftime about the defense getting a little tired, and the ball was on us a lot,” he said. “We had to take the pressure off of our defense. Part of that was to hit more of our outlet passes instead of just clearing. We needed to get to people and we needed to make sure we had someone coming back to receive those.”
Batdorff also mentioned the youth in the defense as the roster has just one senior listed at the position (four-year varsity Emma Batdorff), and Addison Norris played significant time as a freshman.
The team has gone through injuries throughout the season, but the youth and injuries are not an excuse for the team. In fact, Batdorff believes those players have filled in well.
“We’ve lost a lot of starters this year, and you have to fill in with the younger players,” he said. “Some of them stepped up and played at a high level. Some of them are ready, but that’s a part of the game.”
In the second half, Norwell played with a different style. They played more aggressively, maybe a little too much, as there were multiple whistles from the official calling fouls. Even two yellow cards were issued, one on each side.
The fans were also getting in on the action, with both teams trading possession back and forth with little to no shot opportunities. There was just seven total in the half combined.
With under 10 minutes to play, the Braves had perhaps its best chance near the front of the net with an open kick. The shot ended up at the fingertips of a leaping Rinkenberger, flying in the air and heading toward the goal. The ball seemed to be on track to go in, but harmlessly fell on top of the net out of bounds.
The Knights’ crowd roared, but since the ball hit Rinkenberger last, Bellmont got the ball back for a corner try. The ensuing kick crossed through the Knights’ defense and fell onto the foot of Lauren McMahon to tie the game at one.
Not even five minutes later, Bellmont took possession and took a deep shot off of the leg of defender Sydney Keane. The kick narrowly slipped to the left of a diving Rinkenberger to give the Braves the lead.
The Lady Knights looked defeated as the last five minutes completely changed the projection of the game, having the lead five minutes prior and now desperate to force overtime. Now, with three minutes to play, they needed to give themselves a chance to tie. But similar to its first-half performance, Norwell didn’t get a shot off with Bellmont running around with the ball.
The clock struck zero, and the all-out battle between two teams that earlier in the season went to double overtime ended. Both games went to the hands of the Braves.
Norwell finished the season with a winning record of 10-7 and placed fifth in the Northeast 8 Conference at 3-4.
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