BEACON FALLS — The Woodland girls soccer team has shown plenty of promise in its 3-2-1 start to the season, and head coach Cait Witham is looking for her team to capitalize on that potential by finishing games strong.
“We are still struggling in the finishing aspect,” Witham said. “It’s really hard to gain any kind of momentum when you win games by a large margin and then go up against a team that really presents a challenge.”
The Hawks showed themselves well Wednesday in a 2-2 tie with Holy Cross, which entered the game with an unblemished record. Sara Alessio and Jillian O’Neil scored goals for the Hawks.
Woodland dropped a 2-1 game to Wolcott Sept. 20, with Aries Bell scoring the only goal for the Hawks, and then the Black and Gold ran rampant over Ansonia, 8-0, three days later.
Magdelena Lewicki and Delia Kotsaftis led the scoring barrage with two goals each against the Chargers. Olivia Kotsaftis, Holly Plasky, Alessio and Bell added goals.
“We missed two really good opportunities against Wolcott and should have been up 3-0 at the half,” Witham said. “We end up shooting ourselves in the foot by not taking advantage of those scoring chances. Then you give the opposition life, they score a goal and next thing you know we are panicking.
“Our finishing is not where it needs to be. Even in the games we win by a large number, we are taking an awful lot of shots and missing more times than not.”
Woodland has found the back of the net 22 times through six games, with 17 of those goals coming in two games. Lewicki and Bell lead the team with four goals each. Olivia Kotsaftis and Delia Kotsaftis have three goals each. Alessio, Plasky and Paige Letourneau have tallied two goals each.
Witham said the Hawks need to be more consistent to put away tough games.
“Until we find that consistency, we are going to struggle against the tougher teams,” she said. “Even the defense there has been some adjustments to be made. This is a new back line and it takes time to come together. There are going to be some growing pains. The two goals that Wolcott scored was not the keeper’s fault, it was just poor defending.”
Witham is confident, though, the team will jell.
“As the season progresses, we will come together,” she said. “I’m hoping by the time October rolls around we will have less of those growing pains as we do now. The freshmen have been huge in giving us some quality minutes.”
Woodland will play Naugatuck Friday and St. Paul on Tuesday.
