AUBURN — After struggling to score goals during the preseason Edward Little was looking for a spark — any spark — in its KVAC season opener against Oxford Hills.
Thanks to Jasmin Wyman, the Red Eddies matched their preseason total of two, and earned a confidence-boosting win on top of it.
Wyman scored twice in the second half to life Edward Little to a 2-0 victory. Her first goal came nearly 11 minutes in the second stanza. Her second came with a little over ten minutes left to play.
“She’s my left wing and that’s her job, to pop the ball in.” Edward Little coach Greg Perkins said.
Wyman said her teammates had as much to do with her scoring chances as she did.
“We knew where each other were and we had each others back,” Wyman said.
Her second goal — the back breaker — saw her battle through sticks as she swung hers at the perfect time to score the insurance marker.
Both coaches are taking away some teachable moments from the regular season opener.
“I didn’t like how we did a lot of things,” Perkins said. “We have a lot of work to do, but it’s first game, so you accept the fact it’s the first game.”
Oxford Hills coach Cindy Goddard thought they didn’t execute their passing game.
“EL played a great game today, they really passed and used their strength, they used their drives,” Goddard said. “So, I think making that adjustment, I think we are used to a short, little, quick passing game and we really haven’t used our power hits to move the ball more quickly and efficiently.”
Perkins was pleased in the second half as the Red Eddies fired 12 of their 19 total shots in the stanza. They had a glorious chance to end the first half when they had a penalty corner in the final 30 seconds, but couldn’t get a clean shot off.
“We got the ball where we wanted it and got in the circle,” Perkins said. “I think we need to work on finishing. We would get the ball right in front of the net repeatedly and we could only score two goals. I think we’ve got to do better finishing, because a lot of teams we are going to play, we aren’t going to get the ball in that much.”
The players knew they weren’t capitalizing on their chances and made the adjustment at half.
“I think we got motivated and we knew we needed to put in some work to get the goals,” Wyman said. “Once the heat of the moment came, we were able to get the goals.”
EL goaltender Karli Stubbs stood tall, especially in the final minutes of the contest, as the Vikings feverishly tried to tie the game. She made five of her eight saves in the second half.
Oxford Hills had 17 total shots in the contest.
The Vikings best chance to get on the board was slightly past the halfway mark after a timeout. They transitioned from defense to offense and had an opening to goal. A shot was fired, but went wide of the cage.
Oxford Hills players got tired as the game went on.
“I was surprised how gassed we got,” Goddard said. “I think I expected a little more from the starters and I thought they tired quicker than we thought they would.”
Anna Huff made five saves in the Oxford Hills’ net.
nfournier@sunjournal.com
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