Monmouth Academy’s trio of strikers from left to right: Alicen Burnham, Audrey Fletcher and Tia Day. (Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal)
MONMOUTH — Three is better than two.
The Monmouth Academy girls’ soccer team already had two dynamic scorers in senior Tia Day and sophomore Audrey Fletcher, but when freshman Alicen Burnham got bumped up from the midfield it made the Mustangs’ attack even more dangerous.
“I think once (head coach Gary) Trafton put us all up as forwards — because originally Alicen was a center-mid — is when we really started to mesh together,” Day said. “I think it helped out a lot because there was kind of a lot of pressure on Audrey and I to kind of be all over the place. And now with a third forward we can kind of have more stationary spots, and Alicen and I are able to stay on a wing and kind of cross it in to Audrey in the middle, and then Audrey’s able to distribute it from the middle.”
Trafton said he knew what kind of scoring threats he had coming into this season, including the newcomer Burnham, but he tried out a few different formations throughout summer soccer and the preseason, and then into the start of the regular season.
“I tried to play with four midfielders, and we just didn’t get as much offense going. It was just all crowded in,” Trafton said. “This way it spreads out.”
“I think it didn’t take us long to create the chemistry,” Burnham said.
Burnham may be new to high school, but she had played with Fletcher for two years during their middle school days together. Then Fletcher teamed up with her sister Hayley and Day last year. Mixing the chemistry she had with Burnham and her chemistry with Day “wasn’t that hard,” she said.
The instant click wasn’t a surprise to Trafton, either.
“They know all their strengths, and they know where each other are going to be all the time,” he said.
The proof has been in the pudding. The Mustangs scored 104 goals in 14 regular-season games, with more than half of those coming from Day and Fletcher. But Burnham has been as much a part of the output as her linemates.
“It’s not about one or two girls up there — all three,” Trafton said. “Alicen hasn’t scored as many goals as Audrey or Tia, but she has come up big at times for us to get some goals and score some goals, and it took some pressure off them because everybody’s looking at them.”
“It’s definitely fun being able to play with two other girls who can score a lot because a lot of teams you face you only have like maybe one girl who can score,” Day said. “I’m lucky to have a couple other girls, and then also Emily that can score.”
Emily is fellow senior Emily Grandahl, who has become the lone central midfielder and another big piece of the offense, with 12 assists this season. Grandahl is the team’s distributor from the defense to that potent offense.
“I think we’re also lucky that we have a defense that’s a strong as ours,” Day said. “They work really hard to get the ball up there, and I wouldn’t have had the half the goals I had without them clearing out all the balls.”
“Those girls wouldn’t be scoring goals if it wasn’t my fullbacks getting the ball up to my halfbacks and Emily Grandahl,” Trafton added.
All three phases will be key as the regular season gives way to the postseason, and the opportunities shrink and the pressure grows.
“I think (the playoffs) is when it’s most important for us to have that chemistry because it tests how we do under pressure and how we can stay calm and put away a goal, no matter what the score is,” Burnham said.
Trafton has had his team work on shooting more this year than any year he can remember, knowing that quality of shots is just as important quantity.
“We talked about all year long that every team gets their opportunities, and by the time you get into the playoffs the opportunities are shrunken down,” Trafton said.
“We have to make sure when we do get the opportunity we have to finish on them,” Fletcher said.
wkramlich@sunjournal.com
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