Sports

Perfect record doesn’t blind Titans to their failings

FRANCIS CRESCIA/TOWN CRIER
SHORT-CHANGED: A.Y. Jackson netminder Maggie Burton-Vulovic stones York Mills striker Taylor Linds during the second half of play. Linds scored a goal off a nice feed from Summyr Witter-Rhule during the first half.

Girls get straight shuts-out to start their soccer season

They may be 3-0 on the season but York Mills Titans varsity girls soccer isn’t going to climb Mount Olympus just yet.

Coach Tim Heffernan, pleased with his squad’s 6-0 taming of A.Y. Jackson Jaguars April 28, was reticent to comment on how they’ll fare in the North Region come playoffs.

“They’re gelling pretty well together and it’s just a question of keeping the organization that they’ve developed and playing to their strengths,” he said, shielding himself from a bitter wind at the April 28 game.

With the squad shutting out all opponents this season, it’s not a far stretch to consider the squad a contender, especially with Janna Golzart, Summer Witter-Rhule and Carolyn Tso providing offence.

But the young guns didn’t start firing until late into the first half even after maintaining a strong presence in Jaguars territory.

Breaking the seal on A.Y.’s netminder Maggie Burton-Vulovic was Witter-Rhule who burst past the defence to find the back of the net. Only a few moments later she would add another tally.

Burton-Vulovic was under a steady stream of attacks, as her defence was too far up the field to get back in time to stop forward drives. Before the half was up, Taylor Linds would add a third marker with a redirect off Witter-Rhule’s cross pass.

Though A.Y.’s goalie was bombarded, Jaguars coach Evan Georgio commended his last line of defence.

The fault for the loss however, was left on Mother Nature and a lack of ball control.

“The poor weather conditions caused the girls to not perform as well today,” Georgio said. “If we pick up our game defensively and start to distribute the ball to our wingers we’ll do much better.”

The second half saw a doubling of the score from the Titans.

Quiet for most of the first half, Golzart broke it open in the second, scoring the fifth and sixth goals of the match.

Her first made the Jaguars defence look silly as she weaved through the crowd like a slalom skier through gates. She then tapped the ball past Burton-Vulovic.

Unfortunately, Witter-Rhule would be carded for disputing a play.

“It was just one of those things that a girl got a little upset,” Heffernan said of the carding, admitting it was his star striker’s fault.

Witter-Rhule would eventually return to the field but the Jaguars would not relinquish any more goals, instead choosing to move it up with the efforts of Celine Yu and Robin Li.

Yu summed up the game strategy for A.Y.’s next match.

“Less crowding, more passing and everyone playing as a unit,” she said.

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