CLARION – Bradford High girls soccer coach Tony Doriguzzi isn’t
one to boast, but he had a feeling that his 2006 team was going to
be something special.
Tuesday night the Lady Owls proved him right by bringing home
Bradford’s first District 9 soccer championship.
Bradford scored two goals in the first half and made them hold
up for a 2-0 victory over DuBois, earning the Lady Owls the Class
AAA title.
“You always have visions of grandeur coming into a season, but
this year I just had a feeling that this team was going to do
something good,” Doriguzzi commented.
“It’s been a season of firsts for us and tonight everything
we’ve preached led to this win. We’ve talked about team unity all
season. There are no individuals on this team and that’s why we won
tonight, by playing together.”
It took the Lady Owls a while to get back in game mode after
being idle for two weeks, but once they got it all together things
began to fall in place.
“We haven’t had a game in two weeks, so I was a little concerned
about tonight,” Doriguzzi admitted. “But our defense kept us in the
game early while we got our game legs under us. Once we started
moving up and down the field, I knew we’d be alright.”
Bradford’s game plan was simple, put pressure on the Lady
Beavers and the Lady Owls did that effectively with several early
shots that were stopped by DuBois goalie Tori Vicklund.
“Our game plan was high pressure the whole game,” Doriguzzi
explained. “At our team dinner we looked at game films and saw some
things we could exploit. We were able to take advantage of some of
those weaknesses and that’s what led us to this win. We were able
to neutralize some of the things they do.”
Defense ruled over the first 25 minutes of the opening 40-minute
half before the Lady Owls finally took the goose egg off their side
of the board at the 14:15 mark.
A penalty against the Lady Beavers gave Bradford a direct kick
and Leah Anderson made the most of the opportunity with a boot into
the upper left hand corner of the net to give the hosts a 1-0
lead.
Pumped up, the Lady Owls went on the attack while DuBois was
vulnerable and Lindsay Sherman made a perfect pass to Kayla Murphey
who blasted in a shot over Vicklund’s out-stretched arms from 25
yards out to make it a 2-0 advantage.
Holding a comfortable two-goal lead, all the Lady Owls had to do
was avoid making any mistakes for the remainder of the half, and
then continue their solid defensive play in the second half.
DuBois picked up its pressure in the final 40 minutes, but the
Lady Beavers were denied access to the net by Bradford’s defense
and goal keeper Chelsea Rinfrette.
During the regular season the two teams split their home and
home series, each winning on their home field. The Lady Owls won in
Bradford 6-3, but lost in DuBois 4-1.
“Those four goals were the most that we’ve given up this
season,” Doriguzzi noted. “Tonight Chelsea got the shuout, which I
believe is her sixth this season.
“When Hope Ruffner graduated last season, we were left without a
goalie. Chelsea stepped up and decided to play goalie. She
converted from a midfielder in her junior year, which is really
something.”
Coming into the girls Class AAA playoffs, district soccer
observers felt that the title matchup would be between Bradford and
Clearfield, which had met once during season with the Lady Owls
posting a big win.
“I can’t put into words how big that win over Clearfield was for
our proggram,” Doriguzzi emphasized. “Then we beat DuBois and I
knew we had a chance. Our goal has been to be competitive with
those teams and we were.”
When Clearfield was upset by DuBois in the semifinal game,
Doriguzzi knew who his opponent would be and there may have even
been a little sigh of relief.
“Clearfield’s defense is amazing, but I knew we could play with
DuBois and get behind their defense,” he noted.
The second-year head coach and his staff will now take the Lady
Owls into the state playoffs. Bradford’s first round game is
scheduled for next Tuesday against the District 6 champion. The
site and time will be announced.
“My assistant coaches, Joe Doriguzzi and Jared Doriguzzi, are a
lot of the reason for our success. They have both made
contributions this season that are immeasureable. Jared was also
our JV coach and they are the kids that kept us going and got us
ready over the last two weeks,” Doriguzzi emphasized.
