McCann Girls Explode on Offense Late
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And then, it could not be stopped.
The Hornets took a lead early in the second half on an own-goal and then reeled off three more tallies in three minutes to take a 4-0 win from Franklin Tech on Friday afternoon.
"The first goal was an accident, so when I scored, that's when we got back into it," said Cheyenne Alcombright, who converted a Monique Martel assist to make it 2-0 in the 69th minute.
"That's when we were all like, 'Let's go guys, let's step it up.' "
Moments later, Allexia Andrews stepped up and cashed in the rebound of an Alcombright shot to make it 3-0. And with 9:31 on the clock, Martel ripped a shot from the top of the box that found the back of the net to provide the final margin.
Martel said the lack of scoring early did not bother the Hornets (5-2-1).
"I don't think it was frustrating," Martel said. "We were having a really good game. We've been doing really good with the assists and the give-and-gos, which is good because it's something that wasn't there at the start of the season."
McCann's passing was definitely crisp in the first half, and the Hornets kept the Eagles (3-4) pinned in their end of the field.
McCann used that advantage to generate more than a dozen first-half penalty kicks but only managed a handful of shots.
And while those numbers may not have frustrated Martel, it had some folks itching for a goal.
"We were doing pretty good because we were getting the corners and we had the ball pretty much on their side the entire game," Alcombright said. "It was getting frustrating because the goals weren't coming, but then at the end you saw it was goal after goal after goal.
"I think when we're happy, we play our best."
Fittingly, it was a corner that finally produced the game-winner for McCann.
Martel took the restart from the left wing in the 48th minute, and Alcombright had a try in the box. A Franklin defender attempted to clear but instead directed the ball past keeper Alyssa Andrews (nine saves).
McCann coach Mike Dowling said the Hornets made a couple of adjustments at half-time that helped open things up, including a switch on the corners.
"I put two girls right in front because that [Franklin] girl kept trapping it right back to [Martel]," Dowling said. "I was like, 'Girls, I want it right there in the box.' A lot of things can happen in that bing-bang situation. ... WE did get a little more offense in the second half."
And in the run of play?
"We made a little adjustment where we spread it out and switched the field," Dowling said. "They were just going to the right side of the field the whole first half, even though we were in their end. At half-time, I asked them, if we were going to control the play like that, to use the whole field, to reverse the ball and put it in the middle a little bit earlier instead of waiting until it was inside the 18 and they were stuffing four or five girls in there."
After a busy and successful week, the Hornets have two games next week, home against Commerce on Tuesday and Renaissance School on Friday.
They head into October with a lot of wins and a lot of confidence.
"I think we're really good," Martel said. "At the beginning of the season, we weren't the best with our passes and weren't really clicking, but this whole week has gotten us to where I want to be and where I'm pretty sure other people want to be."