Ball control strategy effective, Lady Trojans win home opener against Colonial Heights

New Kent's Jennifer Critz prepares to launch a free kick into the field of play.

Robb Johnson photo

New Kent’s Lady Trojans entered their Mar. 14 home opening looking to topple a Colonial Heights team that swept them last season. Employing a strategy to hold the ball and keep it on their side of the field proved to be a winning formula for the home team.

Second half goals by New Kent’s Grace Lysek and Haley Brady provided breathing room as the hosts prevailed 3-1 in the home opener for the Lady Trojans.

Lady Trojan Taylor Clements provided the lone score in the first half, providing a 1-0 cushion for the hosts heading into halftime. As action picked up in the second half, New Kent began implementing their strategy to possess the ball for as long as they could on their side of the field. That ploy worked as Lysek found her opening 10 minutes into the half, scoring to up the hosts’ advantage to 2-0. Six minutes later, Brady added a goal of her own to increase the lead to three for the Lady Trojans.

The visitors took advantage of New Kent’s only miscue in the second half. Lady Colonial Elena Petrone was able to steal the ball and score on a breakaway goal with nine minutes remaining in the contest. But the hosts’ defense would thwart all other threats for scoring for the remainder of the game to seal the win for New Kent.

After the contest, Lady Trojan head coach Steve Grech talked about the strong effort in the home victory.

“I’m just very proud of this team,” he said. “We won a game the other day 12-0 and I told the team we can’t be too overconfident.

“We have to approach each game differently,” Grech continued. “This is the same team that beat us twice last year and we know it would be tough. We did all the right things to come out with a solid victory against a good team tonight.”

New Kent improves its record to 2-0.