The cheer before the start of the second half for the NDCL Lions Girls Soccer team was just one word: “Believe.”
Game photos click here.
The cheer before the start of the second half for the NDCL Lions Girls Soccer team was just one word: “Believe.”
Since the start of the season, the Lions have not stopped believing that they can be successful, and it sure showed on Sept. 12 when the Lions hosted the Elyria Catholic Panthers.
And why shouldn’t the Lions believe?
They are being led this year by one of the winningest coaches in OHSAA soccer history, state champion coach, Pamela Malone.
With a great sense of confidence, the Lions came out of the gate quickly as they scored three goals in the first twenty minutes and went on to defeat the Panthers, 5-0.
Afterward, Coach Malone talked about the Lions game plan going into the contest and how they performed against the Panthers.
Malone said that the game plan was to play a two touch quick game, win the 50/50 balls, and to make sure to finish the shots on goal.
In the contest with the Panthers, the coach emphasized that the goals the Lions scored were of high quality.
“I think the goals that were scored today were really quality goals,” said Coach Malone. “We worked the ball around, we had four different scorers of the five goals, so that just shows the variety of scorers that we have, and the number of people that we do have in the scoring position and that can score.”
In addition to the excellent offense shown by the Lions, Coach Malone said that the defense played a great game.
“I thought defense played really well,” said the coach. “Amelia Alt on the back line, she just cleans up everything. And we’re getting our outside marking backs to add to the attack in the 4-4-3.”
Demonstrating confidence right from the start, the Lions executed Coach Malone’s game plan to perfection.
Playing quickly, the Lions took a 3-0 lead in the first 20 minutes of the contest.
First, the Lions took a 1-0 lead when freshman Gabriella Ko scored early in the contest.
Just a few minutes later, freshman Emily Gruss also found the back of the net to give the Lions a 2-0 lead.
The Lions scored their final goal of the half when senior Amelia Alt converted a penalty kick.
After halftime, the Lions added two additional goals.
Junior, Dria Duqum, scored with 29:54 left in the second half to put the Lions ahead 4-0.
Completing the scoring for the Lions was Emily Gruss who scored her second goal of the night in the 63rd minute.
As Coach Malone mentioned the Lions had a lot of goal scorers against the Panthers.
In fact, this season, the Lions have had eight players contribute points.
Offensively, for the season, the Lions have been led by Dria Duqum (13 points – 5 goals, 3 assists), Amelia Alt (10 points – 4 goals, 2 assists), Emilee Gruss (9 points – 4 goals, 1 assist), Gabriella Ko (8 points – 2 goals, 4 assists), Marija Vukovic (5 points – 2 goals, 1 assist), Sadie Wurm (2 points – 1 goal), Emma Clayton (1 point – 1 assist), Zoey Myers (1 point – 1 assist).
After the game against the Panthers, Coach Malone said that it is fun to see everything begin to come together.
“Everything’s coming together, it’s really kind of fun, because coming in and trying to change the culture, trying to have a different coaching philosophy…I had to build the trust with them, to say hey look, believe me this is going to work,” Coach Malone said.
