GAME SUMMARIES
March 4 at Rose: Rose tops Rocky Mount J.V. 5-0. Game conditions: Overcast at 5PM start; Light rain began to fall at the close of the first half and intermittently through the second half. Field remained in good shape, however, and the players did not appear affected by the damp field; however, the ball became slippery and that did affect some throw-ins. GAME SUMMARY: Rose asserted itself offensively from the beginning whistle and almost all of the first half was played with Rose attacking the Rocky Mount goal. Lauren Ahlschlager scored 2 goals off free kicks, but one was disallowed due to an offsides call against Rose and the first half ended with a surprisingly scant 1-0 lead for Rose. Rocky Mount only had one significant offensive thrust in the first half and bounced a close-in shot off the top crossbar and out-of-bounds. In the second half the Rose forwards had greater success and Callan Burzinski scored the second goal on an assist from Zena Wubneh. Lauren scored the third goal on another free kick high into the right corner of the goal. Zena took advantage of a mishandled ball by a Rocky Mount defender in front of the goal and lobbed the fourth goal over the goalie. Playing backside on the corner kick, Grace McDonald scored the fifth and final goal for Rose off a corner by Lauren, who was credited with an assist. Lee Artis played the first half in goal, and Grace and Caitlin Westbrook played there in the second half to earn a joint shutout. Game Roster (alphabetical by class): Lee Artis,Coleman Cannon, Megan Moskop, Lauren Ashschlager, Callan Burzinski, Kelly Hawkins, Caitlin Herrion, Grace McDonald, Kristin McGlauflin, Kelsey Curtis, Samantha Little, Caitlin Westbrook, and Zena Wubneh.

March 11 in Rocky Mount: Rose beats Rocky Mount J.V. 6-0. Game conditions: Mostly overcast at 4:15 with temps in the low 40s, but little breeze. Light rain had fallen earlier in the day but the field appeared in good shape and footing was unaffected. GAME SUMMARY: Both teams played with greater vigor and aggressiveness than in their first game, but Rose again clearly had the upper hand in this rematch. Only on occasion was Rocky Mount able to penetrate the Rose defense and approach their goal, but Rocky Mount never launched a serious shot on goal, although the Rose goalies were credited with a few routine saves. Zena Wubneh scored the first goal in the opening minutes after taking a high kick downfield from Caitlin Herrion and manuevering past two defenders near the goal. Ashima Aneja scored the second goal midway through the half with a medium-range shot from the middle of the field. The first half ended with a 2-0 lead for Rose. Kelly Hawkins scored the third goal in the opening minutes of the second half with a long shot from the left side of the field drilled into the top left corner of the goal. Several minutes later, Chelsey Rassau scored the fourth goal from medium range after receiving a pass from Zena. With ten minutes left in the game, Ashima struck twice within a minute for the fifth and sixth goals. The fifth goal came off a corner kick from Lauren Ashlschlager who earned an assist. Ashima broke on the corner kick toward the near post and blasted a shot past a Rocky Mount defender. The sixth goal came off a free kick from the right side by Caitlin Herrion that curved in front of the goal mouth. Lee Artis played the first half in goal, and Grace McDonald played there in the second half to earn a joint shutout. Game Roster (alphabetical by class): Ashima Aneja, Lee Artis, Coleman Cannon, Lauren Ashschlager, Callan Burzinski, Kelly Hawkins, Caitlin Herrion, Grace McDonald, Kristin McGlauflin, Chelsey Rassau, Kelsey Curtis, Samantha Little, Caitlin Westbrook and Zena Wubneh.

March 12 in Wilson: Rose beats Wilson Fike J.V. 3-0. Game conditions: At 5:15 it was sunny with temps in the low 70s. The field and footing were excellent. The lights were needed in the second half and temps fell into the mid-60s. Perfect weather for soccer. GAME SUMMARY: Wilson Fike was expected to have a strong JV team and pose a stiff challenge for Rose. It seems that Rose took this threat seriously and everyone on Rose showed up to play with their "A" game. As I watched the game, I was reminded of the phrase "they got beaten like a drum" because Rose completely, totally and absolutely dominated Fike in every aspect of the game. I don't know if Fike had some excuse for their poor play, such as illness or games the preceding 2 days, or whether Rose is just that far superior, but although Rose had played a game the day before and was down to just 12 players for the game, it was the Fike players who looked as if they were running with their feet mired in mud. Loose ball? Rose got it. Fike pass? Rose intercepted it. Fike dribble? Rose took the ball away. Fly ball? Rose headed or trapped it. In fact, Fike acted like they had never tried to play a fly ball before-rarely headed one and constantly misplayed them. Fike's only redeeming virtue was its goalie, which was fortunate for them or Rose's goal count would have been in the double digits. Rose was so dominant that its defensive wall of midfielders and fullbacks formed a virtually impenetrable shield around the Rose goal. Fike never sent a ball towards the Rose goal that could have been considered a shot, although once Lee did have to pick up the ball in front of the goal after a long and errant pass by Fike. By contrast, the Fike goalie was forced to make 18 saves-14 of them in the second half when Rose's endurance advantage became more of a factor and Rose had at least 7 more shots that went wide or high, including a few bar-benders. The Rose goals were scored by Lauren Ahlschlager at 25:00 of the 1st half on a hard shot across from left of the goal which she buried just inside the far right post, by Lauren again at 24:00 of the 2d half during a scramble in front of the goal, and by Zena Wubneh at 28:00 of the 2d half on another scramble in front of the goal. Another noteworthy feature was Rose's passing game. Several times Rose strung together a series of 3 or more passes down or across the field to set up shots. This was perhaps the first game, including last season, when Rose's passing game was as consistent and persistent. Game Roster (alphabetical by class): Ashima Aneja, Lee Artis, Lauren Ashschlager, Callan Burzinski, Kelly Hawkins, Caitlin Herrion, Grace McDonald, Kristin McGlauflin, Chelsey Rassau, Samantha Little, Caitlin Westbrook and Zena Wubneh.

March 18 at Rose: Rose walks over Greenville South Central HS 10-0. Game conditions: At 5:00 it was sunny with temps in the upper 60s. The field and footing were excellent. The lights were needed in the second half and temps fell into the low-60s. Perfect weather for soccer. GAME SUMMARY: South Central HS first opened its doors to freshmen and sophomores this past fall. Their soccer team is also in its first year of existence and few of its players have prior game experience. South Central wasn't expected to pose much competition for this year's experienced Rose JV squad and there was the danger that Rose might take South Central too lightly. However, although Rose's play was somewhat rough and possibly unfocused at times, the outcome of the game was never in doubt. Once again the Rose goalies had little to do while the opposing goalie was forced to make over 20 saves. South Central's greatest weakness appeared to be an inability to clear the ball out of its penalty area. Even when awarded a goal kick, the SC kicker usually kicked it straight to a Rose player. Even more disastrous was SC's choice of their goalie to take the goal kick. That tactic left their goalie temporarily out of position and twice Rose intercepted the goal kick and converted. Ashima Aneja opened the scoring in front of the left post thirty seconds into the game off a nifty pass from Zena Wubneh after Zena drew out the goalie. Kristin McGlauflin scored the 2d goal at 7:30 on a hard shot that the goalie couldn't grasp. Zena intercepted the goalie's goal kick at 13:00 and dribbled toward the goal and her shot bounced off the goalie's outstretched hands, off the crossbar and in for the 3rd goal at 13:00. Megan Moskop drilled in the 4th goal at 28:00 high and over the goalie off a pass from Ashima. Callan Burzinski raced past a defender and scored the 5th goal close-in at 11:30 of the 2d half. Kelly Hawkins scored the 6th goal high and right at 15:00. Coleman Cannon scored the 7th goal out of a scramble near the goal at 25:40. The 8th goal was an own goal by a South Central defender. The 9th goal came at 26:48 off a strong pass from Callan from the left corner down the endline that Grace McDonald got enough of a foot on to slip through the on-rushing SC goalie's legs towards the goal mouth where Samantha Little nudged it across the goal line. Zena scored the 10th goal by intercepting another goal kick by the goalie and lofting it high and over the goalie who was unable to fall back to the goal in time to block the shot. Game Roster (alphabetical by class): Ashima Aneja, Coleman Cannon, Megan Moskop, Callan Burzinski, Kelly Hawkins, Grace McDonald, Kristin McGlauflin, Chelsey Rassau, Kelsey Curtis, Samantha Little, Caitlin Westbrook and Zena Wubneh.

March 25 at South Central: Rose again whitewashes Greenville South Central HS 12-0. Game conditions: At 5:00 it was sunny with temps in the mid 70s. The field and footing were excellent. The field had no lights, but none were needed. In the second half temps fell into the high 60s. GAME SUMMARY: South Central lost another player from its roster and now has only 10 on its team. Rose accomodated this situation by playing only ten for the game. Once again South Central provided few challenges and Rose shot in abundance, scoring a dozen goals. Caitlin Herrion scored the first goal within seconds of the opening whistle. Samantha Little scored the 2d goal, ? scored the 3rd, and Caitlin Herrion scored again for the 4th goal. Kristin McGlauflin scored the 5th and 6th goals and the half ended with Rose up 6-0. Chelsey Rassau opened the scoring in the 2d half with the 7th and 8th goals; Zena Wubneh followed with the 9th and Kelsey Curtis notched the 10th and 11th goals. Kelly Hawkins completed the rout with the 12th goal. South Central put forth a good effort and their team should continue to improve, but at this time their skill level is not even close to that of the Rose JV players. Game Roster (alphabetical by class): Coleman Cannon, Megan Moskop, Callan Burzinski, Kelly Hawkins, Grace McDonald, Kristin McGlauflin, Chelsey Rassau, Kelsey Curtis, Samantha Little, Caitlin Westbrook and Zena Wubneh.

April 1 at Rose: Rose holds Wilson Fike J.V. scoreless again and wins by the margin of 2-0. Game conditions: At 5:00 it was sunny with temps in the upper 60s and no lights were needed. The field and footing were excellent. There was a strong crosswind of up to 20mph throughout the game but it seemed to have little effect upon play. Once again it was near-perfect weather for soccer. GAME SUMMARY: Wilson Fike's play seemed somewhat improved over the first game, but only marginally. Fike did challenge for the ball a bit better, but not enough to prevent the same peppering of their goal with Rose shots that occurred in the first game. And Fike did manage one shot on goal this time with a long-range effort that Grace McDonald easily caught on the fly. Rose again dictated play throughout with strong efforts from its midfielders and solid defense from its trio of freshmen fullbacks. Particularly impressive was the manner in which the middies would drop passes back to the fullbacks in order to swing the ball to the opposite side of the field. And despite the absence of its 2 goal-scorers in the first Fike game, Rose still unleashed a barrage of quality shots which forced the Fike goalie to make over 20 saves. However, despite the barrage, the contest remained a scoreless tie until late in the 2d half. Then at 20:00, Chelsey Rassau burst down the middle to intercept a Fike pass and caught the goalie too far forward in the penalty area. Her shot outpaced the Fike goalie's frantic effort to run it down before crossing the goal mouth. A few minutes later at 22:00, Ashima Aneja fired a shot from the 6 past a defender and slanting past the goalie into the left side of the goal. Game Roster (alphabetical by class): Ashima Aneja, Coleman Cannon, Megan Moskop, Callan Burzinski, Kelly Hawkins, Grace McDonald, Kristin McGlauflin, Chelsey Rassau, Kelsey Curtis, Samantha Little, and Caitlin Westbrook.

April 3 at Rose: Rose is held to 1-1 tie by New Bern after New Bern converts penalty kick near end of game. Game conditions: At 5:00 it was sunny with temps in the lower 70s and no lights were needed. The field and footing were excellent. Perfect weather for soccer. GAME SUMMARY: This game was the most closely-contested of the JV season. Each team spent considerable time in their opponent's defensive end of the field, and each team had about 5-7 shots on goal. However, by far the majority of the game was played between the 30s where the midfielders battled each other almost to a standstill. Rose scored first midway through the first half on a free kick by Chelsey Rassau from the 30 that she buried just over the goalie's outstretched arms and under the crossbar. New Bern was held scoreless from the field, but with about 5 minutes left in the game, a foul was called near Rose's goal and New Bern converted the penalty kick to tie the game. Rose pressed hard for the win in the remaining minutes with a few promising offensive forays and a couple of shots on the New Bern goal, but once again Rose was denied a victory it deserved. Sadly, this proved to be the final game of the season as rain washed out the 2 remaining scheduled games on April 8 and 10 and they could not be rescheduled. I normally would refrain from commenting on the officiating, but this was New Bern and Rose hasn't had many opportunities to beat them in girls' soccer recently, so I feel the need to vent. The alleged foul occurred just in front of the goal. One referee was on the sideline and another was behind the action near the 30 and on the left side of the field. Because I videotaped the game with a digital camcorder, I was able to convert the footage into a DVD-quality video for further forensic analysis. After viewing the footage at high magnification (zoom) and stepping forward and back a frame at a time, I think I can say that the following account is the most accurate and that New Bern was not fouled: A New Bern player was fighting for the ball and was turned around while doing so with her back to the goal and the ball free. As the NB player rotated to face the goal and drew her leg back to take a shot, a Rose player was closing on her from the NB player's right. The Rose player was running parallel to the endline and approaching at high speed from the right side of the NB player. The Rose player arrived just as the NB player was swinging at and contacting the ball with her right foot and (this is key) blocked the ball with her own right foot. The Rose player then did a nifty pirouette around the back of the NB player while the NB player lost her balance due to the block and fell FORWARDS toward the goal. Two key pieces of evidence support my account: First, after the NB player struck the ball, it barely moved and that would not have happened if the Rose player had simply crashed into the NB player-only a Rose block would have prevented forward movement of the ball; second, all the Rose player's momemtum was going parallel to the endline and if she had crashed into the NB player, the latter would have been knocked towards the opposite sideline instead of pitching forward towards the endline which is more indicative of tripping over the blocked ball and following the NB player's own momentum forward. I'm not sure who called the foul, but whoever did was not paying close attention to the action. And as commentators often state on televison, the refs shouldn't be calling game-deciding fouls in the last minutes of a game unless the foul is absolutely crystal clear, and I don't see how this one could have been from the refs' vantage points. Oh well, maybe all this bad karma will catch up to New Bern next season and the Varsity will beat them every time they play. Game Roster (alphabetical by class): Lee Artis, Coleman Cannon, Megan Moskop, Lauren Ahlschlager, Callan Burzinski, Kelly Hawkins, Caitlin Herrion, Grace McDonald, Kristin McGlauflin, Chelsey Rassau, Kelsey Curtis, Samantha Little, Caitlin Westbrook and Zena Wubneh.