Patience was more than virtuous for Allen Community College’s women Wednesday afternoon.
It was down right victorious.
After impatience cost the Red Devils on several scoring opportunities in the first half of their soccer home opener against Hesston, Allen righted its ship after intermission with some familiar names leading the way.
Freshman Lexi Godlove scored off an assist from teammate Kyleigh Rowe in the 66th minute, “which really seemed to settle things down for us,” Red Devil head coach Jeremy McGinnis said.
Allen sealed the win about 10 minutes later, when Carleigh Konrade scored from point-blank range to give the Red Devils the 2-0 victory.
The win pushes Allen’s record to 2-1 on the season, already equaling the Red Devils’ victory output from a year ago.
The key, McGinnis said, was patience.
“The girls got a little frustrated in the first half, and I probably did, too,” McGinnis said. “We played everything to their back line, but we didn’t do a good job of playing the ball through channels. We could get it to their back line, but we couldn’t get it through.”
Not so coincidentally, Allen’s early scoring opportunities dried up in the first half when freshman outfielder Kalynn Gallarde exited with a head injury midway through the period.
She returned about midway through the second half, with Allen scuffling on offense.
“Kalynn does a great job of taking her time and seeing what we need to do with the ball, and getting it there,” McGinnis said.
Minutes after her return, Allen’s offense began to click. Rowe fed Godlove with a nifty pass that Godlove punched in past a diving Hesston goalkeeper.
The Red Devil defense remained stout from there, preventing Hesston from getting any sort of scoring opportunities in the second half, particularly after Konrade’s shot found the net with just over 15 minutes remaining.
“Our back line did a tremendous job in earning our first shutout of the season,” McGinnis said, pointing out the efforts of forward Kaya Pelen, “who came up big for us in the last 15 minutes in helping control the game. And Keelie (Arbuckle) was solid in goal again.”
The Red Devils are at Kansas City, Kan., Saturday and at Maple Woods next Thursday.
Red Devil women shut out Larks
