The Miami Hurricanes soccer team kicked off their season with a bang tonight at Cobb Stadium. Miami dominated Saint Francis (PA) by a score of 6-0. After working out the kinks following a 0-3 loss to upstate UCF, the Canes came back and dominated Florida Tech on Monday 7-0. They got off to a hot start Friday night as well.
Miami lost 4 key players coming into 2017. Three key players in defense (Auld, Dal Pozzo, and McCarthy) tallied two goals and eleven assists in 2016. Nothing hurts this team more than losing striker Gracie Lachowecki who tallied eleven goals and three assists in 19 games last season. Miami didn’t seem to mind losing these key players in this showing.
Five minutes into the contest senior Ronnie Johnson got a beautiful feed from sophomore Kristina Fisher to open Miami’s 2017 account. Johnson beat her marker coming down the right-hand side and slot one past the St. Francis keeper. Miami would make quick work of the waves of attack by Saint Francis and counter quickly creating a few chances over the next twenty minutes.
Johnson would also convert the second goal of the night for Miami. The play was brilliantly set up by Miami’s defense by thwarting a counter attack and getting an interception in their own half. The knock-on fell perfectly for Johnson in full stride as she charged past the two centre-backs and tucking it under a charging keeper.
Miami kept bringing the pressure as the Canes earned a corner in the 32nd minute. The incoming cross from junior Jamie Brunworth was headed in a Sergio Ramos’ like fashion across the keeper and into the side netting by Boca Raton’s Lexi Castellano. Miami’s amazing first half wasn’t done yet. A bad goal keeper clearance allowed redshirt sophomore Ainsly Wolfinbarger to blast a shot from the top of the box into the back of the net and bring Miami leads to four at the half.
After a calm start to the second half, Fisher tallied her second assist of the night on a well-placed cross from just outside the area on the end line that found sophomore Dejah Cason on the edge of the six-yard box. Cason, the American Heritage (Plantation) product, had no problem finding the back of the net with a header to open up her account in 2017.
Miami’s last tally came on a beautiful link up in play by freshmen Michelle Giamportone and Tia Dupont. Giamportone was able to play a curved through ball from the edge of the technical area into a streaking Dupont. Dupont calmly collected the pass and went five hole bringing Miami’s lead to six.
In a match that had the look of a Varsity versus JV scrimmage, St. Francis never really threatened getting on the board throughout the game. Not a shot on target was recorded against redshirt junior Phallon Tullis-Joyce, who earned a clean sheet for her performance. It can be said that earning three points was crucial given Miami’s upcoming schedule. Miami will face cross town rival FIU on Sunday in the #PalmettoDerby before embarking on a tour of the Northeast that will have the Canes face the fake Miami (OH), Cincinnati, Yale, and Quinnipac over a span of nine days.
