A dominant Chesterton Girls Soccer squad routed the Merrillville Pirates 10-0 on Tuesday night in a lightning shortened game.
Chesterton’s offense exploded early, kicked off by a goal from junior forward Addy Joiner in the first few minutes. The Pirate girls struggled to contain the aggressive Trojan offense and ultimately seceded three goals to Joiner, two to senior midfielder Sydney Balas, and four others to a mixture of other Trojan girls. Chesterton came into the game riding high on a 4-0 win over Valparaiso last week, and the girls knew keeping up the pace was critical.
“We just want to keep up good combinations and passing throughout the team and just really work on playing good soccer,” said Grace Bamber, freshman midfielder for the Trojans. “We have two D1 players in Addy Joiner and Ashlee Bakaitis, who are just killing the game right now. We have a strong backline, strong forward, and strong midfield, I don’t think we really have a weak spot.”
Chesterton, ranked as the 12th best team in the entire state, enters each game with confidence and a plan in mind.
“We want to build from the last win, and this is a conference game so it’s important,” said Ben Forgey, Chesterton Head Coach. “Our attack is strong, we’ve got Addy Joiner who scores goals for fun. Then we’ve got other players who are so good on the ball, so dangerous in their pace and technique. We can really cause trouble for anyone that plays us.”
The Pirates had been hoping to keep up their momentum after a 10-1 win over Hammond Morton last week, which had marked the end of a 5 loss-streak.
“We just need to be keeping our shape, keeping up our passing lanes and pace of play like we did on that Saturday,” said Maria Guardiola, Captain and a senior striker for the Pirates. “Overall, I’m expecting us to score more. I always hope to win games, but I definitely expect there to be more improvement in getting points on the board.”
Lightning on the horizon during halftime ultimately ended with the game being called as final at 10-0. Chesterton will face Elkhart Central on Saturday, while Merrillville looks ahead to Kankakee Valley on Thursday.
