Liz Treanor wasn’t thinking about coach Mel Brown’s advice as a high shot came sailing toward her, but she still heeded it.
Our Lady of Victory’s Brianna Tierney let a rising shot fly at the Cardinal Spellman goalkeeper from 20 yards out on a free kick in the 38th minute.
“I was going to catch it, but then I realized it went to bounce out of hand a little,” Treanor said. “So I just tried to hit it.”
The 5-foot-5 sophomore punched the ball over the crossbar to save a goal and help Spellman record a scoreless tie with the Jaguars in CHSAA Bronx/Westchester girls soccer at Mercy College Monday. Brown said he has been practicing and drilling into Treanor, who made six saves, that any ball she can’t catch she needs to punch.
“She did a perfect example of that,” Brown said. … “She played a beautiful game today. It’s one of the few times she has had to do it.”
Spellman’s lack of aggressiveness at the midfield, especially in the first half, left in on the defense for a good portion of the game. Its back line, led by Victoria Quinones and Kristen Carew, chased down Victory players making runs up the sidelines and on balls kicked over the top. Luckily for Spellman (6-2-2) when its defenders did not track them down the Jaguars (4-4-2) were unable to finish, may times sending shots wide or weakly at Treanor.
“Our defense has never really come under that much pressure,” Brown said.
Freshman midfielder Nasya Sandy had Spellman’s best chance for a goal in the 18th minute. Her free kick from the top of the box hit off the top of the crossbar. Sandy, who has stepped in to a bigger role since star sophomore Taylor Addison tore her ACL on Sept. 30, began to look to create more after halftime.
She put a well-placed free kick into the box that her teammate just couldn’t quiet catch up to. Isbella Harris sent a free kick just outside the box toward the near post, but Hagi Garcia could not get a foot on it. The Pilots were playing without key midfielders Saran and Anika Hall, twin sisters, because they were at driver’s ed.
“We need people constantly sending the ball up, which Nasya did a better job of,” Harris said. “We just need more speed in our forwards.”
Spellman, which lost in the league final a year ago, remains in third place in the division. It sits behind Maria Regina and Good Counsel with a game left in the regular season, but eluded what would have been a tough loss thanks to Treanor’s leap.
“I am on the short side,” she said. “So when the ball goes really high I get nervous, but that really made me happy to see it go over.
