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Osbourn Park benefits from breaks

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Ana Pimsler/News & Messenger

Osbourn’s Jeanine Rossi, left, and Osbourn Park’s Gaby Wilson fight for the ball in Monday night’s game.

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By BEN TRITTIPOE For the News & Messenger
Published: March 24, 2008

The early part of any season is a learning experience for teams, and the Osbourn Park girls’ soccer team learned Monday that sometimes it is better to be lucky than good.
The Yellow Jackets benefited from an unconventional goal in the first half, then got the game-winner on the fortunate placement of a shot late in the game to defeat host Osbourn, 2-1, in a non-district contest in Manas-sas.
Osbourn Park (2-0-1) got on the scoreboard in the 12th minute when it took advantage of an Osbourn miscue. Senior Karen Bonilla sent a corner kick from the right side toward the goal mouth, where Eagles senior goal-keeper Brook Thomas mistimed her leap and saw the ball sail over her head. OP senior Maryellen Derenda was waiting in front of the goal and tapped the ball in for a 1-0 lead.
“On their first goal, Brook made an error, but she took full acceptance for it,” Osbourn head coach Jodi Kranich said of Thomas, who is playing goalkeeper for the first time this season. “She’s a great athlete, and she showed it in the second half with some great saves.”
With the score still 1-0 at halftime, Kranich made an adjustment that produced dividends for the Eagles (0-1) early in the second half.
Osbourn began the game in a 4-3-3 formation, but Kranich switched to the Eagles’ more familiar 4-4-2 set for the final 40 minutes.
The move paid off eight minutes into the half. Sophomore Erika Scott played a long ball through to fresh-man Erica Boyle on the right side, and Boyle touched the ball into the middle to sophomore Megan Gilchrest.
Gilchrest lofted a 20-yard shot to the upper-left corner of the goal and Osbourn had tied the score.
“We were not 100 percent comfortable with the new formation tonight,” Kranich said. “We were having trouble with spacing and understanding balance on the field, so I decided to switch back to our 4-4-2 in the second half. That switch enabled them to think less and react more, and it helped lead to the goal.”
“I’m a bit concerned that they came through our center backs when scoring their goal,” OP head coach Rob Watters said. “We didn’t have enough coverage there, and we’re going to need to fix that.”
With the score tied, Osbourn Park continued to press forward and outshot the Eagles 13-3 in the second half (19-5 for the game). Thomas made several excellent saves (eight on the night) to keep the Yellow Jackets off the board, but Derenda finally slipped a 25-yard shot under the crossbar in the 72nd minute to put OP back in front.
While it is still early, both coaches noted there is plenty to work on for their teams.
“We need to be more precise and better skill-wise,” Watters said of the Yellow Jackets. “We play Forest Park on Friday, and if we don’t get better quickly, they will expose it.”
“This was a learning experience for us,” Kranich said. “I’d rather lose now and learn now than when it counts later [the first round of play amongst Cedar Run District teams will not count in the district standings]. We’ve got a lot of kinks to work out. We didn’t find a groove tonight, but we will. I’m confident in that.”