Eagles edge Indians, 2-1 (SLIDESHOW)
NICEVILLE – During halftime of Thursday nights’ girls’ soccer match between Choctawhatchee and Niceville at Twin Oaks, Eagles’ coach Michael Denton could be heard preaching to his team that “a one goal lead is not safe.”
The Eagles defeated the Indians 2-1, but it came down to the final five minutes.
View a slideshow from the game »
In the 55th minute, Niceville (11-2-1) forward Eli Craft was taken down within 10 yards of the goal and Miranda O’Neil scored on the ensuing penalty kick to seal the win for the Eagles.
Niceville dominated possession for much of the game and got on the board first as O’Neil recorded her first goal of the night in the 25th minute. O’Neil took advantage of some solid defensive play by her teammates, made a move on an Indians defender and knocked it just right of the goal keeper to give the Eagles a 1-0 lead.
But Choctaw (9-3) made adjustments at half that proved effective.
“We changed our style in the second half,” Choctaw coach Jeff Rynearson said. “We were looking to find our possession in the midfield and looking to send. We weren’t able to build attacks because they were so fast on the ball.”
In the 65th minute Choctaw’s Ariel Lindner fielded a long ball from Megan Thomas and beat the Eagles’ goal keeper to the ball and fired off a shot to knot the score at 1-1.
“Choctaw is a good team this year and that was a very entertaining game,” O’Neil said.
Denton was pleased with his team’s effort and knows there were some opportunities missed on the offensive end.
“We had some opportunities to put them away,” Denton said, citing two balls that bounced off the post. “We teach to shoot to corners and they are when they’re missing that close. But we have those games where it’s going to be close it’s going to be tight and if you don’t put those opportunities away things are going to go wrong.”
Follow Pat Flynn on Twitter: @PatFnwfdn
