Choctaw knocks off Niceville, 2-1 (SLIDESHOW)
FORT WALTON BEACH – The Choctawhatchee girls’ soccer team finally got that rather large monkey off its back Thursday night and beat county rival Niceville 2-1 on a frigid night at Etheredge Stadium.
View a slideshow from the game »
Freshman forward Dani Weyer sparked the Indians’ victory, scoring her team’s first goal of the night on a beautiful assist from midfielder Ashley Quackenbush in the 37th minute. Quackenbush headed a ball hard in Weyer’s direction and the freshman did the rest.
“I saw it in the air, trapped it with my chest, brought it down and dribbled until I saw an open net and then I shot it inside,” Weyer said.
The goal just sent the Indians (13-4-2) into halftime with all the momentum and they emerged in the second half with a much more defensive strategy. That strategy that was effective until the 67th minute, when Miranda O’Neil knocked in a cross from Kaitlyn Brown to knot the score at 1-1 and swing the momentum back in the Eagles’ favor.
Choctaw coach Jeff Rynearson put his team back on the offensive - sending a forward and looking for the long pass - a tactic that proved effective in the teams’ first match this season, a match Niceville (13-3-1) won 3-1.
“We were looking to control the midfield,” Rynearson said. “The first time we played them they dominated the midfield. So we really looked for a beefed-up midfield.”
In the 75th minute, Weyer sent a cross from 18 yards out to Megan Thomas who knocked it in and sent the nearly frozen crowd into a frenzy.
Niceville was able to get a few more shots off and had two corner kicks, but failed to convert anything due to a solid night between the pipes for Choctaw’s Sam Shaw who finished with nine saves.
“The girls kept their heads,” Rynearson said. “(Niceville) got the equalizer late like that and more times than not they’re going to get the game winner. But our girls stood the tide. They really were resilient.”
Niceville coach Michael Denton had a simple message for his team after the game.
“Regardless of the rivalry, we’re not doing the small things,” Denton said.
“Small things kill you. The big things will take care of themselves if you do the small things.”
But Weyer couldn’t hide her smile after the win, basking in the joy of finally knocking off their rival.
“They won 2-1 last time and it was a very physical game,” she said. “We wanted to show them we’re still in this and we’re still the top team and we wanted to show them what we had, and we did.”
Follow Pat Flynn on Twitter: @PatFnwfdn
