WHITEHALL — Reeths-Puffer has been looking for that game where it all comes together, and Saturday afternoon, the Rockets got one with an 8-0 win over Whitehall.
R-P has struggled all season with putting away scoring opportunities, only twice finding the net multiple times in a game. But you'd never have known it watching the Rockets' Mallorie Messer come alive for four goals, including a natural hat trick late in the first half to push R-P's lead from 2-0 to 5-0.
Two of Messer's four scores were pure hustle plays, coming up with loose balls that had been deflected by Whitehall keeper Kaylyn Blaske and scoring. The other two were longer-range goals.
Her outburst was all the more impressive because Messer, said R-P coach Kody Harrell, is usually a defender.
"You
want to train and develop good athletes, but you're also making
everyone a piece to this puzzle where we can go compete," Harrell said. "Depending on
the opponent and the situation, she's going to play defense or she's going to
play on the attack. Having her on the attack today definitely added another variable...You know what she brings as an individual. Now that
tenaciousness, that aggressiveness, that grit she gives on defense was
displayed on the attack, and it generated goals."
R-P (3-10) controlled possession and had many scoring chances, but Harrell said the same was true in the Rockets' tournament games in Holland the previous Saturday, and the team was blanked both times anyway - so to see those opportunities turned into goals was a big mental lift.
"We've had a lot of opportunities like that," Messer said. "It's just we can't
finish. Knowing today that we could finish those, it really helped boost our confidence."
Jaslynn Kops bookended the scoring with two goals, and Abby Hill and Ashley Bradley each scored a goal.
Whitehall coach Laicey Chamberlain praised Blaske's play in goal; in addition to Messer's two hustle-play goals that Blaske could do very little to avert, she was also victimized by a rebound shot after making a save on Hill's goal. The freshman has been under siege much of the year due to the Vikings' offensive struggles, but has displayed the makings of a strong varsity keeper.
"Those players not being marked, that's not on her," Chamberlain said.
"That's our defense needing to step up or other players needing to drop back. The blessing and the curse
of soccer is that it's a full team sport."
It was a tough week for Whitehall (2-7-1), Chamberlain allowed, with the Vikings taking a lopsided defeat to Montague and then to another nearby foe in the Rockets. More tough tests await. The coach maintains faith in her team.
"I feel like the team culture is still really strong, really positive," Chamberlain said.
"No, it's not the record that we would want, but they play together
really well...Our record just doesn't illustrate what an
amazing team these girls are."
R-P, meanwhile, is pursuing a "competitive standard," Harrell said, that the Rockets have established over the years. This season's team still has work to do to get to that standard, though efforts like Saturday's display that the Rockets are remaining relentless in the pursuit.
It helps that the team, with conference goals no longer achievable, has the luxury of looking at the remaining regular-season games as an extended tryout for the coming district tournament.
"I know teams that would be mentally
checked out (after our early struggles) and wouldn't control the game today that they should have
controlled, or even find a way to lose it," Harrell said. "We came in and
still did what we needed to do and played how we know how to play. I'm
really proud of the girls' maturity and the group we have. That's what's
still making me excited for what we can do at the end of
May."
