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Vikings stop Bulldogs
Updated: September 13, 2011 9:50PM
VALPARAISO — Valparaiso made a goal by senior Kate Johnson in the 46th minute stand up as the Vikings defeated Crown Point 1-0 Tuesday night in Valparaiso.
Crown Point came into the contest 5-0 in conference, so the Vikings’ victory makes it a three-way tie for first in the Duneland.
The real story of the game was Valparaiso keeper Elyse Horb, who made her first varsity start. She replaced Emma Kurt, who is out with a concussion.
“Elyse took over in the second half of the game against South Bend St. Joe,” said Vikings coach Rob Cespesdes. “Emma got kneed in the head and Elyse took over.”
All Horb did was stop all six of Crown Point’s shots on goal, but none was bigger than the stop in the 69th minute against Cassie Donsbach on a feed from Sarah Rivich. Horb got a hand on the point-blank shot that would have tied the score.
While the first half ended in a scoreless tie, it certainly was not without drama.
Crown Point (7-3, 4-1) carried most of the offensive play in the first 30 minutes. Liz Henderson had a chance in the 10th minute, but an aggressive sliding save by Horb kept the Bulldogs off the scoreboard.
Valparaiso’s (7-2, 4-1) offense found its legs in the last 10 minutes of the half with many good scoring chances, all being turned away by Crown Point keeper Kelsey Shoemaker. Valparaiso senior Anneliese Trapp had a header go over the cross bar and the Valparaiso fans were looking for a penalty kick as Andrea Violanti was upended on a try in the box that was smothered by Shoemaker.
Crown Point sophomore defender Jenna Arnold had a huge half, thwarting many Valparaiso scoring chances.
The Bulldogs nearly answered on a free kick by Sarah Rivich in the 50th minute but the scramble in front of the Valparaiso net was cleared nicely by Kathryn Schoer.
The Bulldogs had one last scramble, but a Crown Point shot hit the cross bar with 22 seconds left.
“We had a lot of chances tonight,” said Bulldogs coach Chris Mikrut. “You have to give Valpo credit but we didn’t finish. We just never seemed to get any rhythm and Valparaiso wanted a piece of the conference title and we let it get away.”
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