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Krup’s goal keeps Rockets atop BNC East
Updated: June 7, 2011 1:34PM
In spite of strong wind and rain, the Burlington Central and Richmond-Burton soccer teams battled to a 1-1 tie on Thursday at Central.
A quiet first half culminated with a Central goal from Heather Krup in the dying seconds. Richmond put home the equalizer 15 minutes into the second half with a Sydney Wilkins goal.
Extra time couldn’t settle the score, as the respective Rocket teams went home with a tie. Central (6-5-1, 4-0-1) remained atop the Big Northern Conference standings with the draw.
The lone goal of the first half came with 35 seconds left in the period. Krup found herself in front of the net in the midst of a scrum for the ball. When the ball popped out, the senior made no mistake in burying the ball in the back of the net.
“It was a good ball to Camille (Dela Cruz) who headed it back to me and it was just a simple head to toe and it went right into the netting,” Krup said.
Richmond (6-6-2, 1-3-1) knotted the score with a goal similar to Krup’s. With only two shots on goal at the time, Richmond put some heavy pressure on Central goalkeeper Caitlin Solberg, and following an unsuccessful shot, Wilkins put it home.
While Richmond controlled the second half, Central ran the show in the first. Following an opening five minutes of solid Richmond play in the Central zone, the home team started pouring shots on Richmond goalkeeper Rachael Johnson.
Central had a 2-on-1 break at the eight-minute mark of the first half, but Johnson turned them away. The first half finished with Central leading 7-1 in shots on goal. Excluding the Krup goal, Johnson stood on her head to keep Central from scoring.
“I thought our girls did a good job with the conditions in general,” said Richmond coach Chris Wagner. “I don’t think our seniors ever beat them. They’ve had our number, so I’m proud of how the girls came out.”
Coming into the second half with some momentum, Central nearly scored in the first minute of action when Maddie Stoneman found herself on a partial breakaway that was stopped by Johnson. The teams traded scoring chances in the second half and extra time, but neither was able to net the winner.
The best chance came off the foot of Stoneman with five seconds left in extra time. Her kick from the slot went wide, though, and the game’s fate was sealed.
“I think we’re moving the ball pretty well right now, finishing is something that we need to work on,” said Central coach Mike Gecan. “We need to continue to learn how to put teams away earlier. I think that if we would have done a better job of putting the ball away in the first half, we probably wouldn’t have found ourselves in the situation we were in in the second half.”
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