By Justin Smith, Standard Correspondent
Two goals by senior Anna Dieffenbach led an organized and aggressive offensive attack as the Woodstock girls soccer team pulled away for a 4-1 victory over Springfield at home Tuesday night.
It was the second meeting in six days between the two schools as the Wasps extended their winning streak to four. Woodstock coach Greg LaBella credited a more aggressive, organized attack with boosting his team’s confidence.
“We came in confident against them having just played them the other day and knowing how they play. We have been working on our attack moving the ball forward and our highlight of the week at practice was attacking — moving forward with pushing the ball to the outside, helping us spread the shots around,” said LaBella.
The strategy would work early in the game as Dieffenbach took an outside pass from McKenzie Dalton, cut it back and blasted an outside shot just beyond the 18-yard marker to score her first goal of the night. The Wasps controlled the ball much of the first half in their offensive end, but would only score one more time before the break. Off a set play, Hannah Milstone sent a pass up ahead to freshman Olivia Marsicovetere who broke free and put the ball in the back of the net as Woodstock took a 2-1 lead into the half.
Woodstock started the second half much like it ended the first: on the attack. The relentless forward attack would finally pay off midway through the second half when Dieffenbach scored her second goal of the night. Her second deep shot soared over the head of the Springfield keeper and just under the crossbar.
“The coaches are always telling me to be more aggressive, they have for years. Being a senior on this team, I know that I have to be. I have more confidence in my outside shot now. I see the potential in this team and I see our improvement as we are figuring each other out,” said Dieffenbach The fourth goal on the night would come off an outside pass from sophomore Alexa Tsouknakis to a wide open Dalton in front of the net. Dalton buried the shot into the back corner to cap the scoring. Dalton had a strong night in the midfield for the Wasp winning many loose balls and keeping the Wasps on transition as they moved forward with the focused attack.
“My role as midfielder in our attack is to have connecting passes,” Dalton said LaBella also spoke highly of his midfield and defense including players like Sarah Findeisen, Milstone (center back), Sadie Kuhn (outside mid) and Rosalie Geiger (outside back).
Woodstock hopes to take the confidence from the four-game winning streak and the aggressive attack into its next game versus Hartford on Friday night in Woodstock.
This article first appeared in the October 6, 2016 edition of the Vermont Standard.