Celina’s Allana Carroll (right) dribbles the ball past Bryan’s Breanna Richmond during Saturday’s nonleague girls soccer match at Recreation Park in Bryan.
Jonathan LeBlanc | The Bryan Times
BRYAN — Celina opened the first 10 minutes of Saturday’s nonleague girls soccer match against Bryan with five corners.
It took until the fifth corner to find the back of the net, but it was all the Bulldogs needed as Celina held off the Golden Bears’ second-half efforts for a 1-0 nonleague victory in both teams’ season openers at Recreation Park in Bryan.
Saturday’s lone goal came off a Bria Pearson corner and after a quick scramble in front of the net.
Allana Carroll got the ball in that scramble and fired a shot off the fingertips of goalkeeper Mylie Vollmer, from the right side to make it 1-0 Celina with 30:04 to go in the first half.
“All week we put a strong emphasis on having pride in our passing and really just being able to connect,” said Celina coach David Hammons, whose team went 11-7-1 a year ago. “In previous scrimmages, we struggled to connect a little bit — we kind of got into a game of kick and chase. So that was a big point of emphasis, to come out (and) start quickly and also make sure we’re finding feet.
“We put a big emphasis on defensive positioning and making sure when we do get in the attacking third, we try to pin it down in so we can try and win a couple more opportunities. I was really proud of the girls.”
The Bulldogs (1-0) finished with five shots on goal to Bryan’s one in the first half and held possession for most of the opening 40 minutes.
That wasn’t the case in the second half.
The Golden Bears (0-1) regrouped with five shots on goal in the last 40 minutes compared to Celina’s seven.
“Celina’s a very good team, and credit to them but I think our freshmen were just kind of warming up, trying to figure it out,” said first-year Bryan coach Danielle McQuillin, who inherits a program that went 15-3 last year and had nine seniors graduate in May. “And then in the second half, we came out and we took it to them.
“We just talked about as soon as they get off the ball, to move off the ball and create different passes and possession, because possession is key for us. We don’t have necessarily the speed, so we got to really focus on that.”
Two of those shots on net came in the final 12 minutes off Ava Zimmerman’s free kicks from the right side, but Zimmerman, a junior, missed over the net and hit the right side of the net on follow-up shots, with the second coming with just over a minute left in the contest.
Bryan also had a breakaway chance in the 53rd minute but was halted due to a foul. Freshman Breanna Richmond had a clean look with 7:30 to go as well but fired a direct shot right at Celina goalkeeper Alaina Vehorn.
“We adjusted in the last 10 minutes — we put three up top instead of only two,” McQuillin said. “That was kind of just a panic mode of us trying to get a goal on the board but I think (we) just (made) some adjustments that we had to do to create those opportunities.
“We’re just learning when to push the pedal to the metal. They dug deep. They didn’t give up after thinking, ‘Oh, we’re going to lose.’ They didn’t give up. All heart.”
The Bulldogs also had a golden scoring opportunity late in the second half.
A shot hit the crossbar and fell down in front of Vollmer, giving Celina a good look at a follow-up shot. Vollmer saved the shot — one of 11 on the day for the junior — with about 4:30 left in the game to keep Bryan in it.
“Bryan’s a great team and they definitely gave us all we wanted in the second half,” Hammons said.
Jonathan LeBlanc of The Bryan Times wrote this story for LimaScores.com
