STAC GIRLS SOCCER: OWEGO ROLLS TO ANOTHER ONE-SIDED WIN (2021-09-22)

BY TIM TAYLOR
Tioga County Sports Report
OWEGO — When the Owego girls soccer team gets the ball rolling, it really gets the ball rolling. The Indians have scored five or more goals in every victory and Wednesday night was no exception.

Behind the multi-goal efforts of Erin McDonald, Taylor Dalton and Carmen Jorgensen, Owego rolled to an 8-2 rout of STAC rival Oneonta here.

"I think we started out a little bit slower than we have the last couple of games, but once we found our chemistry we flowed well, connected our passes and found our groove, and finished really well," Owego coach Heather Chrysler said.

McDonald knocked in four goals and dished out three assists while Jorgensen registered two goals and two assists. Dalton accounted for the other two goals and Lily Morton added an assist.

"She definitely has a way of working around defenders, finding open space, and she's got a great finish," Chrysler said of McDonald, "but she also had a couple key assists tonight too."

The game started as a defensive battle, but it only took the Indians about 10 minutes to find the back of the net when McDonald notched her first goal at 30:17.

It was approximately another 10 minutes before the home team lit up the scoreboard again as McDonald fed Dalton on a right-to-left cross at 20:11.

The Indians wouldn't wait another 10 minutes before scoring again, however. This time, McDonald came up with a takeaway on the left side, worked the ball halfway across the field, then moved it to the 18 before shooting into the top of the goal from the 18 with 16:08 on the clock.

The Yellowjackets would erase the goose egg before halftime when Grace Slesinsky took a shot that bounced unusually high and off the hands of Owego goalkeeper Delaney Carrigg with 3:45 on the clock.

The second half would start off as a defensive duel as well, but Dalton would connect for a corner kick goal. With 25:53 remaining in the game, Jorgensen's kick would drop to the turf between Dalton and a handful of Oneonta defenders and Dalton would push it past keeper Liz Brantley for a 4-1 lead.

Jorgensen would tally her first goal of the evening with 21:53 on the clock, knocking the ball off the hands and over Brantley's head.

It took Jorgensen just 73 seconds to give her team a 6-1 cushion.

"She's a great outside shooter and once she finds her shot she really nails it," Chrysler said.

McDonald assisted on both Jorgensen goals.

With 14:33 left to play, Julia Joyner got behind the Indian defense and put away a pass from Veronica Madej for the Jackets' final goal.

"We had a couple mental lapses on defense," Chrysler said. "They tended to serve a lot of long balls and I think we got caught off guard on a few, but I've got to hand it to the girls. They recovered from those mistakes and moved on, and as many as were score on us we scored right back."

McDonald would account for the game's final two goals.

The first came on a give-and-go from Jorgensen and advancing the ball about 70 yards down the field before crossing the ball left-to-right form 10 yards out with 7:02 to go.

At the 5:20 mark, McDonald got the ball near the 35-yard line, drove in and shot into the left side of the net from 10 yards out.

The Indians took 18 shots on goal to Oneonta's nine and held a 5-2 advantage in corner kicks

Carrigg made six saves for the Indians and Brantley had seven for Oneonta (4-3, 4-1), which suffered its first STAC setback.

Owego (4-1-1) travels to Windsor (0-5) Friday.

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IN PHOTO 1: Owego's Lily Morton. ... PHOTOS BY TIM TAYLOR.