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Neiman steps up in net for Warriors

With Montoursville starting goalie Avery Zales out due to an illness, Montoursville coach Vic Gorini knew that he had to get someone to step up to play goalie.

The Warriors had a game coming up in just a few days and obviously someone had to be in goal.

In earlier practices, Gorini recalled how Jade Neiman stood out in practice catching volleys from teammates and how she lacked fear of the ball.

So two days before playing against a talented Mifflinburg team, Gorini pulled aside Jade Neiman and let her know that he and his assistants were considering putting her in goalie.

They wanted Neiman — who hadn’t played as a goalie since she was 6 years old — to get in the goal and play one of the most important positions on the field in just two days notice.

“I know she was a bit surprised when we asked her to play in goal for us, but she stepped up for her team and accepted the challenge,” Gorini said. “Jade has always been a player who brings positive energy to the team, so we knew she would put her full effort into her opportunity to play such an important role on the field.”

Neiman knew she had big shoes to fill replacing Avery, but she didn’t back down from the challenge that awaited.

“When adjusting to this position I felt like there were so many new things to learn. Between the different angles and where to be when, it was a lot to take in in two short practices,” Neiman said.

Talk about picking up something really fast.

In those two practices, Neiman was fed a lot of information fast as she tried to learn the position. Her teammates and coaches gave her tips and pointers, anything to help her get the hang of the new position. Gorini told her just make sure to get her hands on anything that came towards the net.

So what was it like for Neiman playing in your first varsity start as goalie in a night game against a tough team?

“Truthfully, I was beyond nervous with the large crowd watching under the lights and all my teammates on edge about how I was going to perform,” Neiman said. “After a few saves, my confidence grew. The defenders were doing amazing at helping me with this new position and I was learning while playing. Although I still have a lot to learn and improve on, I am beyond grateful for this opportunity.”

“You always worry about the first couple shots and your keeper building confidence throughout the game. Jade played aggressively off her line and used her field instincts to come out and secure balls before a shot could be taken, which helped her confidence,” Gorini said. “By the end of the game, she looked like a quality high school goalie and came away with her first win against a tough team.”

Not bad at all for only two days to prepare for an entire new position.

LOOKING FOR A SPARK

With about 10 minutes remaining in Monday’s game between Jersey Shore and Lewisburg, Jersey Shore coach Darrin Bischof put in a new goalie to sub for Hannah Kauffman.

It wasn’t because Kauffman was playing bad or the game was lopsided. In fact, Kauffman was playing as well as any varsity goalie could play and was making diving saves routinely, and she even prevented a shot from slipping under the crossbar that likely would be out of reach of any other keeper.

Rather the reason Kauffman was subbed was because Bischof wanted to try to get her into the offensive end and perhaps spark the Bulldogs.

“I had to change really fast and just go out there and try to put my team in position to get a goal or get that win,” Kauffman said. “Defense is great. I get to make good saves, but being up top and trying to put my team in position to get a throughball or maybe even get me a shot on goal, it’s fun. I get to play both parts of the field.”

Kauffman came in a few moments after being subbed out and went in at forward and helped Jersey Shore get a few chances offensively against a very solid Lewisburg defense.

The idea of moving her up top was one Bischof just implemented, but the first-year Bulldogs coach is hoping it’s something that pays off.

“We have got to, at some point in time, let our athletes be athletic so we talked about it,” Bischof said. “We talked about just making it happen. If we were down 1-0, 2-0, 3-0, it didn’t matter. We just needed to somehow get up top and generate shots and I think we did that in the second half.

“It just seemed like the excitement level went up for us and that kind of carried over because some of the girls hadn’t come out, but you saw them (say) ‘oh wait a minute, this can happen here,'” Bischof added. “We’ve been talking about it and I told them I’m not somebody who’s going to really change my mind, right? If I say it’s going to happen, we’re doing it, and we did and they kind of responded.”

Don’t be surprised if you see Kauffman playing both goalie and forward in the same game more and more as the year progresses.

Jon Gerardi covers girls soccer for the Sun-Gazette. He can be reached at 570-326-1551 (ext. 3127) or by email at jgerardi@sungazette.com. Follow him on Twitter @JonGerardi.

Jon Gerardi’s Top 5 Teams

1. SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT (4-0)

The Mounties haven’t played a game in a while as South’s contest against Loyalsock on Monday, Sept. 10 got rained out and a game at Hughesville this past Monday also was rained out. That is a bummer for area fans, because those would have been two great games to watch. But even with no games this past week being played, the Mounties stay at the No. 1 spot in the rankings.

2. LOYALSOCK (4-1)

The Lancers went 1-1 this past week, first losing to a very talented Southern Columbia team, 4-0, in a game in which Loyalsock was out shot, 9-0, but rebounded with a convincing 5-1 win against Wellsboro. Maggie Ryder had two goals in that win over the Green Hornets and Juliana Cruz had a goal and two assists.

3. Williamsport (3-1-1)

Blame the rain for robbing area fans a chance to see what would have been a great game between Williamsport and Montoursville on Monday. Regardless, the Millionaires this past week on Saturday had a good game against undefeated Crestwood (4-0-2). Katie Penman showed how dangerous she can be offensively, recording a hat trick in a 4-4 double overtime tie and Sydney Bruno had the game-tying shot on a clutch penalty kick late in regulation.

4. Montoursville (3-2)

Lily Saul again came up big this past week as she scoried twice in a 2-1 win against a tough Mifflinburg team while Jade Neiman had 14 saves in her first varsity start as a goalie in place of Avery Zales. Give props to Neiman. Coming in to play goalie with only two days practice and playing that well was huge and should give her confidence moving forward.

5. Hughesville (4-2)

It looks like the Spartans are trending in the right direction and if they keep it up, easily could be a tough team when the postseason rolls around come late October. The Spartans rolled past Mount Carmel, 6-1, before losing to Southern Columbia, 4-1, on Saturday. But Hughesville’s spreading the ball around as Olivia Strother, Morgan Hopkins, Kaylin Hicks, Sarah Pysher, Kayleigh Rooker, Emily Campbell, Kylie Lyons, CC Getz and Sydney Millheim all had a goal or assist in the two games.

Players of the Week

BETHANY BEINLICH, SULLIVAN COUNTY and CHLOE MICHAELS, LEWISBURG

In three games this past week, Beinlich had six goals and four assists. Beinlich scored two goals and had an assist in a 6-0 win against Muncy, had two goals and an assist in a 6-1 win against North Penn-Mansfield and then added two more goals and two assists in the Griffins’ 7-1 win against CMVT.

Michaels is arguably one of the district’s top defensive players and Lewisburg’s last two games give you a bit of a reason why. Michaels helped lead a defensive unit that only yielded three shots against 2017 PIAA Class A semifinalists East Juniata in a 2-1 loss and against Jersey Shore, the team only allowed two shots on goal as well. Credit Michaels with being a huge reason why the Green Dragons were that solid defensively and didn’t give up a lot of chances.

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