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MILTON -- Williamsport has a fairly young team. The Millionaires have just three seniors and two rosters on the roster and coach Beckham Sibiski wants the players to go out and apply pressure early on.
The Millionaires followed that game plan from the get go. Less than five minutes into Tuesday's game at Milton's Alumni Stadium, Williamsport's Noel Veldhuis buried a goal and from there, set the tone en route to Williamsport's 3-0 win against the Black Panthers.
"A super young team that we have, so we always want to apply the pressure early and hopefully set the tone for the game. Always hope for that, but it was nice. Noel finds a way through and finished the chance that we got," Sibiski said. " We always talk about burying our chances early because we don't know if we'll get them again. So, taking those early is important."
Veldhuis got to the 6-yard box and sent a great shot just to the right past Milton keeper Delia Reynolds-Miller to make it a 1-0 game early and put Milton behind. And with 13:55 until halftime, the Millionaires again found the back of the net. This time it was Veldhuis feeding a ball to Ella Brelsford who got inside the 18 and drilled a shot toward the right post for a 2-0 lead.
Brelsford is just a freshman and is a player that the Black Panthers knew right away they had to attempt to limit and not let get into good positions to bury shots.
"I know No. 7, their freshman in the middle, is a good player so we had to do everything we could to lock her down. We were going to try to get outside offensively to see if we could exploit them on the outside, and we just couldn't really get to them," Milton coach Rod Harris said. "We had opportunities, we had some shots, we didn't put them in, but it's just tough sledding right now. We have so many injuries. Like half of my team is hurt and we're having a tough time turning to someone right now because there's no one to turn to."
Milton nearly put in an equalizer a minute after Brelsford goal when she got outside the right edge of the 18-yard box on the far side of the field and sent a low shot that Valerie Beiter blocked and kept it a 2-0 lead going into the half.
After halftime, Milton came out aggressive and 90 seconds into the second half, tried pushing and getting a goal. Kyleigh Ficks got to the end of the field and sent a great cross to her left inside of the 6-yard box, but no Black Panthers were nearby to send in a shot as Beiter grabbed it and prevented any attempt on what would have been a great opportunity.
"(Maeve and Kyleigh Ficks) are working together and that's what we just talked about is we got to find a way. I know we're going back and forth, but we have to find a way to fill the middle so when those two do the work to get us down there, we have something to finish with," Harris said.
Williamsport made it a 3-0 game with 8:09 remaining in the game.
That's when Mylee Bennett was just outside of the 18 and sent a shot to the far-right post for a three-goal lead late.
Milton kept trying to press for a goal late, but couldn't put one in as Williamsport out-shot the Black Panthers, 11-4.
Sibiski was glad to see three players contribute and score as the offense spread the ball around.
"It's fantastic that we have the versatility going forward," Sibiski said. "We're missing a forward tonight and we kind of filled in the gaps, next-man-up kind of mentality and whoever can put the ball in the back of the net, we'll take it. So, it's great to see so many different goal scorers."
With 18:45 to play in the second half, Maeve Ficks got the ball inside of the 18 and sent a good shot low, but Williamsport's Beiter fell on it to prevent a possible goal to cut the deficit down. A few minutes prior to that, Milton's Hayden Snyder was near the 18 and tried shooting a shot to her left that was low, but again Beiter came up with a stop to preserve the shutout.
"Back-to-back clean sheets for the girls. I think we're finding our form and determining how we need to set up. Just working hard and committing to the timing of our tackles and when to press and when to step away," Sibiski said. "A few balls got behind, we don't love to see it, but we dealt with it well whether it was Val in the net or someone just getting in the way of it. Kind of need it at that point."
Williamsport's Breah Phillips had a 1-v-1 look with 15:12 to play in the game and had a great chance, but Reynolds-Miller grabbed the ball before Phillips could connect with it as it was just a few feet too far in front of her.
Despite the loss, Harris was happy with what he's seeing from the players on the field stepping up and giving everything they have each and every game.
"We're doing everything we can. You're giving me effort, you're playing until the click of last second on the scoreboard, you're not walking around giving up out there," Harris said. "Not just walking to your position and boo hoo'ing. You're playing and giving me energy and that's all I can ask you to do: keep showing up and keep giving me effort."
Williamsport 3, Milton 0
W--Noel Vedhuis (Brnyli Carnevale), 35:35. W--Ella Brelsford (Veldhuis), 13:55. W--Mylee Bennett, 8:09.
Shots: W 11, M 4. Corners: W 2, M 1. Saves: W 4 (Valerie Beiter), M 7 (Delia Reynolds-Miller).
Records: Williamsport (4-1-2), Milton (2-4-2).