The waiting is the hardest part.
When you”re a forward charged with scoring goals and you know you have the speed to beat a defender, it is so easy to jump the gun on a through ball and be whistled for offsides.
Michelle and Missy Swaim and the rest of their Immanuel Christian girls soccer teammates have battled that dilemma most of the season. Earlier this season, Immanuel Christian coach Ray Campbell said his team was called for 15 offsides in a victory.
Things slowed down just enough Thursday for the Lady Rams to work their magic.
Paced by a four-goal day by Michelle Swaim, Immanuel Christian stayed undefeated with a 6-4 victory against Heritage Academy.
Missy Swaim and Courtney Hall added goals, Michelle Swaim, Justine Bell, and Hannah Imes had assists, and Taylor Kidder (eight saves) played another strong game in goal to help the Lady Rams improve to 6-0.
“They are so much quicker than most defenses and they leave so much faster that they do get caught offsides,” Campbell said. “We worked in practice on waiting, waiting, waiting or taking a couple of steps back and making the run longer so they are up to the line as the ball is going through. They have just about perfected it. We have improved on it a lot.”
This is the first year for the Swaims, who are eighth-graders, to play forward together at Immanuel Christian. Missy played soccer at Heritage Academy last season, while Michelle was at Immanuel Christian. After years of playing youth soccer in Columbus, the Swaims said they are making the most of playing together, even if they don”t keep track of their goals, or how many the other has.
“We”re so fast and we know how to work together,” Michelle Swaim said when asked why they play so well together. “I know I can pass it and she will be right there when I pass it.”
Having Meghan Cooper and Rachel Strickland in the midfield to provide touches into open space allows forwards like the Swaim sisters to go stretch defenses. The passing ability and vision also opens opportunities for other players in other areas on the field.
“I want a spread of the offense and everybody able to touch the ball through the goal,” Campbell said. ”
Rachel Stukenborg hustled her way to three goals for the Lady Patriots (1-5). Margaret LeBrun had the other goal, but coach Krisi Boren said her team needs to do a better job of keeping possession of the ball instead of playing kickball, which she felt it did for much of the first half.
Boren was pleased with her team”s work rate in the final 20 minutes, but she said Heritage Academy needs to play that way for 80 minutes if it wants to get more results.
“It was up and down,” Boren said. “We still didn”t start out the way we finished by any means. If we had played the entire game the way we played the last 20 minutes it may have been a different outcome.
“Offensively, we were doing much better than we have been. We were passing, moving, communicating, and creating some shots. Defensively, we weren”t quite on our game. Immanuel has some good forwards and some pretty fast girls up top. I think it really challenged our defense.”
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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