Tolland Girls Soccer Cruises Over Fermi

Want to try and stop the Tolland girls soccer team?

Good luck.

With a 9-2 win at Fermi Tuesday night, the Eagles (7-1-2) haven’t lost in a span of nine games.

And with a variety of scoring options, shutting down the Tolland offense has proven to be difficult this season.

“The beauty of our team is that we have a lot of dangerous players,” Eagles head coach Ken Boucher said. “Almost everyone on the team has popped one in so far.”

And while teams might be apt to focus on Kristin Carr (11 goals), plenty of  Eagles have shown the truth to Boucher’s words. Tuesday night, it was freshman Jenny Jacobs, who scored four goals to lead the rout of the Falcons.

Playing with Carr has helped Jacobs develop quickly to CCC East competition.

“It’s been really awesome,” Jacobs said of playing with the All-State senior forward. “I’ve seen her play for a long time, and I look up to here. She just passes it right where it needs to be and tells me what I need to be doing.”

Jacobs scored her first goal in the 21^st minute to make it 2-0 Tolland. Mariah Elliot had the ball in the left corner, and Fermi goalie Kaley Kennedy came diving out of the goal to make the stop. But the ball squirted lose and Elliot found a wide open Jacobs on the right post.

Kennedy left the game briefly in the 29^th minute after getting tangled with a Tolland player. She was replaced by Michelle Cunha, who promptly gave up a goal to Carr to make it 3-0. Carr took a corner kick from Brandi Borowski and slammed it into the net.  

Kennedy returned, but gave way to Cunha in the second half.  The senior stopped four shots, but let in six goals as she received little help from her defense.

“Michelle came in and did a great job in the second half,” Fermi head coach Bob Evans said. “[It’s just] that everyone shut down and didn’t want to play after the first twelve minutes of the half.

Tolland made a switch in net as well, putting in Katie Akerly after senior Jess Olson played a relatively quiet first half. Boucher said the move was made to give Akerly experience for next year.

The Falcons’ Stephanie Wence scored in the 52^nd minute to make it 4-1, bouncing a shot off a sliding Ackerly and then burying the rebound. But Tolland reeled off three straight goals, one each by Elliot,  Hannah Fay, and Jacobs, to make it 7-1. Sydney Daddario scored for Fermi to make it 7-2 before Jacobs capped the scoring with her final two goals.

Becky Lavernoich and Megan Lester also scored for Tolland while Borowski had two assists.

The Eagles are on the verge of adding another scoring option when senior Allison Gallo returns from a hip muscle injury that’s sidelined her for the whole season. The forward scored nine goals last year and has already committed to UConn. Boucher said Tuesday was the first day she was able to warm up with the team.

The Falcons entered the game banged up as well, but were hoping to get co-captain Jillian Krouse back over the next few games.

Fermi (3-5) wore pink uniforms that the players bought themselves as a part of Breast Cancer Awareness month. While it was a one game event, Evans said the Falcons were hoping to wear them again for another game, as well as start a collection for breast cancer awareness.

Tolland hosts RHAM Saturday at 7 p.m. while Fermi travels to RHAM Wednesday at 3:45 p.m.