Tough-Luck Bayless Shut Out by Brentwood

Brentwood didn’t need any luck to beat Bayless, 2-0, at home on Tuesday. But the Eagles received a little anyway.

Sixteen minutes into the first half, Brentwood junior Maddy Lynch passed up a shot right in front of the goal that led Bayless goalie Kim Christophel to stray from the net. Lynch instead passed to junior Kate Nikodym, who shot it by the keeper, who was by then flat on the ground.

The goal gave the Eagles a 1-0 lead, and the win lifted them to a 4-1 mark on the season.

Bayless sophomore sweeper Brittany Walker worked hard throughout the game to keep the ball away from the net, but Bronchos keeper Christophel was still kept busy. “That’s usually how it goes,” Bayless coach Dave Pozzo said. “She’s usually pretty busy back there. We kind of rely on her.”

Walker said Bayless has a lot of new players, and they scrimmage and play keep-away in practice to prepare for games. “I think we improved a lot from our last games. We’re getting the hang of it,” she said.

Brentwood junior defender Tracy Habermehl contributed significantly to the Eagles’ shutout. Whenever the ball was near the Eagles' net, Habermehl was there.

"She knows the position well,” Eagles coach Cory Grage said. “She’s a great on-the-field leader. She’s quick, she knows what to do, and she’s solid on the ball every time.”

Brentwood’s luck resurfaced at the start of the second half, when a Bronchos player mishit the ball and scored on her own goal. Bayless goalie Christophel, who was a stalwart throughout the game, couldn’t get to that one.

“It stinks that she made some good stops, and then that one gets past her,” Pozzo said.

Pozzo said the second goal actually energized his girls, but once they were down two, it was a tough hill to climb.

The Eagles had some bad luck, too when junior Sammi Merlotti injured her knee attempting to settle a ball. She went down on her back, and could only leave the field with help. She eventually left the playing field, with ice on her knee, in an ambulance.

Eagles freshman Shelby Linneman said the team's previous win over Bayless (2-0 on April 5) helped the team know what to expect, but she also realized that they couldn’t come out with a cocky attitude.

“We were only up by one for a long time, so just one goal for them could have just changed the game for them completely,” she said.

“We’re a young team,” Pozzo said. “We’re going to learn some lessons from this. We’ll try to go out there and get some wins.”

Bayless hosts Crossroads on Thursday at 4 p.m., and Kennedy on Friday at 4:15 p.m.