Mars soccer rolls along
ADAMS TWP – An epidemic of knee injuries hasn't slowed down the Mars girls soccer team.
Instead, the Planets had an epidemic of goals in a big section showdown with Knoch Monday night.
Mars found the net less than five minutes into the match and then scored two more quick goals within a minute of each other 12 minutes later to seize control on the way to a 5-0 win over the Knights at the Mars Athletic Complex.
Lydia Dennis, Karli Paracca, Maggie Sarver and Olivia Haefner — all seniors — have been lost for the season with torn ACLs. The Planets, though, have been showing off their depth this season and have managed just fine without them.
Mars has won four games in a row by a combined score of 34-0.
“There's a question mark when you lose players like that,” said Mars coach Blair Gerlach. “Your question is, 'Is this going to devastate us? Or is this going to have to make us play a different style? The next question, which is the big one, is, 'Who's going to step up?'”
The answers were evident against Knoch.
Amber Fichter scored a pair of goals and Dillon Wright, Shaelyn O'Connor and Kaitlyn McKenzie also scored for Mars (8-0-2, 7-0), which peppered Knoch goalkeeper Lexi Galbreath the entire night and outshot Knoch 19-3.
“(Fichter) has stepped up for four years,” Gerlach said. “When a door opens, the younger kids have answered the call.”
Things were certainly easier for Mars after jumping out to a 3-0 lead just 17 minutes into the match.
“That's huge,” Gerlach said. “Because a team that has a defensive-style plan can't play that way. They have to open it up and they have to play a different way and that benefits us.”
Knoch (7-3, 5-2) didn't manage a shot on goal until midway through the second half.
To make matters worse, Knights' leading scorer, Gabi Lassinger, had to leave the game in the first half with an injury after colliding with Mars keeper Sarah Dailey.
Lassinger, who has 12 goals this season and is heading to Lafayette College next fall, was taken to the hospital with the fear she had a collapsed lung.
Knoch coach Rich Kenzie said late Monday night that Lassinger was diagnosed with bruised ribs. He said she will miss a few days.
Mars, though, was able to limit all of the Knoch threats.
“We just kept battling and trying to go at them,” Kenzie said. “I know they have lost some key players, but they are very deep and very, very well-coached.”
The score would have been much more lopsided if not for Galbreath, who made several spectacular saves.
“I'm very proud of my goalie,” said Kenzie, who is hoping for a different outcome the next time the two teams square off at Knoch Oct. 9.
That game will be played on grass. The Knights are one of the few teams in the WPIAL who still play on a natural surface.
“Hopefully, it'll be a different story then,” Kenzie said. “Our goal is to win out the rest of the section and play them again and see what happens.”
