Borlie’s hat trick fuels Unionville’s 3-0 win over Bishop Shanahan
By Bryan Davis
bdavis@dailylocal.com
@btdavis25 on Twitter
EAST MARLBOROUGH >> On an evening that only a water fowl could love, Sara Borlie had a night to remember.
The senior recorded a hat trick to help Unionville post a 3-1 victory over Bishop Shanahan in a Ches-Mont League girls soccer match on a chilly, rainy, windy Monday.
Borlie was playing for the first time in 2 1/2 weeks after battling COVID.
“It feels really good. I’m really excited,” Borlie said on being back on the field.
Unionville had the better of the play at the beginning of the half, getting the better of the chances on the wet surface.
The Longhorns broke through with 14:57 on the clock. A cross created a goalmouth scramble that was won by Borlie as her shot went through goalie Devan Cosgrove for a 1-0 lead.
“It was a little scramble,” said Borlie. “Riley (Angstadt) and I were both in there knocking it around. She kicked it back and it went off a girl and I kicked it and it (nut)meged the goalie.”
She made it 2-0 about four minutes later as a pass defelected off a defender and went to Borlie, who knocked it into the net.
The Longhorns almost made it 3-0 shortly thereafter as Angstadt worked herself free for a shot that a diving Cosgrove was able to get her fingers on it and tip it across the endline.
“We played with energy, which was nice given the conditions,” said Unionville coach Joe Ratasiewicz. “I think our energy got on them quickly and I think that got us going and we got three goals from a girl whose been out with COVID. It’s nice to have her back because we’ve been hurting for goals.”
The Longhorns (4-3-1, 5-5-2) kept the Eagles (2-3-2, 5-4-2) bottled up offensively as witnessed by the 8-1 advantage in shots they enjoyed over the first 40 minutes.
The first-half performance was difficult for Shanahan coach Ken Schmidt to explain.
“It’s frustrating,” he said. “We train every day, we draw up a gameplan, then we don’t execute it. Everything we say, everything we draw up didn’t happen. The second half was the game we we play in the first half. We lost it in the first half.”
The second half was indeed a brighter one for the Eagles as they started having more of the possession and put Unionville under a bit of pressure.
They came agonizingly close to cutting the deficit in half when Gretchen Wilmer took a free kick from about 25 yards that sophomore goalie Bethany Bowden used her tall frame to touch the ball over the crossbar.
Unionville was able to make it 3-0 just before the midway mark of the half when Borlie knocked in a rebound to complete the hat trick.
“She’s a scrapper,” Ratasiewicz said of Borlie. “She gets in front of the net and she’s a battler. Get the ball into the box and she’ll try to get something done with it.”
Shanahan got on the board with 14 minutes left. Meghan McGonigle sent a cross that snuck pass Bowden and into the net. The Eagles kept the pressure on the Longhorns, but their defense held up and kept Shanahan at bay for the remainder of the game.
“We know we can compete with anyone. We’ve had a good season,” said Schmidt. “All of our losses have been to really good teams. We’ve hung with really good teams. We have our eyes set to the future.”
Unionville 3, Bishop Shanahan 1
Bishop Shanahan 0 1 – 1
Unionville 3 0 – 3
Bishop Shanahan goals: McGonigle.
Unionville goal: Borlie 3.
Goalie saves: Cosgrove (BS) 9, Bowden (U) 2.
