BOYERTOWN — Owen J. Roberts head coach Clarence Jennelle knew his 2014 team comprising of four returning starters would be a work in progress.
An 0-2 start to PAC-10 play, however, was out of the question.
The Wildcats struck for three goals in the first half and were led by tremendous play on the defensive end by Caroline Rajtik as Owen J. Roberts avoided its first 0-2 start in the PAC-10 in recent memory with a convincing 3-1 victory over Boyertown on Friday afternoon.
Graceton Griffith, Corinne Gerber and Maddie Gebert each scored for OJR (1-1 PAC-10), which out-shot Boyertown 8-0 in the first half. Morgan Stone added an assist.
Boyertown’s Sydney Fox scored the lone goal for Boyertown (0-2 PAC-10).
“We did some one versus one on the grass yesterday to try and prepare for today,’ Jennelle said. “I think in the first half you could see that we were prepared for it.’
OJR stormed out of the gate as Griffith found herself at the right place at the right time following a Nettie Montes blast off a Stone insert. Off a penalty corner, Montes collected the feed from Stone before teeing one off from the top of the circle. The ball struck a Boyertown defender at the mid-circle and after Gerber and Stone tried to knock it in, the ball rolled onto the awaiting stick of Griffith who tapped it just inside the left post.
Gebert then added OJR’s second goal coming from a gorgeous cross from Makena Aberle before Gerber added her goal late in the first half coming off a rebound from a Keeley White laser.
“We came out a little bit flat,’ Boyertown head coach Dulcie Rothermel said. “The second half was a lot better. We picked up the intensity which made a difference but hopefully we can start putting two halves together.
“Our biggest positive that we’ve seen so far is that we’ve been able to improve. It’s been our goal since Day 1 and we keep doing that.’
Boyertown, coming off a 3-0 loss to Methacton in its PAC-10 opener, found some life in the second half as the team worked two corners in the first five minutes, nearly capitalizing on a Gabby Binando shot that was just wide of target.
The early-half pressure paid off as Fox found an open lane before firing one in between the legs of OJR goalkeeper Amanda Lamb and into the shallow portion of the cage.
For Lamb, however, that was her only blemish. The OJR keeper stopped the other three Boyertown shots in the half as the Rajtik and the OJR defense stifled the Bears’ attack in the waning minutes.
“The second half they picked it up and we didn’t answer right away,’ Jennelle said. “It took us 15 minutes to answer.
“Everyone is still feeling out how to make things work; our early games are going to be our hard games. Our backside games are the ones where we should be clicking.
