WINSTED — The Gilbert School girls soccer squad hosted Housatonic Valley Regional High School at Walker Field Tuesday Oct. 26, where the Jackets lit up Housy in a 6-0 blowout affair.
Housatonic had a slight edge in possession and chances early on, with one particularly good opportunity off a corner kick that was swiftly batted away by Jackets’ keeper Jen Fritch. Building out from that big save, the Jackets began to generate momentum. Gilbert had a solid chance of their own off a corner kick that was headed just high by Jacket Nicole Crossman.
Fritch made another aggressive save on another Housy corner kick, which turned into a strong one-on-keeper opportunity for Meghan Dzielak. The Housy keeper shut her down. Gilbert began to win the little battles for possession and found themselves working in Housatonic’s end, conjuring up multiple scoring chances.
Dzielak found some open space to put a sharp angle shot on Housy’s net that spat back a fat rebound for Jacket Rachel Wendel to sink for the first goal of the game. Shortly after, Dzielak sent a corner kick into the fray that Crossman picked up and sunk to quickly extend the Jackets’ lead to 2-0.
Gilbert’s play slowly began to dominate the game, as they continued to make the best of their set play opportunities. Another corner shot from Dzielak created a deperate battle in front of Housatonic’s net. Wendel eventually knocked it in for her second of the day.
Housy found a spark of energy late in the period, putting the Jackets back on their heels as they sent a sharp angle shot that was rapidly devoured by Fritch. Gilbert quickly responded by setting up Crossman in front of the net to drill her second goal of the game.
Crossman seemingly unsatisfied by her scoring to that point wasted little time in tallying the hat trick goal off another Gilbert corner kick, bringing the lead to a commanding 5-0 in the dying minutes of the first half.
Housatonic seemed renewed and unaffected by the colossal goal gap coming out of the break, and went to work putting a few strong chances on net that were neatly swatted away by Fritch. Dzielak was set up twice for great scoring chances, but it was the third chance that would net her first goal on the day, putting Gilbert ahead 6-0.
The remainder of the second played out as if it were a tied championship game. Housy and Gilbert battled in a physical grind of back-and-forth play where neither side seemed to be gaining any ground. Housatonic seemed desperate to at least bloody the Jackets by breaking the shutout, but could not find a way through Fritch. The Jackets improve their season record to 6-6-1.
