#6 Howell at St. Rose

 In a very hard fought non-divisional game, the #6 Howell Rebels defeated St. Rose 2-0 to make their record 5-0-1 on the season to give them their fourth shutout of the season. 

The shutout did not come easy, St. Rose had a very strong attack in the first half with several goal scoring chances, but the Rebels did not break.  St. Rose's first chance to score came when sophomore Ava Gialanella crossed the ball and senior Adriana Dalia headed the ball just over the crossbar 11 minutes in.  A minute later senior Julia Whesper had a chance to punch one in but Howell junior goalie Madison Smith made the save. 

A couple minutes later Gialanella made another pass to Dalia, but they were unable to finish with the shot going over the crossbar again. Smith made another good play in goal when she came out to stop Dalia from getting an open shot off on net. 

"They feed off one another," Howell Coach Miguel Arroyo said about his defense. "They have been playing together for all of last year and into this year. They know there will be times where they mess up, but at halftime they came together and said we need to do a better job and we need to tighten up. I will take this defense anywhere with me, they bend but do not break."

Howell was able to score the first goal of the game during the 22nd minute when senior Riley Borenstein made a 40 yard run down the field with the ball and found junior Leila Oshiro who was able to make the finish and give the Rebels a 1-0 lead.  That is Oshiro's third goal of the season. 

St. Rose came out of halftime aggressive and in the open minute Dalia once again came up just short when she received a cross from sophomore Molly Cullen followed by a corner from Gialanella that was cleared out by the Howell defense. 

The Rebels were able to score another goal at the 50th minute when senior Kaitlyn Smith vollied in a corner kick from sophomore Madelyn Roberto to make the score 2-0.  Howell controlled the next 20 minutes and challenged the St Rose defense, but junior goalie Isabelle Levy came up with big saves to keep Howell at two goals. 

"It was a learning experience last season, but they bought into what I am doing and it is paying off for them," Arroyo said. "They (St. Rose) took us out of the game and we were being overwhelmed, but they figured it out."

The Roses stepped it up the last 10 minutes coming up with a couple of good chances to ruin the shutout but Smith and the defense were up to the task to earn her another shutout.

"They always have my back," Smith said about her defensive line. "We work hard and do not let anything behind us and they do not give up. We work hard and have good chemistry."

My player of the game is Madison Smith who worked hard and earned this shutout with her defensive backline. 

"I think she gets lost in everything with our defense playing so well," Arroyo said.  "She is one of the best goalkeepers in our division."

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