HAMPDEN – Emmy Russell will admit that when you’re playing goalkeeper for the Hampden Academy girls soccer team, it’s sometimes difficult to keep your focus.
It’s not that she’s bored with the game itself, you see.
It’s just that this year’s offensive production has been so consistently dominant, she doesn’t get tested too often.
You want proof? After Saturday’s 3-0 win over Nokomis in a Class A Northeast division quarterfinal, the Broncos had scored 76 goals in piling up a perfect 15-0 mark. Their opponents have managed just three.
“It’s really fun, but it’s difficult just because I don’t get a lot of action at some times, and then I get piled with it at one time,” Russell said.
The pattern continued on Saturday, as the top-seeded Broncos outshot No. 8 Nokomis of Newport 30-3 en route to the win.
The Broncos will face No. 4 Presque Isle in Hampden at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday. The Warriors, which were playing without five injured players, finish 7-8-1.
In the first game of a soccer twinbill, the No. 4 Hampden boys scored two second-half goals to top No. 5 Lawrence 2-1 in another Northeast division quarterfinal.
In the girls game, the Broncos scored the only goal they’d need just 6:42 into the game and added two second-half tallies to ice it.
Senior Katie Lindemann corralled a bouncing ball in front of the goalmouth and volleyed it out of the air and into the net to make it 1-0, HA. Amanda Shaw assisted on the play.
Russell faced only three shots and was forced to make one save against the Warriors, and her defense didn’t allow a shot in the final 61:44 of the game.
But in the early-going, the Warriors threatened.
The biggest challenges for the Broncos came off the foot of junior Danielle Clark: Russell had to leap to tip one Clark free kick over the crossbar early in the first half. A few minutes later Clark pounded another free kick over a jumping Russell, but it caromed off the crossbar and the Warriors were called for a foul on the ensuing scramble.
Nokomis goalkeeper Sara Lowe made 15 saves on 30 shots.
The Broncos scored their second goal after Lowe grabbed a short-range Alex Hudspeth shot that had smacked off the bottom of the crossbar, then pivoted into her own goal with 24:01 to play.
Freshman Kim Stephenson, who entered the game as HA’s leading scorer with 13 goals and 13 assists, capped the scoring with an 18-yarder into the lower left corner with 9:27 to play.
In the boys game, Hampden coach Andy Frace said before the game that his plan was quite simple.
“I want 18 shots before halftime,” Frace said. “I want to outshoot ’em.”
The 9-3-3 Broncos didn’t quite get their 18 – they took 14 shots before intermission – but still trailed the Bulldogs of Fairfield 1-0 at the break.
Senior John Pratt put 6-6-3 Lawrence on the board 2:09 into the game when he quickly set the ball after a foul just outside the penalty area and beat Hampden goalkeeper Ken Mayo to the low left corner.
But despite an impressive outing from Lawrence sophomore ‘keeper Nate Lovitz (six saves on 22 shots), the Bulldogs couldn’t hold off the Broncos.
Exchange student Bryndjarr Hardarson of Reykjavik, Iceland, scored the equalizer on a 20-yarder with 21:33 to go, and Chris Walker, who moved to the U.S. from Manchester, England, last season, headed in the game-winner off Peter Macone’s corner kick with 3:18 left.
“We work on free kicks with Peter crossing them all the time, and it’s paid off quite a few times this season,” Walker said. “I’ve gotten into quite a few of ’em.”
Mayo made two saves on six shots for HA.
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