Teams that get outshot 26-8 and spend the majority of the day trying to fend off opportunities instead of creating them usually don’t walk away from games thinking they deserved a better fate, but that’s exactly how Framingham goalie Erin Greenstein left the Norwood High girls soccer team feeling yesterday.
Trailing by two goals deep into the second half, the Mustangs mounted a frenzied late attack on the Flyers only to see Greenstein deny two sparkling bids to help host Framingham hold on for a 3-2 victory.
“We were a little bit shorthanded, but being shorthanded is no excuse. The kids played hard, especially at the end. Framingham was pretty lucky to keep the game 3-2 to finish,” said Norwood coach Jay Dupuis, “I’m disappointed that we didn’t get a least a point but I am proud of my girls for not giving up when we were down 3-1. We got fired up, just came up a couple minutes short.
Norwood falls to 8-3-1 overall and 7-3-1 in the Bay State Conference. Despite having cooled off from their torrid start with just three points in their last five contests, the Mustangs remain a point ahead of Wellesley in the Herget Division standings with both teams now having five league games remaining.
Meanwhile, Framingham pulled back into the Carey Division lead at 9-1 and secured a tournament berth.
“I think it goes to show you no matter how much you outpossess a team, how much you think you might have dominated a team or how much you might outshoot them it really doesn’t make a difference — this game every single second is so critical and this game was the biggest example of that,” said Framingham coach Stacey Freda. “We know if we let down at all we let a team like that get an opportunity to get back in the game and we are lucky to come out with a win today.”
Despite Framingham building a 15-3 shot advantage in the first half the teams were tied 1-1 at the break. But the Flyers seemed to seize control with a pair of goals from Chelsey Martino in the second.
Norwood keeper Noura Mezian (9 saves) had already turned away two excellent chances when the sophomore redirected a long throw into the box off the bounce five minutes into the second, then finished a nice cross by Samantha Zetlin with 27:43 to play after a run to the far post.
But with their outlook for any kind of result bleak, Norwood finally began to generate sustained pressure in the game’s final 10 minutes. A Cory Ryan header off a Brianna Quintiliani corner kick appeared ticketed to sneak inside the left post, but Greenstein got a piece of it and the Flyers defense cleared the loose ball off the line.
A few minutes later, Sam Vilaboa sent in Danielle Ringler in alone and the freshman made a bid for her second goal of the game when she blasted off a shot while streaking toward the top of the area, but Greenstein charged out and batted it over the bar to preserve the two-goal cushion.
“Greenstein made at least three saves that most high school keepers would never make,” said Dupuis. “If one of them went in we would have at least earned a tie.”
The pivotal stops looked even larger when Ryan cut the lead to 3-2, burying a tough-angle shot from the left end line with 6:42 to play. Norwood remained threatening in the Flyer half of the field for much of the final minutes and sent a couple of dangerous balls in Greenstein’s direction, but was never able to find the equalizer.
Greenstein set the tone for the contest, which got off to a late start because of a snafu that resulted in just one referee, in the opening moments. Vilaboa sprang Ryan for a partial break before the teams had broken a sweat and the speedy sophomore got plenty on a left-footed ripper, but a well-positioned Greenstein deflected it wide.
“Erin was big, Erin seems like she has been bailing us out a lot,” said Freda. “I think we have done a great job of not allowing a whole lot of shots but it seems like the ones we give up are real quality shots. We probably doubled them in shots but they really put together a lot more quality shots.”
Alex Doody broke the ice in the 20th minute for Framingham, receiving a Martino pass with her back to the goal in the area and spinning and firing one home from in tight.
Ringler, getting more time recently with the injury to fellow freshman Nicole Quintiliani, answered in the 34th minute. On a run down the right side, she passed up the expected cross, cut it back and chipped a perfect ball over Greenstein and into the back corner.
