Sports

Update: New Photos, Quotes: One Is Enough For Avon

Goal late in game eliminates Berlin girls soccer from tournament.

After beating a tough Wilton team on penalty kicks in the second round Saturday, Berlin would have loved to have gotten to PKs again when the Redcoats played No. 2 Avon Tuesday in the Class L State Tournament.

Berlin’s standout goalie Robyn Riggott stopped three of the last four penalty kicks Wilton took and delivered Berlin to a 7-5 victory in PKs over Wilton.

It looked as if Berlin and Avon might have to go to overtime as neither team could get much offense going. Avon was able to burst the Berlin bubble, however, with 8:36 left in the game with a goal and came away with a hard-fought 1-0 victory.

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Even though Avon High has an undefeated record against Berlin – a 2-1 quarterfinals win against the Redcoats on their turf two years ago and two victories against them when both teams were in the Northwest Conference – Falcons girls soccer coach Jim Murray did not publicize that to his team before the Class L quarterfinals Tuesday.

"I knew how cohesive a team Berlin was. We played them two years ago and they were the number one seed. Sometimes you just feel bad karma. We upset them when they were the higher seed," Murray said at Fisher Meadows after the game. "I'm superstitious. I don't want them to get too worried that they have to keep something going."

Nevertheless, the Falcons did keep "something going." An Erica Primovic-Caroline Smith combination play in the box with just under nine minutes left of regulation proved enough to secure Avon the 1-0 win. Smith's winning goal brought Avon's overall record against Berlin (11-3-4) to 4-0, 2-0 in state tournament play.

"And I was worried we'd be upset by them, us being the higher seed, but our girls were focused, worked hard and didn't give very many chances to Berlin," Murray said.

The loss eliminates the Redcoats from the tournament.

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"We played them neck and neck in the first half," Berlin coach Steve Yanosy said. "Neither team had a great scoring chance because the defenses dominated. I think they had one corner but there was nothing where Robyn had to fight real hard to turn away."

The battle to score was tough on both teams, though Avon created more opportunities, outshooting Berlin 9-3.

Avon began to press the issue on offense with about 20 minutes to go in the game. There were a few close calls before the eventual game winner snuck into the corner of the net.

"They were on us pretty good for about 10 minutes so we were back on our heels a little bit," Yanosy said. "The ball came across and it kind of squirted out right to where their girl was standing and she was able to get it in the left corner. It was a good goal but there was nothing Robyn could have done about it."

While the Berlin defense, led by Dana Hebert, Olivia Hale, Madison Tavarozzi and Riggott was solid all day, the Avon defense was impenetrable.

"We only had a few odd breaks but they were strong defensively," Yanosy said. "We had two free kicks that we put in the box but they were able to sweep them aside. There wasn't one time that was glaring where I thought we should have scored."

Yanosy said Riggott allowed his defense to pick up the pace all season.

"When you have a goalie like Robyn back there you can have your defense play very aggressively and we did that all season long," he said. "She was simply amazing in the shootout against Wilton, who was no slouch."

Berlin loses 16 seniors from this team, a team that finished 11-4-3.

"When we got back to the school we pulled the girls aside and talked to them about what a great group of seniors they were," Yanosy said. "They brought back my faith about how good athletics can be and there are kids who care more about the team than themselves. There were no individual thinking or stars. We went as far as we could as a team and I couldn't be more proud of them.

"They took it very hard. When you are preaching team, team, team and you invest as much as these kids invested it's going to hit you hard. When they look back in a couple days or a week, they will realize how much they accomplished."


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