INDEPENDENCE—Sophomore Marisa Silvestro scored the first of her two goals in the third minute and freshman Paige Westerburg added one three minutes later to lead Independence to a 7-1 win over visiting Beachwood at Stan Skoczen Stadium at Alumni Field on Thursday.
The Blue Devils added a pair of goals in the final four minutes of the first half to pull away from the Bison.
“We’ve got a lot of young offensive players so we’re really focusing on getting the ball wide and back in,” said Independence coach Bryan Less. “We scored in bunches because that’s when we were playing indirect soccer, putting it out wide and getting it back in. It was an all-around good effort. We had a lot of good passing and that’s what I wanted to see out of this team today.”
Carly Petti’s goal midway through the first half pulled Beachwood to within 2-1 and temporarily halted Independence’s momentum.
“In the little segment in the first half when we lost control, we were trying to go right through the center,” Less said. “Once we regained our composure and did what we were supposed to do, good things happened.”
Freshman Riccela DiGeronimo made it 3-1 when she scored with four minutes left until the break. Sophomore Molly Dougherty finished off a Jasmine Harb assist with 1:20 to go to give the Blue Devils a big cushion at halftime.
DiGeronimo scored her second early in the second half and sophomore Erin Zygmunt scored off a Dougherty assist with 35:13 left to play to give the Blue Devils a 6-1 lead.
Silvestro notched her second goal with five minutes remaining in the game.
“Marisa just always finds her way into the right spot and she’s had a major improvement on her left foot. Her second goal was a nice one-touch, left-footed shot. She had virtually no left foot last year so it’s nice to see her grow,” Less said. “Riccela is getting better and better as a freshman. Earlier in the year, she was mostly over touching the ball and now she’s doing one or two quick cuts and then a shot. It’s been nice to see her get better already.”
Independence defense locked down the Bison for the final 60 minutes of play.
“The defense is older players but they’re not as experienced,” Less said. “Many of them have just started playing soccer in high school.”
Independence improved to 4-2-1 overall. The Blue Devils host Lutheran West on Sept. 18.
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