Defense comes 1st for Shaler girls soccer team

By: Josh Rizzo
Thursday, August 22, 2019 | 9:00 PM

Craig Wilkins doesn’t want to see the Shaler Area girls soccer team dragged into high-scoring affairs.

Trying to match the scoring output of the stalwarts of Section 1-4A would leave the Titans in deep waters. What the second-year Shaler coach would like to see is a team more focused on locking down defensively.

Last season, the Titans allowed 4.76 goals per game and were outscored 81-17. Shaler finished the season 1-16 overall and 0-12 in section.

“We want to be a little quicker and more defensive,” Wilkins said. “The reality is a couple of our opponents have a lot of offensive firepower. We can’t be a full-on attacking team. We can defend well and counter off that. It’s an adjustment based on what we learned last year.”

The Titans will be making the transition as they welcome 13 freshmen into the program. While Shaler is going through a large influx of youth, the Titans return leading scorer Ashley Venezia. Senior center-back Molly Malachow and junior midfielder Emily Moorey will be counted on to play key roles, and senior goalkeeper Hannah Llewellyn will see time in net.

Focusing on preventing goals isn’t a large change.

“Even last year we were a very defensive team,” Malachow said. “We have two returning starters on defense. Defense is definitely our stronger point of the field.”

Getting that in tune will allow some of Shaler’s attack-oriented younger plays room to work. But for the offense to get in motion, the Titans have to become better with possession.

Malachow said the Titans have been focused on moving together.

“The past two years, possessions hasn’t been our strong suit,” Malachow said. “We’re focusing on practicing every day working on possession and playing together. We want to have a feel for how everyone plays and connect passes and not forcing the ball up the field too much.”

Shaler has been trying to develop an instinct for when to attack. The Titans are working on picking their spots and not getting caught flat-footed.

“That’s a tricky one,” Moorey said. “It’s all about what you see on the field and the timing on the field. You have to decide if the other team is going to play it long, how should I pressure off counter-attack?”

The defensive strategy wasn’t developed on a whim.

“It’s been our main focus all throughout preseason,” Wilkins said. “We did sessions over the summer. All of that has been about reducing our goals allowed. We’ve been working on it for nine months. When we had our first scrimmage against South Park, we played more defensive and ended up scoring four goals.”

Tags: Shaler