Lady Blues streak continues with win over Bridgeport

In a game that was pushed back a day to avoid the cold and rain, it didn’t matter to the Lady Blues soccer team as they earned a 3-1 win over the Bridgeport Sissies.

Aside from the one goal Graham allowed to Bridgeport near the end of the first half, the Lady Blues were in control the majority of the game. Graham has excelled this season with controlling time of possession and it has led to their strong offensive showing thus far.

The visiting Sissies controlled the ball to start but didn’t have it for long before Graham took over and moved down the field looking to score. The Lady Blues took their first corner kick nearly seven minutes into the game and they regularly put pressure on Bridgeport’s defense.

One scare the Graham defense faced was when a Sissy forward broke away for a shot at goal. She had a clean look but the ball hit the right post and bounced out harmlessly.

Just a couple minutes later, Graham’s Olivia Pettus broke through, juked the keeper and fired a shot into the goal for a 1-0 Lady Blues lead.

Although Graham won time of possession, they had opportunities to increase the lead but couldn’t always find the right combination.

With less than two minutes to go until halftime, Bridgeport earned a free kick. The Sissies took a shot, got it blocked by Graham’s keeper, but on the rebound Bridgeport got it through to tie it 1-1.

“We started the game with a completely new formation tonight; some of the girls were here, some weren’t,” head coach Casey Weil said. “...I told them at half we may not always connect with our passes but their toughness and physicality I never questioned.”

It didn’t take as long coming out of halftime for the Lady Blues to find the back of the net again to retake the lead over the Sissies. With 28:55 remaining, Sophie Schlieper found Tara Dawson in the middle of the field with an open look.

After a touch, Dawson fired a ball into the upper right corner of the net past the diving attempt from Bridgeport’s keeper.

With how well Graham controlled possession in this game, Bridgeport didn’t get many shots on goal in the second half. While the Lady Blues had a few opportunities to increase the lead, they just needed to prevent the Sissies from tying things back up.

With 3:16 left in the game, Schlieper earned a free kick from about 23 yards out on the far side of the field. Treating it like a corner kick, Schlieper launched a ball towards the players waiting and it cleared the Bridgeport keeper’s head for Graham’s third goal of the night. Schlieper was the third different Lady Blue to score a goal, a diverse opportunity for this team.

“Anybody can score at any given time, any of these girls that play in the back can score at any given time,” Weil said. “It's just one of those sayings, we got to consistently put them in the right place on the field to make them successful.”

After a match Friday at Decatur, the Lady Blues will be on the road again for a game against Weatherford next Tuesday, Jan. 30 at 5:30 p.m.