FARMINGDALE — Playing defense for Monmouth may seem like a cushy job given that the Mustangs score goals in bunches.
But goalkeeper Mikayla Cameron, fullback Caroline Bonenfant and company know it isn’t as easy as it looks, especially against a resilient team like Hall-Dale.
Cameron made some key stops early and late, while Haley Fletcher and Maddie Bumann provided the offense in a 3-2 win over the Bulldogs on a windy Thursday.
Fletcher, a sophomore, scored two goals to increase her season total to 28. Bumann scored the other goal and assisted on Fletcher’s first. Lilly Ly and Signe Lynch notched the Bulldogs’ goals.
Cameron made eight stops in net for the Mustangs (11-0-1), including a couple spectacular saves in the early and late stages.
Just six minutes in, her leaping deflection denied Eva Shephard on a breakaway attempt that kept Hall-Dale from taking an early lead.
“When they come down on a breakaway, the main thing is to put pressure on them so they have the least amount of space to shoot on net,” Cameron said. “If you take away their opening then they usually get flustered and then you have more of a chance to get to the corners.”
Hall-Dale enjoyed a number of good chances early on as Monmouth adjusted to the Bulldogs’ speed.
“I had a lot of fast girls (to mark up) up front,” said Bonenfant, a senior. “You can’t give them a lot of space because if you do, they’ll turn and make a move on you. We tried to cut off their passing angles.”
“We’re always on our toes, ready to play defense,” she added. “We can’t just rely on our forwards because mistakes happen, and we can’t take any team for granted.”
Fletcher broke the scoreless tie with a little over seven minutes left in the half off a feed from Bumann. Bumann made it a two-goal cushion in the 38th minute with a high, arcing shot that grazed the bottom of the crossbar and deflected off the hands of a leaping Olivia Maynard (12 saves).
Ly cut the deficit in half with 12:34 left in the game, hustling to beat Cameron to the ball on a nice feed inside the 18 by Andrea Fredericks.
Shortly after Izzy Lewis set up Fletcher’s second goal with 4:40 remaining to make it 3-1, Cameron tumbled to her right to stop a low fastball that seemed destined for the net. The importance of that save grew when Lynch’s goal pulled Hall-Dale (7-4) to within one with 2:16 to go.
“I’m fairly satisfied with our play,” Hall-Dale coach Guy Cousins said. “We played our style as much as we could. They beat us to the ball a lot in the second half, which was our downfall.”
“We knew they were going to be really good at passing and connecting so we had to step in on them,” Bonenfant said. “We knew if we didn’t win they would move up a lot in the Heal Points and we wanted to stay up and play against Madison in the MVC game hopefully.”
Before a potential meeting in the MVC championship, the Mustangs will take on Madison, which is also unbeaten, next Monday at Chick Field.
Randy Whitehouse — 621-5638
rwhitehouse@mainetoday.com
Twitter: @RAWmaterial33
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