Claypool lifts No. 2 Freeport girls soccer past Springdale

By: HSSN Staff
Monday, September 18, 2017 | 10:09 PM

For all the cross-field passes and pinpoint shots required at times to score goals in soccer, sometimes it takes much less than that. Sometimes, as Freeport and Springdale found out Monday, all it takes is an on-target ball.

Piper Claypool's seemingly innocent boot from 35 yards away midway through the first half found the back of the net anyway, giving No. 2 Freeport a lead it never relinquished in the Yellowjackets' 3-0 victory over Section 2-AA rival Springdale at Freeport Area Athletic Stadium.

“I'm really not even sure what happened,” said Claypool, who figured into all of Freeport's scoring with a pair of goals and an assist. “I just kind of hit it and hoped for the best, like you do when you take any shot, I think.”

The goal came in the 20th minute. After Claypool gathered the ball, she sent a ground ball toward the goal. Springdale goalkeeper Rylie Patterson appeared to believe the ball was headed wide, but instead it snuck inside the left post to give Freeport the lead.

“I feel everyone was kind of confused at first because the goalie didn't really react to it much,” Claypool said. “But it's a goal, so I'll take it.”

Freeport (7-1, 4-0) stayed unbeaten in its attempt to win a second consecutive section title. The Yellowjackets had four players dealing with flu-like symptoms and are missing a few others with injuries.

“We started off pretty lethargic, and it took us about 20 minutes to get into this game tonight to where we were really moving the ball around,” Freeport coach Brittni Grenninger said. “I know we had quite a few players sick, but we still didn't look quite like our usual self.”

The game served as something of a measuring stick for Springdale (3-2, 3-2), off to a positive start in section play after tying for last place a season ago.

Although they put some pressure on Freeport, the Dynamos couldn't overcome a couple of early mistakes and couldn't get their offense to click for a goal.

“This was a much better performance than last year when we played them,” Springdale coach Jerry Concannon said. “I thought we were able to possess the ball better this time. They're still a very strong team, so we had to deal with that, but I thought we dealt with it pretty well.”

Claypool scored her second goal of the game in the 32nd minute, putting another long shot over a leaping Patterson's outstretched hands and under the crossbar.

From there, Freeport's defense went to work for the team's third straight shutout and fifth overall on the season.

Goalkeeper Jenna Manke made three saves.

Patterson kept Springdale close, making 12 saves before leaving with an injury with five minutes remaining. Several times she sprinted off her goal line to snuff out Freeport breakaways.

Freeport scored its third goal with about four minutes remaining, when Sidney Shemanski put in the rebound of Claypool's free kick.

“We really thought they were going to be tough competition, and they were,” Claypool said. “We really wanted to come into this game and secure that win, just so we had that under our belt.”

Doug Gulasy is a Tribune-Review staff writer.