By Michael Letendre
SIMSBURY – The Bristol Eastern girls soccer team is on a bit of a roll as of late.
And after a winless start to the campaign, the Lancers have been able to finish its matches with zest, keeping miscues and mistakes to a minimum.
In Eastern’s huge CCC Interdivisional tilt at Simsbury on Wednesday afternoon, the locals hung with one of the most impressive squads in the state.
Neither team scored at the event, allowing the Lancers to nab a huge tie against the Trojans from Simsbury in a 0-0 battle of wills.
It was a big deal for Eastern and after an 0-3 start to the year, the Lancers are 3-2-1 since with the two setbacks coming over one-goal losses against very good programs.
With the stalemate, Eastern moved to 3-5-1 overall while the draw left undefeated Simsbury at 5-0-5.
The Trojans co-lead Class L in ties along with Ellington (6-0-5) at five.
Simsbury came into the game hot, having yet to drop a result this season – one of three Class L programs this year not to have a blemish on its ledger – and surrendered just one goal all season which came over a 1-1 stalemate with Northwest Catholic on September 25.
It was the second straight tie for the Trojans program.
The Lancers defended most of the night but did not surrender a goal in the end, coming away with a surprising point on the road.
Offensively, the Trojans outshot the Lancers 18-5 but that wasn’t the story of the match.
Eastern keeper Grace D’Amato “was the anchor in goal and made 14 saves,” said Eastern coach Scott Redman. “The defense of Audra Porowski, Cecelia Gilbert, Maura Cyr, and Leah Roy was incredible all night.”
Also helping the backline were midfielders Ciara Collins, Emma Stavens, and Taigan Parent.
That grouping defended the Eastern goal for most of the evening against a talented Simsbury offensive attack.
Olivia Jarvis and Maddy Brooke combined for two saves on the evening for the Trojans.
Eastern’s defense, in the end, was the story of the contest as the home team came away with nothing offensively to speak of on the scoreboard.
The Lancers put together a full eighty minutes of intense defense to hold off Simsbury.
“Grace was stellar all night along with Cecelia and Audra” defensively said Redman.
Nabbing a tie against a program the caliber of Simsbury was a confidence booster and a big deal for the surging Eastern program.
“We had a game plan going in to keep this game 0-0 as long as possible,” said Redman. “I told the girls that was our goal, if this game ends scoreless that’s a great result for us. The Lady Lancers bought into that plan and executed it perfectly.”
Next up for the Lancers is a home entanglement against Hall from West Hartford on Friday night under the lights at Eastern, starting at 7 p.m.
The Lancers are looking to make a run as four out of their final six regular season matches will commence from the friendly confines of Alumni Field on the campus of Bristol Eastern.
