BY GENE NARDI
On Friday Dec. 9, the Wellington High School girls soccer team hosted rival Royal Palm Beach High School in a district match-up, and shut out the Wildcats 6-0. The win propelled the Wolverines to 11-0-1 and kept them undefeated on the season.
Nine minutes into the match, Wellington midfielder Meghan Miserendino settled a ball that was getting pinged around in the Royal Palm Beach penalty area and took a shot that struck the back of the net past the Wildcat goalkeeper to lift the Wolverines to an early 1-0 lead.
In the 14th minute, Miserendino notched her second goal of the game, when she took a pass from Alexandra Rehr and beat the Wildcat defense to extend the Wellington lead to 2-0. The Wolverines began to find their rhythm, and minutes later, junior midfielder Lauren Auger lifted a shot over the Royal Palm Beach goalkeeper to make the score 3-0.
The Wildcats began to settle down and put together a string of attacks at the Wolverine defense but could not get a solid shot on frame to cut into the deficit. Before the end of the first half, the Wolverines added two more goals by Abigail Bryan and Haley Jenkins to close out the half with a 5-0 lead. Jania Cobb had already recorded seven saves in the net for the Wildcats before the first-half whistle.
Wellington would shut down the Royal Palm Beach attack through the second half, keeping them out of the net, and added one more goal to their total to end the match at 6-0. Alexa Kovi and Michelle Sullivan both contributed in the net for the clean sheet credit.
The victory also adds another district win for the Wolverines. Royal Palm Beach falls to 6-6 on the season.
Wellington had games against Glades Central, North Broward Prep and Seminole Ridge this week, while Royal Palm Beach played against Forest Hill, Greenacres Christian and Dreyfoos, but results were not available by press time.
ABOVE: Wellington’s Michelle Sullivan passes the ball as Royal Palm Beach’s Kate Kollar-Dye defends.
