Girls soccer: Dixon gets it done in second half to top North Boone

DIXON – For the second day in a row, the Dixon Duchesses dominated possession in the first half, only to see their Big Northern Conference soccer game go to halftime in a scoreless tie.

And for the second straight game, the Duchesses pounced on a scoring chance in the second half to notch a 1-0 win.

[ Photos from Dixon vs. North Boone girls soccer ]

After scoring in the second half to defeat Genoa-Kingston on Wednesday, Dixon junior Avery Burmeister again provided the winning goal Thursday against North Boone, this time on a scramble play in front of the goal just over eight minutes into the second half.

“Today I think it was just ‘Don’t give up, keep pushing,’ because they’re going to keep pushing back,” Burmeister said of the team’s mentality. “If we stay off and aren’t aggressive, they’re just going to keep pushing us back, and we don’t want that.”

Dixon (2-2, 2-0 BNC) spent most of the first half in the North Boone end of the field, and outshot the Vikings 9-2, including 2-1 on goal. But after missing several shots just wide in the first half, the Duchesses finally capitalized early in the second.

On a corner kick, the ball was passed short instead of launched into the box, and the secondary pass in front of the goal by senior Hanna Lengquist was deflected by North Boone goalkeeper Jasmin Garcia. Burmeister was in the perfect place to corral the rebound and punch it into the net.

“Hanna set me up, and thankfully I made it,” Burmeister said. “I definitely think that we’re running smoother now with our connection from the midfield to the forwards.”

The Duchesses ratcheted up the pressure on North Boone’s defense after the break, taking 17 shots – including nine on goal – while keeping the Vikings (0-2-1) from taking any shots in the second half.

“The key to it was all of our players’ communication with each other, and basically calling out who was covering who, and not losing your person, even if they pass the ball somewhere else. Our communication was great today,” Lengquist said. “I think that was all because of our coaches. In practices, we’ve been working on making triangles and moving with passes and getting away from our defenders so we have those opportunities to take those shots and score.”

While spending most of the game in their own end, the Vikings struggled to mount any counterattacks.

But Garcia was stout as the last line of defense. Several scoring opportunities were turned away by the North Boone fullbacks, and Garcia saved 10 of the 11 Dixon shots on goal.

“Jasmin is a first-year goalkeeper – she has never played goalkeeper in her life – and she is doing a phenomenal job. She was our MVP of the game,” North Boone coach Jackie Anderson said. “We’re trying to work on our offense, because our defense can connect with our offense, and then our offense kind of just disintegrates. So we’re working on trying to figure out – even formation-wise – what we need to do to get it to the goal.”

With two straight wins to start conference play, Dixon seems to be finding its groove after a choppy start to the season. After battling through a few injuries and missing out on a few games because of the weather, coach Kristin Carlson said the games this week were the first time the Duchesses have had their full roster available and their preferred lineup playing together.

And despite the low-scoring games, the players feel like the wins will help propel the team forward as the season progresses.

“It doesn’t matter the score, a win is a win,” Lengquist said. “We play how we practice, so we’ve got to keep practices intense, and with every rep, we have to give it our all. I think our team has been doing that, and it takes every single person, not just a one-man show.”

“Definitely just keep trying, keep playing hard, keep practicing,” Burmeister added. “We want to get better accuracy for our shots, so we can score more goals – and I think we’ve got more goals coming.”