​Eagles get offensive in 8-0 mercy-rule victory over Chrisman

by Michael Smith

The Grain Valley girls soccer team struggled to score during the first three games of the season.
Those contests were played at the Platte County Invitational and the Eagles scored just three goals in as many games and went 1-2 in that stretch.

However, in the past three games, the Grain Valley offense has started to click. The most recent example came in Tuesday’s Suburban White Conference matchup with William Chrisman on the road.

Sophomore Radleigh Childers and junior Ally Gilbert both notched a hat trick, while senior Emma Thiessen had a pair of goals in Grain Valley’s 8-0 mercy-rule victory.

After the Eagles (4-2) earned a big 3-2 victory over Lee’s Summit on March 25, the offense has been on a roll. During their current three-game winning streak, the team has scored 16 goals. The chemistry has improved on the field, and it has yielded better results.

“Once our offense started to click, then everyone’s mood gets better and we all want to play for each other,” Gilbert said. “Our defense stepped up today and we just put the finishing touches with the goals.”

The key to the improved offense, according to head coach Brett Lewis, has been getting the ball out wide near the sidelines of the field.

“We have emphasized our width a lot more in the last couple of games,” Lewis said. “We want to make the opposing defense defend sideline to sideline. That has opened opportunities in the middle for us.”

So has the play of Gilbert, who had emerged as a strong offensive threat for the Eagles. The junior scored 11 goals last season and is stepping up to take an even bigger told this year. One of the Eagles top three goal scorers from last season, senior Annabelle Totta, is out due to her battle with cancer.

Gilbert has helped make up for some of the offensive production the Eagles are missing. She has played as a midfielder and a wing and has provided a nice scoring punch for the Eagles as evidenced by her performance on Tuesday.

Against Chrisman (2-5), Gilbert scored off a counterattack and errant pass from a Chrisman defender and she booted on in the 23rd minute for her first score. She made another goal in the 37th minute when she received a short pass from junior Mia Cole. Gilbert fired the shot from halfway inside the 18-yard box and the ball snuck under the crossbar.

Her final goal ended the game in the 42nd minute when she made a tap in at the goal line off an assist from sophomore Aubrie Henson.

“I am really happy to get a hat trick this early in the season,” Gilbert said. I hope I can continue to keep my shots on target and get them in the back of the net and help my team the best I can.”

It’s helped Gilbert’s cause that she’s developed a strong chemistry with Thiessen and Childers.

“She is really good and making these runs where I can play ball through to her,” Childers said.

“We have this good connection where we can play off of each other and we know what type of ball to play to each other.”

Lewis noted that Gilbert is taking on even more responsibility than she did last season, and she has thrived.

​“Ally has always been a fantastic player,” Grain Valley head coach Brett Lewis said. “Without Totta in that spot, Ally operates in the middle. She has stepped up even more this year.”
 

Junior Ally Gilbert, left, and sophomore Radleigh Childers both notched a hat trick in a 8-0 mercy-rule victory over William Chrisman Tuesday on the road. Photo credit: Michael Smith