A busy early-season schedule in the cold weather had seemingly caught up to Troy girls soccer.
The Colts, playing their fourth game in the last week, fell behind early on Friday night against Royal Oak because of a mental mistake. They tried playing a pass back to the goalkeeper in the first eight minutes, but the ball took an awkward bounce past her and into the net to put Royal Oak ahead.
“This is not us, this is not how we play,” Troy coach Dan Troccoli said. “They were tired and it showed.”
Troy ratcheted up the pressure after falling into the self-inflicted hole. For the next 30 minutes in of the first half, Troy maintained most of the possession and played a high press, using their two junior forwards, Sabrina Gaul and Olivia Jasniewicz, and senior midfielder Ava Fleming to apply the pressure.
Right before halftime, Troy finally found an equalizer, courtesy of Jasniewicz. She received a rebound from a shot in a crowded box and slotted it into the bottom right corner around Royal Oak goalie Kayla Faulkner, who kept them off the scoreboard for a while with a handful of remarkable saves.
The second half played out much like the first, with Troy applying pressure and Royal Oak withstanding it to keep the game tied. With just under three minutes left, Gaul got loose at the top of the 18-yard box and lofted a right-footed shot over Faulkner for the game-winning goal in Troy’s 2-1 victory.
“It took a lot of mental strength for all of us to pull it back together,” Gaul said. “We came into this game confident and it kind of snapped us back into reality. I think it is a great thing for us moving forward because in the playoffs, that happens all the time.”
Troy picked up a third straight win to move to 5-0-1 early in the season. The Colts have hit the ground running this season with lofty goals set, trying to make it further than last year, where they lost 1-0 in overtime to eventual Division 1 champion Rochester Adams in the regional finals.
The early start has included a 2-1 win over Adams with Jasniewicz scoring the game-winning goal. The hot start has Troy ranked No. 3 in the first week of the Michigan High School Soccer Coaches Association standings.
Jasniewicz and Gaul’s forward tandem has been a big reason why. The two juniors have combined for seven of Troy’s 11 goals so far, including five from Jasniewicz, while giving up only three goals as a team through the first six games.
“We want redemption right now,” Jasniewicz said. “We really just want to go all the way and that’s the goal right now. We know that these games are just steps along the path so we have to keep playing ...
