Katherine Murphy the game's lone goal as the Portsmouth High girls' soccer team defeated Bay View in the quarterfinal round of the Division Two playoffs Saturday morning at home.
The football goal posts at Kennedy Field, shook and rattled for the duration of a wind-raptured quarterfinal girls soccer contest between the Bengals and the host Patriots. Those relentless gusts, in the direction of the east goal made moving the ball extremely difficult for both teams. Bay View and Portsmouth combined to put just four shots on goal for the contest, and just one into the net.
Fortunately for the Patriots that goal came off the foot of Murphy. At the 4:19 mark of the first half, the sophomore forward charged into the wind, dribbling 60 yards and splitting two defenders en route to the Bay View net, where she beat goalie Paula Kleniewski to the right post for the game's only score.
"We were working against the wind there," said Murphy. "That was the hardest part and we won that half. So all we needed to do was keep that lead through the second half. It's hard to go against the wind, it's hard to dribble, you lose your breath."
"The wind just makes it harder to get in a rhythm," said Patriots' head coach Bob Campion. "It plays havoc with the ball and you don't get in a rhythm, you get frustrated. But we know that, we play here and it gets windy more often than not."
With the wind curbing any ball momentum and passing nearly impossible, the Patriots were able to steal the lead by not putting the ball in the air. Murphy's ability to carry the ball up field and make low succinct passes proved the catalyst to several Patriot chances on the day.
"She's very competitive," said Campion of his talented sophomore. "She's a hard worker. She's also a golfer and to play that game you have to be mentally tough. She's one of the top golfers in the state, I think that helps in these situations. It's like hitting a long putt."
In the second half, neither team put together much of an attack. The Patriot defensive unit stymied Bay View attacks before the Bengals could ever release a shot. With the wind now at their backs, the Patriots were able to keep the ball on the Bengal's side of the 50-yard line. Bay View's feeble clearing attempts looked like boomerangs in the Portsmouth air and forty-minutes later the Patriots were able to salt away a 1-0 win.
"I'm happy," said Campion. "We didn't do as much as I thought we were going to do. There's a little bit of a wind factory, but we definitely need to finish a lot better than we did today."
The win is the 11th consecutive game without a defeat for the Pats, who finished second in Division Two-South standings. It moved the streaking Patriots into the semifinal round of the DII playoffs where they will square off with 18-1 East Providence.
"We're on the road and we've played well on the road," said Campion. "In the past Portsmouth has had pretty good results at Pierce Stadium. We played them here, they beat us 4-1, there were two rebound goals and two goals from outside the 18-yard line so if we play a little tighter, I have a different defense than the last time we played, we have a shot."
"It feels great," said Murphy of her team's round one triumph. "It was the whole team today. We worked together and played hard. I think we can go all the way. If we work as hard as we did today we'll beat anybody."
By Adam Cote
sports@eastbaynewspapers.com