MONTICELLO – The Tri-Valley girls’ soccer team visited the Monticello Panthers at Somerville athletic field for a game Monday and came away with a convincing 5 – 3 victory.

The Bears started strong, scoring the first four goals of the game. They showed their skill by capitalizing on an errant pass by Monticello and scored with a high, lofted kick that cleared the Panthers’ goalkeeper and tucked just under the crossbar. On yet another play they executed a brilliantly planned set piece from a corner kick and successfully converted a penalty shot, all within the first half.

The Panthers came roaring back in the second half dominating play and scoring the next three goals. But the Panthers just couldn’t sustain that surge of energy.  Tri-Valley gradually took control of the game again, eventually scoring an insurance goal to seal the victory.

Scoring goals for the Panthers was Lisa Collins with two, and Madelyn Cavello with one. For the Bears Angelina Raykoff scored twice, and Sage Fiore Yansick, Allyson Chevalier and Sophia Horton all scored one goal apiece. 

Monticello coach Lindsey Rau had this to say about the loss, “Today we really executed what we’d practiced, but facing the better teams, more challenging teams…today was a setback. But we were still able to apply ourselves, work on things like our spacing, our passes and finishing around the goal. We had a lot of offensive opportunities, to score, and push the ball. We have to try and get the offense and defense working more as a team.”

Tri-Valley coach Kayla Connolly said, “Overall a good game, we were a little lax starting the second half because of the lead. Communication is getting better, but we still have to make sure we’re doing what we have to; communicate, get better touches and just work together as a team.”