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'Toppers down rival Vikings

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Created on Thursday, 22 September 2011 12:34

Written by Jordan Royer

 

St. Johnsbury Academy shook off four straight losses to open the season with a 2-0 victory over rival Lyndon Institute yesterday afternoon at Lyndon Town School.

 

The Hilltoppers, who opened the contest on the heels of a 3-1 defeat against South Burlington, wasted little time pressuring their rivals in maroon and white. St. Johnsbury put shots on goal early and often in the opening half as the now 1-3-1 Vikings struggled to get adjusted to the tempo of Division I St. Johnsbury.

 

The first major scoring opportunity for the 'Toppers came nine minutes in when they were awarded a free kick from about 25 yards out but the shot sailed wide of the net. Just minutes later they threatened again as the Vikings had a breakdown defensively that left Academy junior Christa Poulin at point-blank range against LI netminder Rayne Engelmann. The strike from Poulin, though, went right at Engelmann who was able to reel it in for the save. A minute later the 'Toppers knocked one off the post as their luck early seemed to be against them.

 

That changed, however, when Nell McQuenny cashed in on the game's first goal at the 21:14 mark of the opening period. Then, just five minutes later, it was Caroline Klosowski's turn as she made it 2-0 in favor of the visiting team.

 

“We lost four in a row so to get this result is good,” SJA coach Jeff Burroughs said. “Frank [Leafe] is a good coach. They did a good job defending and they had a lot of opportunities to defend, so hats of to his team.”

 

The rough start by the Vikings wore away by the second half as they started to find their flow. An all too familiar story, though, according to Leafe who said his team did the same thing against Burke in their previous contest, falling behind three goals early before falling 3-0 at the end.

 

“We have to stay positive and not get down on each other,” Leafe said. Adding there is still some work to be done but, “have we made big improvements from the beginning, yeah.”

 

Lyndon was still limited for scoring opportunities despite playing better in the second half.

 

Engelmann was solid in net for the Vikings as she helped keep it at a two goal deficit despite a pair of great scoring chances by Ally Bruckner late in the second half.

 

Lyndon is back in action on Tuesday at home against Stowe while St. Johnsbury is at Randolph on Friday.