ORFORD — Thetford Academy midfielder Ellen Veracka dished out a slew of stellar passes during Friday’s 3-1 girls soccer win over Rivendell Academy. One of them set up the first goal of the season for the two-time defending Division III state champions.
Madi Powers converted Veracka’s assist midway through the first half to help even the Panthers’ record at 1-1-0. The finish from the left side of the net represented the first goal given up this season by the D-IV Raptors (2-1-0).
Veracka, who shares the center midfielder position with classmate Sophie Williams, has embraced the set-up role after being more of a goal scorer during her freshman and sophomore years.
“We have two strong attackers, Madi Powers and Casey MacVeagh,” Veracka said. “So (Williams) and I, we pretty much try and just give them good balls for the good shot.”
Panthers coach Dave Williams praised his midfielder’s composure on the pitch.
“(Veracka) just played fantastic,” Williams said. “And a beautiful assist on our first goal, which was nice to get because it took us a while to get it. She just played a fantastic passing game, control game in the middle.”
Thetford controlled the bulk of first-half possession and kept steady pressure on the Rivendell defense, which was bolstered by Moria Haehnel and Kendyl Boisvert. Raptors goalie Cora Day had an outstanding performance with 20 saves.
“She made us work for it,” Williams said of Day’s entertaining performance. “Anytime you come up against a keeper that good, you’ve gotta do a lot of things right to score.”
Rivendell’s Sienna Carter produced the equalizer 6:22 into the second half by capitalizing on a TA mistake in the backfield. The senior played some defense on offense and it led to a steal some 30 yards from the TA goal, tended by Emma Berard.
Much like Power’s strike for Thetford, Carter’s finish required a collected approach. Both offensive threats made something that was difficult look easy on Friday.
“We’ve been working on a lot of one-on-one goalie stuff and basically trying to get to the goal under pressure,” said Carter, who has scored twice this season. “And I think I did pretty well with that.”
Sophie Williams reclaimed the lead for TA 10 minutes later by converting a pass in front of the net from MacVeagh, who also provided the insurance goal on a corner kick from the right side.
Friday’s contest was altogether more engaging than the one a year ago, which saw TA post a 7-1 victory.
“All the credit to Rivendell for a really stiff match,” Dave Williams said. “It was a great game. The keeper played great, and they made us work our tails off for the win.”
Raptors coach Tim Goodwin spoke to his team’s marked improvement over its local rival.
“What a great uplifting thing that we went from that last year to this year, (losing) 3-1, really not giving up easy goals,” Goodwin said. “We’re seeing some positive things going on; we’re getting better. The first two games were very offensive(-minded) for us; it was 5-0 (over Sharon) and 4-0 (over Hazen). This game was certainly the other extreme where we played defense for most of the game.
“Losing a game is never fun, but I think we found our successes in this one that we’re happy with. We have a lot to hang our hat on and a lot to go forward with.”
Goodwin’s team also did something outside of the box on the eve of the Thetford game — played ultimate.
“(We were) trying to get open and be there for each other, and it was like a team-bonding thing,” Carter said. “And I think that we were all positive because of that.”
Notes: Thetford took nine corner kicks to Rivendell’s zero. … The Panthers host Montpelier on Wednesday, and the Raptors return to action September 14 at Oxbow.