Westminster, Vt.
The first-year Windsor High girls soccer coach got his first varsity win after sharpening his craft in youth leagues in Massachusetts and Connecticut before becoming an assistant for retiring Windsor coach Bruce Mackay for two seasons.
“You can’t believe how happy I am,” Bachey said before his Yellowjackets made him even happier with a 4-1 win over the Terriers. “I love what I am doing.”
The victory came in Bachey’s second game at Windsor’s helm. After battling to a 3-2 defeat against Twin Valley in his debut last week, Bachey’s crew found the target often against BF.
“And we left some goals out there,” he said with a check-to-cheek grin. “We’re finally playing the way I would like them to.”
Bachey’s preference involves playing a strong transition game, halting the opposition at the the midfield area and dumping the ball back into the attacking zone. This tactic resulted in a 14-5 edge in shots on goal on Monday.
Both teams entered the game with 0-1 records and 3-2 losses in their first games, BF losing to Springfield. Both teams are also very young, as BF has just one senior and five freshmen on the roster while Windsor has three seniors and six freshmen. One of those five Windsor ninth-graders, goalkeeper Adi Prior, worked the first half in net, with sophomore Hannah Kemp in the cage for the final 40 minutes.
Windsor junior attacker Ava Sutton allowed Bachey to relax a bit with two first-half goals and later tacked on an assist.
“She played a whale of a game,” said Bachey.
For veteran BF coach John Broadley, it was a day of what he called “frustration.” “Not only did we not finish, we did not support each other,” he said. “I’m very frustrated. We should have beaten this team.”
The Terriers’ Terena Amyra nearly put BF in front in the opening minutes when she came in on Prior, but she couldn’t get her shot off before Prior smothered the ball. With this reprieve, Windsor took the lead when Sutton, with a clear shot, hit what looked like an easy roller at BF keeper Madison Pencek, but the ball took a crazy bounce and made its way into the back of the net. Freshman Evelyn Page had the assist.
BF followed the Windsor tally with two threatening shots as senior Brianna Donohue had a close in shot deflected by Windsor defender Victoria Sauer and Leanna Mager’s bullet ended up in the midsection of Prior, with no rebound.
With those Terrier threats turned away, the Jacks got a second goal when freshman Morgan McKeen’s shot was batted away by Pencek, but the rebound went to Sutton for the tap-in follow.
Windsor made it 3-0 in the 10th minute of the second half when junior Brooke McKeen’s high riser tipped off Pencek’s hands and into the goal. BF cut the lead to 3-1 when Amyra scored on a nifty move from the side, before Windsor iced the game on Olivia Rockwood’s goal.
Both teams will play later this week, with Randolph coming to BF on Wednesday and Windsor hosting Otter Valley on Friday.