ORFORD — Rivendell Academy senior Lily Murray delivered a performance worthy of a senior game celebration on Wednesday afternoon, scoring all of the Raptors’ goals in a 6-0 blanking of White River Valley High at Orford Community Field.
Despite her standout performance, Murray credited her teammates for making it happen.
“I obviously couldn’t do it without my team. They’re the ones passing me, assisting me the ball,” the senior said. “I think everyone just came together today, and that’s how we got our goals.”
Eighth grader Eden Trendlay helped the Raptors with three assists, and senior Autumn Powers and eighth grader Anna Arenburg added one each in a performance that showed the team’s fall-season growth.
VPA Division IV Rivendell (4-9-0) played the D-III Wildcats (5-7-1) about two weeks ago and fell 5-1, but the Raptors flipped the script on Wednesday.
“We started the season struggling to get a team, and we have a lot of young players and they’re just growing,” Rivendell head coach Jason Knowles said.
“With eighth and ninth graders, it’s a stronger game. It’s more physical at varsity, and they’ve just been listening. They’ve been taking the feedback on board, and the last couple of games we’ve started to compete,” Knowles added.
The Raptors got after the Wildcats early, with Murray’s first goal coming less than three minutes in the contest, set up by a nice feed from Arenburg.
Trailing early, White River Valley tried to muster pressure, drawing a few corners in a five-minute span after Rivendell’s opening goal, but the Wildcats came up empty.
The Raptors instead added to their lead soon after the Wildcats’ burst, as junior Jocelynn Mack sent a pass off a defender that Murray corralled and shot over the WRV goalkeeper for her second score.
Murray didn’t have to wait long for her next goal. About five minutes later, Powers fed the senior, who made a move at the top of the box and rifled a shot off a Wildcat defender and in.
The Rivendell senior added two more goals before the break, both from outside the box, to give her squad a 5-0 halftime lead, as White River Valley couldn’t find the back of the net.
The Wildcats came out in the second half and applied pressure but never broek down the Raptors’ defense or their eighth-grade keeper, Maci Piper.
Murray added her sixth goal of the afternoon with under 10 minutes remaining to put Rivendell up 6-0 and secure a double hat trick.
If the offensive fireworks weren’t enough, Murray also got some minutes late as keeper and made a save to keep the clean sheet.
“It was great,” the senior said, laughing.
“I’ve been asking my coach all season to just go into goal,” she added, noting that her coach would only allow it if she scored five goals.
Knowles, who coached Murray in fifth grade, heaped praise on his senior captain, who has scored 25 of Rivendell’s 26 goals this season and is just one score shy of 70 career goals after missing most of her junior season.
“She’s just wonderfully talented, really coachable, and just a great role model for the other girls,” he said.
“People ask me, ‘How are you going to fill her shoes next year?’ Well, we’re not, and I accept that, but hopefully the rest of them are watching how Lily practices and plays, and we’ll find other systems of play. … She’s just been a dream.”
Up next for the Raptors is a home tilt against Paine Mountain on Tuesday at 4 p.m. The Wildcats will look to bounce back on Friday, when they host Fair Haven at 4 p.m.
