Edsel Ford’s Maisy Gerlach (21) heads down the field on Wednesday night defended by Wyandotte Roosevelt’s Amelia Grenz. Gerlach netted four goals in what was a 7-1 victory for the host Thunderbirds. (Alex Muller – For MediaNews Group)
The Downriver League girls’ soccer season officially got underway on Wednesday. One of the four matchups taking place around the league featured Wyandotte Roosevelt visiting Dearborn Edsel Ford.
Wyandotte Roosevelt at Dearborn Edsel Ford girls soccer photo gallery
Roosevelt came in eyeing a 3-0 start to the young season. The Bears began their campaign back on March 22 with a nine-goal win over Melvindale before returning to action this past Monday with a one-goal victory over Carleton Airport.
For Edsel, it was the second game of the year and its first since an eight-goal win over Melvindale on March 24.
On Wednesday, the T-Birds came away with another convincing victory. Edsel poured in five second-half goals and pulled away for a 7-1 victory over the visiting Bears.
“I mostly liked how we played in the second half and how they came back from making mistakes in the first half,” Edsel coach Hussein Beydoun said. “We played with a lot more intensity and urgency and that was good to see.”
The game was largely tilted in favor of the T-Birds from the opening kick, yet they maintained just a 2-0 lead at halftime. Both first-half goals, including one with 17 seconds to go before the intermission, came courtesy of sophomore Maisy Gerlach, who ultimately accounted for four of the team’s seven goals on the evening.
Beydoun said that the long layoff in between games, coupled with having a lot of new players on the roster, contributed to the slow start in the first half to some degree.
Alex Muller – For MediaNews Group
Wyandotte Roosevelt’s Daniela Alvarez (19) looks to get away from Nawa Elgahmi of host Edsel Ford on Wednesday night. The visiting Bears ran into a tough Edsel squad and fell 7-1. (Alex Muller – For MediaNews Group)
Scoring opportunities were few and far in between for Roosevelt. The Bears’ only score of the game came early in the 63rd minute on a penalty kick. It was Daniela Alvarez, who was the squad’s goalkeeper in the first half, slipping it past Edsel keeper Keagan Gerlach for the visitors’ only score of the game.
Alvarez is one of just three seniors for what is a young Roosevelt squad that head coach Kirsten Loselle is deploying this season.
“(Daniela) is a great player and a great leader for our team,” Loselle said. “She stepped up and was one of our goalkeepers. A great leader on and off the field, I can only say amazing things about her.
“I think what I was most impressed about was when we got scored on, we kept the energy up the whole game,” Loselle added. “That was something we came into the season knowing we had to work on it.”
The Alavarez penalty kick goal came after Edsel had already led 4-0. The T-Birds went on to score three more times over the final 12 minutes of regulation.
In addition to the four goals scored by Maisy Gerlach, Edsel got one goal each from Janae Jackson, Jayda Ragin and Vincia DeSantis.
The T-Birds and Roosevelt are looking to improve on their standings in the Downriver League from recent seasons. The T-Birds have finished in the middle-third of the league each of the last two seasons while the Bears have placed seventh in the final standings twice during that same span.
Both teams have headed into the season with a new coach at the helm. However, each is a familiar face in their respective program.
Alex Muller – For MediaNews Group
Wyandotte Roosevelt’s Dayanara Gallegos-Olea (9) and Sydney Williams of host Edsel Ford chase after the ball on Wednesday night. Edsel secored five second-period goals and walked off with a 7-1 victory. (Alex Muller – For MediaNews Group)
Beydoun also coaches the boys’ varsity team for Edsel and has been involved with coaching the girls’ soccer program for the past several seasons. He described it as a “seamless transition” for he and his players going into the new year.
“I’ve seen a lot of these girls around on the team already the past couple years,” Beydoun said. “I’ve had a lot of these girls in the classroom too so there hasn’t been as much ‘getting to know you’ as there was just getting to work and knowing what we have to do.”
Loselle is in a similar situation, having coached both the boys’ and girls’ junior varsity teams at Roosevelt in recent seasons.
Loselle is anticipating some growing pains early on for the relatively young Bears squad. But she adds that knowing a lot of the players and their “personalities” helps ease into the process.
“It’s great to have these young players because we’ll have this talent for a few seasons,” Loselle said. “That’s the positive with it but it also comes down to working on positioning and working together as a team. They’ve picked up on it pretty quickly.”
Edsel was set to play again the next night, at home, against Detroit Western at 6 p.m. The T-Birds will play three games next week, beginning with a DRL tilt at home against Gibraltar Carlson on Monday, April 10 at 6 p.m.
Roosevelt will return to game action on Monday, Apr 10 at home against DRL rival Southgate Anderson at 6 p.m.
Elsewhere around the DRL on Wednesday night, Woodhaven defeated Lincoln Park by a score of 8-0. A scheduled matchup between reigning league champion Trenton and Southgate Anderson was postponed due to the weather, as was a game between Allen Park and Gibraltar Carlson.