HAMBURG — Catie Coyle was one of the eight new starters the Pottsville girls’ soccer team had in its lineup Saturday morning against Hamburg.
It was a good start not only for Coyle, but the rest of the Crimson Tide as well.
Coyle recorded a hat trick, while Carly Hoak added two goals, as new-look Pottsville opened the season with a 5-2 victory over Hamburg in a non-league contest on Hawk Hill.
Coyle’s first goal of the game in the 32nd minute broke a 1-1 tie and started a run of four consecutive goals that gave Pottsville a 5-1 lead 15 minutes into the second half.
Hannah Evans had two assists for the Crimson Tide (1-0). Andrea Fink and Veronica Crespo had goals for Hamburg (0-1). Fink’s tied the game at 1 during the 31st minute, while Crespo scored in the 79th.
“I told them they had to come out strong, they had to gel together,” Pottsville coach Robert Stock said. “We are young. We are still working out a lot of kinks and stuff. They did very well together.
“You start off with a win and go to the next one.”
The Crimson Tide got hammered by graduation after last season offensively, losing their top four scorers. Coyle, a sophomore, has varsity experience and scored four goals in 2014, but now the sophomore forward-midfielder is going to be one of the new faces who needs to step up this season.
She did Saturday.
“We knew we had to play as team and getting a win in our first game really helps with our confidence,” Coyle said. “It’s a great start to the season.”
The Crimson Tide had trouble early in the game getting use to the Hawks’ offside-trap defense. Pottsville was able to find success with through balls to the middle the field and then used its speed to get behind the defense and take runs at the Hamburg goal.
“They were playing a flat-back, so I told them to shoot the gap, but you have to stay onsides,” Stock said. “Once you shoot the gap, you are off to the races. That is not our style, we usually play the ball to our feet, but if it was there, it was there.”
Aubrey Rucci set up the Crimson Tide’s first goal in the 30th minute. She passed to Hoak in the middle, and Hoak dribbled through the defense and beat Hamburg keeper Rebecca Blatt from about 5 yards out.
The Hawks quickly came back, scoring off a Pottsville defensive mistake. A bad clearing pass went right to Fink, who scored from about 15 yards out, sending a high shot over the head of Crimson Tide keeper Alyssa Kondrack.
Pottsville’s offense then took over.
Hoak set up Coyle for the go-ahead goal, as Coyle scored from about 10 yards out, putting the ball into the net between Blatt and the post.
Coyle assisted on Hoak’s second goal during the 35th minute. Hoak again got through Hamburg’s defense, took a run at the goal, and put the ball in to make it 3-1 at the half.
“We started to pass to the feet and connect passes, look up and started to gel together,” Coyle said.
“We started using angled runs that helped with our speed and catch the defense off guard.”
Coyle scored her final two goals during the 48th and 66th minutes on Pottsville’s first two shots on goal in the second half.
Hamburg outshot the Crimson Tide 9-8. Kondrack, one of Pottsville’s returning starters from last season, had six saves before she was replaced by freshman Alexa Cesari in the second half.
The Hawks also had seven corner kicks in the game, including six in the second half, but none of them resulted in scoring opportunities.
Game Summary
Pottsville (1-0) 3 2 — 5
Hamburg (0-1) 1 1 — 2
Pot — Hoak (Ricci), 29:54
Ham — Fink, 30:27
Pot — Coyle (Hoak), 31:22
Pot — Hoak (Coyle), 34:47
Pot — Coyle (Evans), 47:14
Pot — Coyle (Evans), 65:44
Ham — Crespo, 79:20
Shots on goal: Pottsville 8, Hamburg 9. Corner kicks: Pottsville 1, Hamburg 7. Saves: Pottsville (Kondrack 6, Cesari 1) 7, Hamburg (Blatt) 3.
JV: Pottsville 4-1