Chapel Hill Tigers clip East Chapel Hill girls soccer

After a scoreless first half, Chapel Hill hit two highlight goals in the second half to propel itself to a 2-0 win over crosstown rival East Chapel Hill (7-5-2, 5-2 PAC-6 4A) in Friday night’s nonconference girls soccer matchup.

The Tigers opened the scoring in the 53rd minute. Chapel Hill midfielder Iida Hirvoven took a corner from the right side. The ball lofted to the far post, where midfielder Morgan Brandewie used her height advantage to head the ball into the net at point-blank range.

Minutes later, forward Alex Kerr got the ball on the far left side of the box for the Tigers (7-2-2, 6-0 Big 8 3A). She turned and belted in a beautiful, curving shot past the helpless keeper to the far post for the insurance goal.

In the first half, both teams spent most of the time probing each other’s defense. East had the first real chance seven minutes in after a cross deflected off of the keeper and rolled in front of the goal, but the first wave of attackers had already passed it and the following shot was high.

Then two minutes before halftime, Chapel Hill’s Kaitlin Hendershot received a lob pass behind the defense and fired toward the empty goal as the keeper charged out. But the shot sailed harmlessly over.

East had two solid chances to score after Chapel Hill went up 2-0. In the 67th minute, the Wildcats tried to quickly play a free kick just outside the box before the defense could set. But their own offense wasn’t ready and Chapel Hill cleared the ball shortly after.

Then in the 72nd minute, the ball fell to an East player wide open in front of the goal. But her shot drifted too far left and Chapel Hill held on the final few minutes for the final margin.

They said it

“It’s a nonconference game, but that doesn’t matter. It’s a crosstown rival. The girls really played well. We really pressed well, kept with it, kept plugging, plugging.” – Chapel Hill coach Jason Curtis.

“Other than that great play from the girl there at the end to steal it and take the shot, I thought it was a pretty even game. There weren’t a lot of chances, it was a lot of midfield play.” – East Chapel Hill coach Austin Collins.

What worked

Though much of the game was spent in the midfield, Chapel Hill was able to take advantage of its size to score the first goal. And though East battled hard in a physical game the rest of the night, the damage was done on that one play.

Highlight reel

Kerr’s goal in the second half for Chapel Hill was a thing of beauty. She stole the ball and fended off a defender, then ripped a beautiful shot from the left side of the box all the way across to the right post. It’s a goal her father, Duke men’s soccer coach John Kerr, will undoubtedly be proud of.

This story was originally published April 16, 2016 at 11:38 AM with the headline "Chapel Hill Tigers clip East Chapel Hill girls soccer."