Esme Kline is the most dangerous and skilled offensive weapon for Young. “She has really turned the corner this year,” Young coach Spero Mandakas said. The junior forward has the talent to make those around better.
Kline had a material impact Wednesday with a goal and assist, though her presence alone created multiple opportunities for her teammates — and they delivered.
Junior forward Andrea Gomes scored a career-best three goals and junior midfielder Morgan Hawthorne added two as the Dolphins blasted Northside 6-1 at Columbus Park.
“I would never be able to score those goals if Esme wasn’t my other forward,” Gomes said. “She does so much as far as finding you or playing through balls, it just opens up the game.”
Senior midfielder Margaret Zahrah registered three assists for the Dolphins (4-3-1, 2-0-1 Premier).
Gomes scored twice in the first half, igniting the Dolphins’ fast start by drilling a ball into the back net in the first minute. Kline created the second score in the 25th minute with a middle thrust and pass Gomes finished into the open net.
“We have a lot of good passers, and we have gotten good at making the second and third pass,” Gomes said.
Still, the Mustangs hung around as senior midfielder Nora O’Brien, playing a through ball from junior Bella Manobianco, answered Gomes’ second score with her own goal in the 29th minute for Northside (4-3, 1-2).
That proved the lone bright moment for the Mustangs as Young scored three goals in a seven-minute stretch of the beginning of the second half. Kline initiated the onslaught by scoring in the 42nd minute.
Gomes and Hawthorne maintained the pressure by scoring a minute apart. “Even though we were winning, we were not happy with how we played in the first half and wanted to come out with a lot more focus and energy,” Hawthorne said.
Hawthorne put the exclamation point on the rout with a gorgeous looping ball that curved inside the far post in the 61st minute.
“They are a very fast and skilled team, and that No. 3 [Kline] is very good, the one who you really have to watch,” Northside coach Robert Albritton said. “We were right there, and they made some quick moves and all of a sudden, we didn’t have the ball in our attacking end for 15 minutes.”
