Allen Community College’s women changed their approach to tackling the nation’s second-ranked Johnson County Wednesday.
The Red Devils took their lumps earlier in the season at Johnson, falling 10-0 to the undefeated Cavaliers.
This time around, Allen played a more conservative, defense-oriented approach.
The strategy worked (sort of) in that Allen limited Johnson County’s scoring opportunities.
But the Cavaliers are so proficient that they still were able to pounce at every opening.
Johnson County out-shot Allen, 19-1, and came away with a 6-0 win to drop the Red Devils to 7-5 overall and 4-3 in Jayhawk Conference play.
Red Devil head coach Jeremy McGinnis described Wednesday’s loss as a “teachable moment.”
“Every game is teachable — win, lose or draw,” he said. “We’re always learning. We saw how the low block worked. Now, the point is how can we get goals and counter when we see opportunities. We were able to minimize a few of their opportunities, but we didn’t minimize it enough.”
Allen had few, if any, such opportunities against the Cavaliers, who haven’t surrendered a goal since August, and have outscored their conference foes by a collective 36-0.
Wednesday was more of the same. Johnson County cashed in on goals from Maya Wallace, Lotta Meindi and Ashley Chaput in the first half, and Jenna Knight, Wallace and Tatum Bressette after intermission.
The Cavaliers also were effective at limiting touches by Allen’s Audrey Smith, who is a week removed from being named the NJCAA-Division II women’s player of the week.
Smith was called for a yellow card in the first half against the aggressive Cavaliers’ defense, which limited how she could attack.
“Audrey’s a special player,” McGinnis said. “She got frustrated.”
Smith’s effort is one McGinnis hopes rubs off on her teammates.
“It’s one of those things where you hope the players figure it out and play for each other,” he said. “Some of them are still figuring it out, but they show they believe, and they really care. Their heart is in it.”
