Eagles Best Yellow Jackets in Manassas Rivalry

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By Paul Frommelt

Prince William Content Editor

Osbourn girls soccer head coach Jodi Kranich knew that there was a good chance that the Eagles’ 1-0 halftime lead against Osbourn Park wasn’t going to be enough to get it done. Not against their neighborhood rival.

“We’re big rivals and we always go at each other,” she said. “I knew that they
were going to keep coming at us and they were going to have attempts at
scoring.”

So Kranich wasn’t surprised when Osbourn Park’s Ramona Konte evened up the score off of a corner kick midway through the second half.

“Unfortunately, they got the goal. Good for them, but not so good for us,” said Kranich. “Our team could have taken it one of two ways. We did exactly what we
needed to do and pressed forward and kept going.”

Kranich doesn’t believe that Konte’s goal was a catalyst for what happened next, but it certainly played a part.

“It was more of a wake-up call,” said Kranch, whose Eagles came back with two more goals to beat Osbourn Park, 3-1. “I have a very stubborn bunch of girls and they know a bunch of
those girls and they wanted to beat them. The rivalry is one thing that
pushes them to want to beat Osbourn Park. When we started playing like we needed to play, that’s when things started falling and we got the two goals.”

After Osbourn midfielder Shannon Dillman’s goal in the first half and Konte’s equalizer in the second, the Eagles got goals from midfielder Erica Boyle and forward Brittany Tatum to earn the two-goal victory. The Eagles’ three goals on Saturday afternoon against Osbourn Park gave them six in less than 20 hours, as Osbourn earned a 3-0 victory over Liberty on Friday night.

Kranich believes that her squad’s recent offensive outburst is the result of a few key changes to the Eagles’ lineup, namely moving sophomore Katie Novak up to forward and putting Dillman at midfield. It was Novak who found Dillman with a perfect pass between two Yellow Jacket defenders for the Eagles’s first goal.

“She’s a key player for us and works her **** off every game,” said Kranich of Novak. “She’s creating a little more oppurtunities for us.”

The win moves Osbourn over .500 with a 5-4 record on the year. Three of the Eagles’ four losses comeing to Woodbridge, Battlefield and Salem — three quarters of last year’s AAA final four.

“I want to try to give them as much pressure in the beginning to see where they can be,” said Kranich of her squads tough schedule.

Still, records don’t mean much when the Eagles faceoff against Osbourn Park.

“Every year it’s back in forth,” said Kranich. “Hopefully we will be able to beat them the second time as well.”

Email: pfrommelt@digitalsports.com