NORTH TONAWANDA — Hannah Crouch’s eyes darted around the field. As she watched her players dip and dodge, an idea entered her brain.
North Tonawanda needed a boost in scoring after struggling over the last half of the season a year ago. After starting 5-3-1, the Lumberjacks went 2-6 over their final eight games.
In those eight games, NT scored one goal or fewer in five of them, with nine such games over the course of the entire season. And the Lumberjacks went 0-8-1 in those games, compared to 7-1 when they scored at least two goals.
NT used an extra midfielder to strengthen its defense last season — resulting in allowing 2.1 goals allowed per game — but it affected the offensive production. So when Crouch watched her team during tryouts, she thought adding a third forward would give the Lumberjacks the scoring punch they needed.
It was a big change for the team and Crouch asked a simple favor: “Trust me.”
Entering Tuesday’s contest at Grand Island, North Tonawanda is 5-1 overall on the season, with two wins in Niagara Frontier League play. And since the change, the Lumberjacks are averaging 3.3 goals, up from 2.4 a year ago.
“They were a little skeptical at first,” Crouch said. “But I think once we had that first game or two under our belt, they started to really buy in and really believe, ‘Hey, we have a good team makeup for this. We can make this work.’”
The return of midfielder Gabrielle Geising is a big reason why the new formation is working. The junior tallied 19 goals and 15 assists in her first two varsity seasons, but missed all of last year with a torn ACL.
NT has notched 20 goals in its first six games and Geising has scored eight of them. The addition of their leading scorer in 2022 gives the Lumberjacks a consistent scoring threat.
“I’m feeling good,” Geising said. “I’m always sore after but it’s been getting better. … These are my first games back and stuff since the surgery. Scary thinking that’s gonna happen again, but I just play through it and hope for the best.”
Geising is also getting some help from the front line, consisting of Jessica Lindhurst, Ella Smith and Ashlynn Bolsover, who have combined for eight goals and two assists. They have chemistry that has led to better team passing and a more efficient offense.
“I think when we’re able to find feet and connect passes in the final third, obviously, that’s when we’ve been the most successful,” Crouch said. “But I think just the pressure that our forwards are getting on their defenders has really been helping us to generate and create our own offense based on that.”