Forest tops West Port in girls’ soccer

Forest’s Kaitlyn Myers (7) and West Port’s Ally Jones (11) leap in the air as they battle for the ball during a soccer match at West Port High School in Ocala, Fla. on Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. Forest won the match 5-0. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette] 2024.

Forest senior Rylynn Robinson netted two goals to lead the Wildcats to a 5-0 win over West Port on Nov. 12. Forest also got goals from senior Kierstyn Foskey, freshman Ally Atkinson and a late header from Caroline Davis in improving to 2-1-1 on the season.

“We were a little sloppy at times, but we started connecting passes and did okay,” said third-year Wildcats coach Stacie Runnels. “The back line and goalie played great, and we had some really good individual finishes, but there are definitely areas we can improve on. We are a young team, and our seniors need to be leaders.”

With the loss, West Port dropped to 1-2 overall.

“We had a team goal to work hard and not give up until the last whistle,” said fourth-year Wolf Pack coach Katherine Kelly. “We’re working on some new things and just building chemistry together. I’m really happy with the girls and seeing them do things we have worked on in practice in the games. We are lucky enough to have a junior varsity and that works as kind of a feeder system for the varsity.

Forest dominated play from the opening whistle as its front-line controlled possession of the ball and utilized good passing to put pressure on the West Port defense. That pressure paid off as Atkinson took a beautiful crossing pass from Foskey and rifled a shot into the upper-left corner of the goal from 10 yards out to give the Wildcats a quick 1-0 lead just four minutes into the match.

West Port managed to work the ball down the pitch, but the Forest defense forced a turnover and quickly capitalized as Foskey made a nice run down the left sideline, cut back to the center of the field and found the back of the net from 15 yards out to increase the Wildcats’ advantage to 2-0.

“This is Kierstyn’s second year playing for me and she wants to play in college,” coach Runnels said. “She has excellent speed and is definitely someone to watch this season.”

Both defenses clamped down and the score remained 2-0 at the half.

It didn’t take long for Forest, which had 13 shots on goal, to extend its lead in the second half as Robinson bent a corner kick that somehow found the back of the net to make it 3-0. Robinson tallied her second goal by eluding a bevy of West Port defenders to put the Wildcats on top by a score of 4-0.

“Rylynn played well and is one of our team leaders,” coach Runnels said.

West Port had an excellent scoring opportunity midway through the second half when Brooke Benjoino had a one-on-one against the Forest goalie, but her shot was blocked to preserve the shutout for the Class 6A Wildcats.

The Class 7A Wolf Pack continued to play hard against a solid Forest squad that tallied its final goal on a beautiful header by Davis just before the final whistle.