BY RYAN O'CONNOR

Sarah Kelley had been asking her coach, Michelle Winning, if she could try to nail a goal with a corner kick during game play.

So when Winning said, “Hey, give it a shot,” Kelley did.

Less than four minutes into the game, Kelley set up for the corner kick, struck the ball and watched it hook over the diving goalie’s outstretched arms into the opposite corner of the net.

“She has the confidence, and she has the ability, so if she wants to try one now and again I don’t mind,” said Winning. “I didn’t know she was going to do it, but I hadn’t seen her hit one of those yet, and one girl on the bench said, ‘I hope she hits one,’ and she did.”

The goal was all Bedford needed to defeat Pembroke, 1-0, a top-four Class I team in 2006 with a 13-3 record.

With the victory, the Lady Bulldogs – a group of freshmen and sophomores playing far more experienced teams – extended their record to 4-0.

Still, Bedford isn’t blowing its opponents away, as evidenced by the shots on goal in the match-up on Monday, Sept. 10. The Bulldogs put eight attempts on net, and Pembroke tallied six, all saved by Aubrey Ouellet.

“Pembroke had a lot of opportunities, but I was confident that my backs would pull through,” said Winning of her defense, which consistently stalled Spartan pushes throughout the contest.

Despite the undefeated start to the inaugural year of Bedford girls soccer, Winning said she refuses to fall into the trap of forming expectations.

“I have discussions with my girls every day, and they have high hopes for each other and high expectations, and I just tell them, ‘Bring yourselves back down to earth. You’re young. You’re freshmen and sophomores,’” said Winning.

Her team, because of its relative youth, doesn’t have captains, but rather weekly leaders to take the onus off any particular players throughout the season.

“Everybody needs to remember that. They are freshmen and sophomores, and they have a lot of growing to do. Most of them have only been in high school for two weeks,” she continued. “We’re going to have some tough games coming up, and as long as we keep growing, that’s all I really care about.”