FAIRFIELD — Ali Mangeot and her Fairfield soccer teammates may have found a new pregame ritual.
The surging freshman forward certainly benefited from it Tuesday night.
Mangeot scored two first-half goals, Delaney Burdine added the eventual game-winner and the Indians beat the Ross Rams 3-2 at Christy Rose Dennis Memorial Stadium.
“Before the game, we did something we’ve never done, actually,” Mangeot said. “We got into a circle, laid on the field and just visualized ourselves scoring and getting good passes and making good runs.
“I think that helped a lot. We trained, then we got out there and it showed.”
Fairfield (3-2) has a four-game winning streak against Ross (3-2) dating back to the 2016 season. They tied 1-1 on Sept. 22, 2015. Fairfield snapped Ross’ three-game winning streak.
“The first 5 to 10 minutes, I was like, ‘We talked about this. Those girls are fast. They have speed,’” Rams coach Patrick O’Leary said. “We talk about making sure tactically we’re giving support and taking away those lines so that they can’t thread those needles, and that’s exactly what they did. They pounded on us first.
“We made a few adjustments in-game by continuing to drop and continuing to give them that space, and we would just play forward. I thought that was a gamechanger for us.”
The Indians notched the game’s first two scores off the foot of Mangeot, who has been impactful early on this season. Those were Mageot’s first career varsity goals.
“She’s been one of the hardest workers coming in,” Fairfield first-year coach Christian Johnson said of Mangeot. “As a freshman, I think she was putting up the most weight in the weightroom all year long. It was really, really awesome to see her get her first goal — which is going to go a long way for her with confidence moving forward. I think she’s going to be a problem in the (Greater Miami Conference) for the next four years.
“I can’t be more proud of her. She’s earned every bit of it, and she’s kind of the epitome of what we want to do with this program. Where you just put your head down and work, you make mistakes, you get back and work again. It’s really cool to see that. The whole team has kind of gotten behind her and is helping build her confidence.”
Junior Kaylee Vocke and sophomore Isabelle Davis scored for Ross to tie it at 2-2. Burdine knocked in the decider for Fairfield midway through the second half.
“Coming in, there’s been a lot of new expectations — new standards with the program — and the girls have really bought in,” Johnson said. “I think we’ve had a pretty good nonconference schedule to start the season. So, it’s really tested us early on.
“Right now, we’re kind of making sure that we’re starting early and often. The first few games this season, we’re starting slow and sometimes started behind. Digging a hole is hard to get out of.”
That wasn’t the case Tuesday night. Fairfield junior Leaha Compton had two assists and senior Alayna Townsend had the other.
A SOCCER CONNECTION
O’Leary, who was hired as the Ross girls coach during the offseason, has a connection with the Fairfield soccer program. He coached at the school for both the boys and girls teams for 20 years.
O’Leary coached Johnson, who was the Fairfield boys head coach the last five years before taking the Fairfield girls head coach position during the offseason. O’Leary was an assistant coach for the Fairfield boys team under Chad Reed — his neighbor and best friend — for 10 seasons before taking over the Fairfield girls soccer head coaching duties from 2011 to 2021.
Mangeot said she had O’Leary as a teacher during grade school. O’Leary has taught history within the Fairfield City School District for close to 30 years and has been a coaching staple for the Fairfield Optimist Soccer Club organization since 2005.
“I didn’t really feel it much until I saw the expression on the girls’ faces, and that was hard because I think they really wanted to prove that they can hang,” O’Leary said of his Ross team. “And they did. That was a phenomenal game to be a part of.
“We’ve played well. We have a very talented team,” O’Leary added. “As long as we stay committed to what we do well, we should be fine. Tonight was a good test for us because I don’t know many other teams that we will face that will have that type of speed like Fairfield does.”
UP NEXT
Fairfield travels to Hamilton on Thursday, while Ross visits Franklin. Both games are 7:15 p.m. start times.
