She’s a keeper: Melina Ford leading title-contending Mercy soccer in her senior year
Mercy soccer coach Marcus Harley works at basketball games during the winter so he’s able to watch his star goalkeeper Melina Ford play her other sport.
“I see these other teams try to take advantage of her because for basketball, she’s not tall and she’s a center,” Harley said. “Not knowing she’s a goalkeeper, they’d try to lob the ball up and she’s jumping up and tipping it to herself like a goalkeeper and stealing the ball.
“Yes, she plays goalie in basketball.”
On the flip side, her basketball skills help her in goal during soccer season, in which Mercy is 8-1-1, the third-ranked team in Class M and the defending Class M co-champion.
“She secures [the ball] like you’d catch a basketball,” Harley said. “She’s not bobbling it. She doesn’t usually give up the rebound.”
Ford and her defense had seven shutouts to open the season, then gave up a goal to Sacred Heart on Sept. 30 in a 3-1 win against the SCC opponent which tied them for the state title last year. Last Monday, the Tigers lost to West Haven 2-1 but in the next game, a 6-1 win over Amity on Friday, Ford scored her first goal in high school – while still playing in goal. She also has three assists.
“We had a free kick with less than a minute to go - we were leading 2-1 against Amity - at the 25-yard line,” Harley said. “It was just the right moment - we were looking for the opportunity for her to take it. She had taken one before but she kind of kicked it soft and I called her out on it.
“The clock was running down, 48 seconds left, so I called her up out of the goal to take the free kick, thinking if she scores, great, if she misses, it’s going to go over and she’s going to have enough time to run back. She came up, she kicked it hard, right above the keeper and it went right in the goal.”
Ford said she’s improved from last season, in which Mercy also won its first outright SCC championship over Amity on penalty kicks.
“Leadership-wise and communication wise, I’ve done more than I did last year,” she said. “I feel like I’ve contributed more … I have assists and a goal … I’ve done more to help on the offensive side.”
Ford played both forward and in goal growing up, so she understands the scorer’s mentality.
“It gave me more different perspectives on how people choose to attack going toward the goal,” she said. “Just flipping it around and looking at it from a different perspective helped me have a little edge.”
Senior sweeper Avery Kohs feels confident that if a ball gets by her, Ford will pick it up.
“I feel secure back there when I know she’s behind me,” Kohs said. “She’s very good at communicating. She’s good at 1 v 1s, knowing when to come out and stay back.”
Sometimes, Harley will move Kohs up and put Ford in the sweeper position.
“She’s a field player,” Harley said. “We’ve taken full advantage of the fact she can control the ball and she’s working with us when we practice doing the foot skills. She’s an additional sweeper for us. We can put Avery up at the 40 and we can put Melina on top of the box. We have that luxury. She’s a natural talent.”
He’s also noticed that opponents don’t get off as many shots because Ford takes away the shot before it happens.
“So maybe a forward has the ball and is thinking, ‘I’m going to beat her or I’m going to take a shot,’” he said. “But Melina already got the ball so there’s no shot.”
Ford has 42 career shutouts, including the 0-0 tie in the state final last year. It was Mercy’s first time in the state championship game in soccer. But the Tigers were not thrilled with the co-championship; the rules have been changed this year and now there will be penalty kicks to end the finals and determine a winner.
“It became a motivation to get back there but to do better,” Ford said.
Lori Riley can be reached at lriley@courant.com.
