NTL GIRLS' SOCCER: MCROBERTS NETS HAT TRICK AS TROY PULLS AWAY FROM TOWANDA (2025-08-26)

BY CHRIS MANNING
Northern Tier Sports Report
TOWANDA — For 75 minutes Towanda hung with the defending league champions, but eventually Troy’s possession wore down the Black Knights as they pulled away for a 6-2 win during NTL girls’ soccer action Tuesday.

“I thought we finally started to hit the seams, and they figure it out on the field,” said Troy coach Wayne Pratt. “The girls are soccer intelligent, and it a took away. My hats off to Towanda, they are a super team this year. They are really playing well.”

Alexis McRoberts had a hat trick to lead the Trojans with Giana Renzi getting two goals, and Saydi Renzo adding a goal with an assist. Stella Rockwell added two assists, as Molly Chamberlain and Kyah Renzo each had a helper.

For much of the game McRoberts, Saydi Renzo, and Renzi did the creating but at the end Troy saw others step in.

“We’ve worked on that,” Pratt said. “We want to get our younger players in as much as we can and learn from the older ones, our seniors. They’re not going to be here next year, so they’ve got to send that information down the ranks. I thought they did a very good job tonight at doing that.”

Black Knight freshman Elli Cook had a goal and an assist for the Knights while Clara Glantz had the other assist.

Towanda didn’t have as many chances to score as Troy but made the most of them.

“I thought the girls played really well,” Towanda coach Josh Maye said. “They played tough all the way. Troy is a great team - they played a great game, but I thought we competed with them for the majority of the game.”

It was the Knights taking the lead as Cook announced her presence in the NTL with a long, well placed kick a few minutes into the game to give Towanda a 1-0 lead.

That was about as short-lived as leads get as McRoberts answered a few seconds later with a long shot of her own to make it 2-2.

With 26:42 on the clock Renzi found Saydi Renzo open in the middle of the field and she buried a long shot for the 2-1 lead.

A couple minutes later McRoberts got behind the defense, but Towanda keeper Mya Maynard deflected the attempt.

That kept it a 1-goal game as Cook hit another long shot, and it bounced away to Glantz, who cleaned it up for the equalizer with 17:26 to play in the half.

Troy, thought, stayed on the attack but Maynard was up to the challenge in net, stopping another McRoberts shot with 12:30 on the clock, and then getting a diving save with 4:48 left in the first half.

“Mya is incredible,” Maye said. “She did a great job, as we’ve come to expect from Mya. Mya is a great goalie, and a great player.”

Troy would take the lead nine minutes into the second half when McRoberts was taken down in the box. Maynard got a hand on her penalty kick, but it had too much force and found the back of the next for a 3-2 lead.

And it stayed like for the next 25 minutes, despite Troy’s onslaught of shots. Saydi Renzo hit the post and cross-bar, then saw a point blank shot snuffed out by Maynard.

Towanda’s best chance to tie the game up came with 7:30 to play when a give-and-go from Kennedy Heyer to Glantz was just off the mark.

Renzi then got on a breakaway and punched it past Maynard for a 4-2 lead with 3:58 to play and that’s when the dam broke.

Half a minute later Rockwell found McRoberts for the hat trick, then a Rockwell shot was deflected to Renzi, who scored the final goal with 1:31 to play.

Maynard ended up with 20 saves for Towanda as the Trojans had a 27-3 edge in shots.

Freshman keeper Izzy Renzi had two saves for the Trojans, who are working in a new defense this season.

“They’re young back there, and we’ve got some that haven’t played defense,” Pratt said. “Jaylee Ward did a great job being the general back there, and then we have our freshman, Izzy, in the goal. She didn’t crack after a couple got past her, but it’s soccer. They’re going to score - hats off to our defense, they really grew up as the game went on.”

Both teams have tough tests on Thursday with Towanda (0-1) traveling to Athens, while Troy (1-0) hosts Williamson (1-0).

“I said it early in the season when we talked, if you take any team lightly in the NTL you’re going to get an L,” said Pratt. “Anybody can beat anybody I feel in this league, and it’s just the quality of the coaching, the quality of the players as they continue to work in the off season.”

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PHOTOS BY CHRIS MANNING

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