Andrews Osborne may not be as abundant in numbers as it would prefer. What the Phoenix lack in depth, though, they compensate with desire. Sept. 26 in a nonconference match welcoming North, AOA continued an encouraging week by putting another number in the win column. Nahia Cernada and Dina Polanco netted bookend strikes to fuel a 2-0 win for the Phoenix over a capable Rangers side to get to 5-1-1 on the fall. AOA generated 10 shots on target in the second 40, threatening for a second while nursing a 1-0 lead before Polanco provided it approaching the hour mark. Phoenix coach Joe DiLalla is cognizant of what his midfield can provide when it’s on form. With a halftime pivot, he got it. “So at the end of the first half, our one midfielder was pushing up,” DiLalla explained. “And we lost our midfield there. So that was the talk at half, try to keep her positioning back in midfield and play with our three. Because our three is pretty strong if they play together. It’s something we worked on this week. She’s so used to doing that. So once we brought her back, it created more of an offensive threat because we had our midfield playing strong again.” Cernada struck in the sixth minute with a right-footed finish low for a 1-0 advantage. North (6-6) nearly found an equalizer through Michaela Herbert in the 10th and on a Sophia Petro free kick in the 34th, but AOA goalkeeper Gaia Di Bari was up to the task. Di Bari also turned away Michaela Herbert, sprung by a through ball to the top of the box by Brennen Herbert, in the 42nd. Polanco netted the final margin in the 54th. The standout senior midfielder embarked on a pacey run down the left flank with two Rangers in tow. Her touch was confident enough to turn the corner and get space to put away a right-footed finish low-90 near post. “Well, it was a good play,” Polanco said. “One of my friends put it to me. I ran, I shot to the first post and it was a goal. “When we talked at halftime, after that I think the team knew what we were going to do in the second half to score one more goal: Keep shooting on goal.” AOA 2-0Dina Polanco 54th min pic.twitter.com/EXQzukrD6j — Chris Lillstrung (@CLillstrungNH) September 26, 2024 Polanco’s versatility is an asset in DiLalla’s side, able to play as a traditional center mid, wide as she did on her goal or even as a holding mid in support of her backline. “Oh, I’ll miss her next year — put it that way,” DiLalla said. “She’s great. Because I put her in defense, you notice the offense starts to … it doesn’t play as well. I put her in midfield, it changes. I can put her up top, and she would make a difference up top. The problem is, I can’t, because I don’t have the squad to do that. If I had the squad to do that, I probably would put her up top. But because I don’t, I put her in the middle just to control the game. I let her reign free.” AOA is in Year 3 with a girls side and has had a solid campaign to date, which has included wins in the last four days over Lake Catholic and, now, North. Polanco is hopeful it’ll continue. “(Fitness) is really important for us,” Polanco said. “If we don’t have fitness, we cannot play the 80 minutes that we need. I think we did really well in this game. “We’re improving every time in the game. Sometimes we don’t play the game that we want. But we always keep trying and never give up.” North goalkeeper Emma Sapina had a laudable nine-save second 40, including lunging to deny Andrea Navarro nicely in the 72nd.