When Colin Lennon arrived on the campus of McDonogh School earlier today, he immediately wanted to get his team onto the field for an early start to pre-game activities. The traffic on Interstate 95 was minor until the team turned onto the Baltimore Beltway ("I-695") and encountered an accident near Reisterstown.
"I thought we would never get there", said Lennon. "My gut was telling me that we would arrive minutes before kick off and I desperately wanted to prevent that from occurring."
The Cadets' bus arrived on campus with 45 minutes to spare before the scheduled 4:00 pm kickoff against Archbishop Spalding High, currently ranked 25th in this week's NSCAA Girls National High School poll. Spalding entered the match with a 2-1 record following a season-opening trip to Indiana to participate in a tournament during Labor Day weekend.
SJC started with the same XI that finished the second half of last night's away match at St. Mary's Ryken, and the team jumped on Spalding right from the opening whistle of the round-robin game. Junior midfielder Shannon C. pounced on opportunities in the attacking third and peppered the Spalding goal mouth with several strikes on frame. It wasn't until the 12th minute that Shannon delivered the first of two assists on the day that led to SJC's first goal of the match.
Junior defender Kat O. combined with Shannon before the center midfielder swung in a well-weighted cross from the left flank that eluded the Spalding 'keeper at the six prior to SJC's Morgan T. leaping high above her marker to head the ball into the upper right corner of the net for the Cadets first goal.
It was Morgan's second goal of the season, both of which have come off her head, and most importantly helped set the tone for a strong SJC performance against a nationally-ranked opponent.
"Morgan's goal was outstanding", said Lennon. "She separated from her mark and used her athleticism to out jump her defender for a great opening goal. That's picture-perfect finishing off of a wonderful service from Shannon."
SJC scored its second goal of the match in the 38th minute when Shannon whipped in a dipping corner from the right side of the pitch that found junior midfielder Mimi R. alone at the back post for an easy tap in from five yards. It proved to be the Cadets second and last goal of the match despite Spalding's repeated attempts to find a goal in the second half.
The Cadets held a decisive 6-2 advantage on corner kicks and nearly scored on a chance late in the second half. SJC 'keeper Kirsten made 3 saves en route to her first clean sheet of the season - Spalding outshot the Cadets 8-7 but was caught offsides on five occasions during the 80 minute contest.
With the victory, SJC advances to a semi-final match up with host McDonogh on Saturday morning at 9:00 am. The winner of this show down will play the victor of the O'Connell-Spalding semi-final at 1:30 pm.
FINAL STATS
SJC Spalding
Shots 7 8
Saves 3 1
CK 6 2
FK 2 5
Offsides 0 6
Goals: Morgan (2) 12', Mimi (1) 38'
Assists: Shannon (2)
The official blog of the St. John's (D.C.) College High School Women's Soccer Program.
