Ryan Good, a Mount junior, maneuvers up the field at Merion Mercy. (Photo by Tom Utescher)

by Tom Utescher

Last Saturday Mount St. Joseph Academy received a vivid reminder that every soccer opponent in the Athletic Association of Catholic Academies needs to be taken seriously, no matter how late in a game.

Things appeared to be going swimmingly for the visiting Magic as they expanded a one-goal halftime advantage into a 3-0 lead that was still on the scoreboard with less than four minutes remaining. With a number of their starters having retired to the bench, the Mounties found troubled waters going down the home stretch, as host Merion Mercy scored twice in less than a minute.

Finding themselves with only a one-goal margin and just under three minutes still to play, the Magic refocused and survived this rough patch to emerge with a 3-2 victory. It allowed them to end their week in positive territory in league play with a 3-2 record, while the Golden Bears of Merion Mercy slipped to 1-3 in the AACA.

"When we got up 3-0," MSJ head coach Bill Naydan said, "I tried some people in some new spots, and I think we got a little too relaxed. It got a little closer than we would've liked."

Junior Allie Prue put the Mount on the board in the first period, then seniors Maddie Feeney and Grace DiGiovanni struck in the second half. Part of the reason Naydan did a fair amount of substituting late in the game was that he wanted to rest some of his walking wounded. Senior Liana Alcaro (a tri-captain along with DiGiovanni and Feeney) had already been knocked out for the season by an ACL tear suffered during a league loss to Nazareth Academy. Feeney herself was playing with a sore knee, sophomore Madison Hornig had an ankle sprain and fellow 10th-graders Gina Sassane (the starting goalie) and Kate Taulane were both working through foot ailments.

The physical challenges had contributed to a second-half letdown against longtime league power Villa Joseph Marie earlier last week. The Magic kept the Jems off the scoreboard in the first half, but ultimately succumbed, 4-0.

"They kept pushing in the second half and we couldn't keep up the pace," Naydan explained. "We just had a lot of stuff slowing us down."

Saturday's weather proved to be hot and humid, more in keeping with mid-August than mid-September. The Mount spent a good deal of time in the offensive half, but the hosts only gave up one goal over the first 40 minutes. Merion Mercy was trying to clear the ball through the midfield when Prue picked it off, went on the counterattack, and fired an outside shot into the Golden Bears' den.

Mount St. Joe's sophomore goalie, Gina Sassane, winds up for a goal kick in last Saturday's outing. (Photo by Tom Utescher)

Looking to score the equalizer, Merion attacked vigorously as the second half got underway. Four minutes in, MSJ's Sassane made a diving save on a low shot at the right post. On the resulting corner, the Bears got a header past Sassane as she advanced out into the box, but as the ball bounced toward the left side of the cage it was cleared out of the goal mouth by Prue's senior sister, Megan.

A little over a dozen minutes into the half, the Magic received another timely clearing kick deep in the box. This one was made by senior Lizzie Friel, and it launched an MSJ charge up the field. Play paused when a minor foul by the MMA defense resulted in the Magic being awarded an indirect kick from the top right corner of the Merion penalty area.

On the restart, senior Caitlyn Vesey tapped the ball to Feeney, who drilled it into the far side of the goal with a little under 26 minutes left to play.

A few minutes later, Merion received a direct kick at the other end but booted the ball over the cage. Not long after that, DiGiovanni brought the ball across midfield on the left wing, then angled inside and slipped the ball ahead to junior Ryan Good. The shot by Good rolled a little wide of the right post.

With under 15 minutes to go, the Magic again advanced through the midfield in transition, and this time DiGiovanni was the recipient of the ball in open space. She drew out the keeper and then scored a goal which put the visitors up 3-0 and would eventually prove to be the game-winner.

With 13:30 still on the clock, starting keeper Sassane retired to the sideline with a dozen saves. She was replaced by senior Annie Princevalle (two saves), who had been out on the field earlier as a back.

The Magic made other substitutions, as well, but somebody forgot to tell Merion that the outcome had already been decided. Cruising toward the finish, the Mount got a little careless in the back and let the Golden Bears' Teresa Haegarty break the shutout with 3:25 remaining. The Merion junior then fired a bullet into the MSJ net with the clock still showing 2:51 to play. The Mounties finally stirred from their reverie and held onto their one-goal advantage the rest of the way.

"It's a tough league through-and-through, and you have to go out every game prepared to fight hard," Naydan remarked. "We're still a little bit of a work in progress. We lost a center mid and a center forward who were key members of our team, and we're trying various formations and position changes and working on getting this group to gel."