September 14, 2006 Issue                                       

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©2006 The Chestnut Hill Local

GA booters get past Panthers
by TOM UTESCHER

Germantown Academy’s Cailyn Alferi, left, battes the ball away from Ashley Miller. For more photos visit www.chlocalphotos.com.

After the Germantown Academy girls soccer team saw a 2-0 lead evaporate during the second half of last Wednesday’s season opener, junior striker Caroline Doty deposited a third goal for the host Patriots with ten minutes remaining in the match. GA, which had led 1-0 at halftime and 2-0 early in the second period before letting visiting Strath Haven High School pull even, blanked the Panthers the rest of the way for a 3-2 victory.

“I thought we played really well for our first game,” commented Darci Borski, who’s now entering her second season as the Patriots’ head coach. “There were some breakdowns, but overall, I thought we had the better of the chances. In the first half, we had four or five quality chances for the game to be put out of reach, but we didn’t finish, and so we wound up in a 3-2 game.”

Recalling their 2-1 loss last year down at Strath Haven, the Pats pressured the Panthers early, and got on the board with 9:40 elapsed. From near the right corner, senior Colleen Magarity crossed the ball to the front of the cage, but sophomore Kate Henrich’s header came back off the crossbar. Germantown kept the ball in front of the goal, though, and another tenth-grader, Jenn Hoy, booted it into the net.

GA goalie Alexa Gallagher, a 5’10” eighth grader playing her first varsity match, saved a header by Haven’s Jenny deBerardinis just after the GA goal, and then a direct kick by the Panthers went wide left. At the other end there were near misses by Hoy and by freshman midfielder Kacie Kergides, and from the left side of the box eighth-grader Cailyn Alfieri hit a shot which tracked just outside the far post.

Germantown Academy’s Taylor Houck.

Despite being on the offensive for much of the first period, the Pats only had a one-goal edge at the interlude, and the play up and down the field was more even as the second half unfolded. Still, GA was able to go up 2-0 with 22:14 remaining, when Doty got the ball up to Henrich in the left side of the box, and she dribbled in for a few yards before firing into the far side of the cage.

This sparked a resurgence by Strath Haven, which outhustled the host team over the next ten minutes or so. Niki King’s shot from the left side of the box got the Panthers on the board with 16:47 on the clock, as the ball got past Gallagher at the near post and rolled across the line just before a GA back could get to it. With 11:10 to go, Leah Bagonis carried the ball straight up the middle past several Patriot defenders to score the tying goal.

Now it was the Patriots who were reenergized, and as a result the 2-2 stalemate lasted only 67 seconds. A long pass up from the midfield glanced off of GA’s Hoy and the ball rolled over toward the right side of the box. In line with the right post, Doty drove a shot straight into the top corner to put GA ahead once more, and the Pats preserved the lead by keeping the ball in Haven’s half during the final minutes.

The winners got a solid effort on defense from sophomore sweeper Taylor Houck, senior stopper Nikki McCardy, and from backs Corina Fleming (a senior) and Andi Stampone (a freshman). Gallagher recorded eight saves in goal in her debut, and the Panthers’ Maddy Edwards stopped 11 shots.

“I thought our defense played great, and some of them were playing new positions,” noted GA’s Borski. “They needed to step up today and I thought they did.”