October 12, 2006 Issue                                       

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©2006 The Chestnut Hill Local

Dusing helps Mount prevail against Pandas
by TOM UTESCHER

Mt. St. Joe’s Genevieve Dusing, #37, battles for the ball with Nazareth Academy’s Christiana Pascale. For more photos visit www.chlocalphotos.com. (Photo by Jimmy J. Pack Jr.)

A major concern for the Mount St. Joseph Academy soccer team last fall: Genevieve Dusing’s back. A major concern for Mount St. Joseph soccer opponents this fall: Genevieve Dusing’s back.

After performing in a starting role as a freshman in 2004, the MSJ midfielder suffered stress fractures of two vertebrae in her lower back, and sat out for the entire 2005 season. As a junior this year, Dusing is back in action and is the Magic’s leading scorer.

Her eighth goal of the season came in a home game last Thursday afternoon, when the Mount topped Nazareth Academy, 2-1, in an Athletic Association of Catholic Academies contest.

“She’s coming off a serious injury, and you can see from her scoring and all the other things she does on the field how much it would’ve meant to us if she’d been able to play last season,” observed Mount St. Joe coach Chris Hill. “She plays hard in the games, and works hard in practice.”

The Magic have not been untouched by injuries in the 2006 campaign, though. Senior co-captain Aubrey Barrett has had a recurring ankle injury that has sidelined her for many of the Mount’s games in the AACA, where the team’s record stood at 2-7 after the win over Nazareth. Three of those setbacks turned on a single goal, including one overtime tilt. Outside the league, the Magic own a more encouraging mark of 5-1.

Dusing, who says she’s gotten used to playing with a custom-fitted back brace, put the Mount on the scoreboard in the second minute of the Nazareth contest. Ryann Gallgher delivered the ball inside the 18 to fellow junior Sean Conroy, then Conroy guided it down towards the left post, where Dusing punched it in. The Magic kept their guests from getting off a legitimate shot on a pair of corner kicks by the Pandas, then came back down the field to narrowly miss the mark on a pair of high outside shots, one at the right corner by Dusing, and one at the left by freshman Corinne Caracausa.

So it went for the home team, which enjoyed numerous scoring chances, but saw the scoreboard stuck at 1-0. A ball passed from right to left across the mouth of the Nazareth goal went untouched, as the Magic were a little late getting into position on the weak side. With six minutes left in the opening period, a long direct kick awarded to the Mount produced a strong shot by junior Kelly Mannes, but Panda goalkeeper Jen Schmidt stopped the ball just under the crossbar, earning one of her 14 saves for the afternoon.

Early in the second half, Schmidt denied the Mount a goal by scrambling out to take the ball off the feet of Conroy, and nine minutes in she made a diving save to stop a header by MSJ junior Laura Johnson. For all their hard work, the hosts were still in a position to see their lead vanish with just one rush up the field by their opponents.

Around 14 minutes into the second half, that’s exactly what happened. Carrying the ball across the 18 in a solo dash straight towards the left post, Nazareth’s April Cenigino evaded the last Mount defender and fired the tying goal. Just after that, Cenigino got loose for another shot on the Magic goal, but she hit this one a little high.

“We just had to come back twice as hard after they scored,” Dusing said. “We didn’t want to let down, because we knew we should be winning with all the chances we had.”

The Mount went up the field on offense for an extended spell, but encountered more frustration. Johnson booted one shot wide to the left, sent another into Schmidt’s stomach, and then got off two headers, one of which was saved by the Pandas’ keeper while the other strayed too far to the right.

Nazareth charged across midfield with a little under seven minutes left, but a hard-hit ball by Kate Lazorko missed at the right post. The Magic finally netted the gamewinner with 4:31 remaining on a well-executed rush by two of their younger players. Freshman Priscilla Donnalley brought the ball up the middle of the field, then passed it out wide to the right wing for sophomore Meg Rothwell. She took a few dribbles before launching a long shot that zipped inside the near post.

In the final minutes Nazareth pressed for the equalizer. MSJ keeper Tara Barr (six saves total) went out to grab a dangerous ball out of the air in front of the cage, then a Panda player made a run up the middle but had the ball taken away by Magic sweeper Elle Hagedorn. On a restart for Nazareth in the final minute, a header by Carleigh Brown made the Mount gasp momentarily before the ball carried over the bar.

“We played with a lot of energy and we played good fundamental ball,” summed up MSJ’s Hill. “We developed a number of opportunities, which is something we’ve been working on in practice. We’re starting to get it; moving well off-the-ball, and looking for those through passes on the ground. Of course, you always want to finish more of those chances – that’s the game of soccer.”