GA booters get by Gwynedd, 4-3
by TOM UTESCHER
With 13 minutes remaining in a non-league soccer square-off at Gwynedd Mercy Academy on October 4, freshman Caroline Doty headed in junior Mary O’Brien’s corner kick to give visiting Germantown Academy a 4-3 victory over the Monarchs.
The lead changed hands several times during the contest, as Patriots senior Kris Guynn and Gwynedd junior Suzy Jaggers each chalked up two goals for their respective squads.
Germantown, which improved to 3-2-1 overall, would begin the defense of its Girls Inter-Ac League title the following day. Gwynedd, with a 9-4 mark against all opponents, was already in the thick of its Catholic Academies schedule, situated in second place with a 6-2 record.
The Monarchs, whose roster includes sophomore Britta McDonnell out of Norwood Fontbonne Academy, broke the ice in the GA game with just under 14 minutes elapsed. Junior Meg Bostwick served the ball into the box, where senior Courtney Hogan popped it up into the air and over the head of Germantown’s junior netminder, Taylor Test (six saves). Although GA’s sweeper, senior Danielle David, showed good anticipation in breaking up a number of Gwynedd rushes, the Pats’ defense occasionally gave their coaches a scare by letting Monarch forwards roam loose in the penalty area.
Five minutes after GMA’s first goal, Germantown got even when Guynn beat a Gwynedd back as she dribbled through the left side of the box and then fired into the net. The ebb and flow continued as the teams traded goals once more in the last 16 minutes of the half. When Test scrambled out of the cage to try and snatch up a loose ball in the right side of the box, the ball got behind her and Jaggers moved Gwynedd ahead, 2-1. The Patriots tied it again with 1:12 to go in the period, with Guynn heading in a ball served from the left wing by junior Maura Cusick.
The visitors took the lead for the first time, 3-2, about five minutes into the second half, when sophomore Corina Fleming tapped the ball inside the right post from the left side of the penalty area. Jaggers gave Gwynedd the equalizer midway through the second half, making a run through the box and receiving a well-timed pass from Bostwick that set up the shot.
The Patriots secured the gamewinner with 13:14 remaining. On a run down the left wing by Guynn, the ball went out of bounds over the endline off of a Gwynedd defender. O’Brien sent up the resulting corner kick and the 5'10" Doty (who recorded a 5'6" high jump in track as an eighth grader) was in front of the cage to get a head on the ball.