CHC women's soccer succumbs to Notre Dame

by TOM UTESCHER

Chestnut Hill College freshman Amanda Favreau struck the first blow in last Wednesday's pivotal soccer match-up in the Atlantic Women's College Conference.

After Favreau's early goal, however, the visiting Gators of the College of Notre Dame dominated in ball possession and, eventually, on the scoreboard, funneling in four second-half goals to take a 4-1 decision, Coming into the match, the host Griffins owned a 3-0 record in the AWCC and Notre Dame was also unbeaten, at 4-0, so the Gators earned sole possession of first place with the victory.

Good defensive plays by CHC's Johanna Gelber and Ashley Throckmorton quashed early rushes by Notre Dame, and the locals drew first blood when Favreau dribbled down the left wing, drew CND keeper Courtney Zgraggen out of the cage, and chipped the ball over her with 8:17 elapsed in the first half. Favreau came close to ringing up a second goal on a header, but for most of the remainder of the period Notre Dame was on the attack.

Megan Quigg and Amber Hale had near misses for the Gators, and on a long direct kick with six minutes left, the shot by Nicki Eigenbrode struck the crossbar of the Griffins' goal.

During the course of his non-stop chirping from the sideline, Notre Dame coach Jay Golomb made one comment that was spot-on, telling his charges "If we keep possession like this, the goals will come."

They started coming less than two minutes into the second half, when a row of CND attackers converged with Chestnut Hill defenders in the middle of the box, and Megan Pahr scored from out of the crowd. The period was still not five minutes old when Pahr punched in a second goal for the Gators on a play that developed from a throw-in deep in the hosts' half of the field.

The count rose to 3-1 with 33 minutes to go in the game, when Griffins' goalie Krista DeFlaviis got a piece of a high shot by Hale, but the ball continued on into the cage.

Despite some strong play in front of DeFlaviis by sophomore back Stephanie Williams, the Gators were able to add a fourth goal midway through the half, when Heather Karbonski let loose from the right side of the box. CHC's Favreau had two near-misses in the final ten minutes, and on a Griffin corner kick in the waning moments Notre Dame's Jen Leo headed the ball out of harm's way.

Zgraggen, the visiting keeper, needed to make just four saves for the victory, while DeFlaviis recorded 17 stops for Chestnut Hill.