For almost an hour of game time, the scoreboard at Mount St. Joseph Academy's soccer field stood at 0-0 as the host Magic took on Haverford High School last Wednesday afternoon.

The visiting Fords broke the shutout with a little over 20 minutes remaining in the game, adding an insurance goal about eight minutes later to take away a 2-0 victory.

Both teams had been under the .500 mark for the season going into the match, the Mount at 2-12 and Haverford at 6-8-2.

Mount St. Joe's new head coach this fall is Martin Hunt, who had served as an assistant for several seasons. His team largely consists of older players who do not consider soccer their primary sport, and younger athletes who tend to be more involved with travel club soccer. While the younger girls have polished skills, they are often at a physical disadvantage against larger opposing players, and to some extent this was the case last Wednesday.

The Mount's starting line-up includes the four team captains, seniors Emily Birmingham, Julia Brandon, and Tatum Donohue, and junior Ava McDonald. Seniors Ella Vogel and Chloe Swisher (the Magic's goalie) also started against Haverford last week.

The visiting Fords were the early aggressors, earning a corner kick that did not generate a shot. About five minutes in, a Haverford shot was deflected by Swisher and the ball was cleared out of the attacking zone by Magic freshman Elyse McGlynn. A little later, a Haverford shot was blocked by Brandon before it reached Swisher.

The Mount keeper then dove on a ball that had been passed into the box just before a charging Haverford forward could get to it.

The Mount made some advances on offense, but didn't pose many serious threats. A promising late shot by freshman Taylor Vogel crossed diagonally through the box but tracked wide of the far post, and the first period ended with the score still 0-0.

Not long after the second half began, the Magic were awarded a corner kick on the left side. Put in play by junior Molly McGinley, the ball found the head of freshman Gabby Bernauer, but it eluded the net.

With eight minutes gone, Swisher made a stop on a shot from in front of the cage after the ball was centered from the left endline.

In actual playing time, the match was close to an hour old when the 0-0 tally was altered on the scoreboard. Freshman Kendall Gillespie broke the ice for Haverford High with 21:02 remaining in the game.

With a little over 13 minutes left, the Fords sent through another cross from the left endline. Swisher dove but was unable to hold the ball, and it kept rolling until ninth-grader Ava Cavanaugh came from the weak side and punched the ball in for an insurance goal.

UPDATE: The following day the Mount fell to another Central League School, Marple Newtown, by a score of 1-0.