Goalie Kelly McFarling ’05 had her second straight solid game at Coast Guard, making five saves and anchoring a defense that allowed only eight shots. The Cardinals got several strong performances in the first game, including Marcia Whitehead ’08, Corinne Case ’05, Caitlin Herlihy ’06 and the entire defensive unit which held the Coast Guard out of the defensive zone.
While the Cards lacked many opportunities on the Bears’ end of the field as well, they made the most of them. In the twenty-seventh minute, Sarah Hopkins ’06 hooked up with Natalie Cohen ’06 for Cohen’s first score of the year. The contest remained 1-0 for the next fourteen minutes, when Nicky Gray ’08 received a beautiful pass from Erica Pasciullo ’07 for her first career goal, providing the Cards with a comfortable 2-0 cushion heading into the half.
The second half was a tale of two teams as the Bears came to life in the first third of the second half, culminating when Hillary Allegretti snuck one by McFarling to cut the Cards’ lead to one with a full thirty-three minutes remaining. From there, the Red and Black regained its composure and held the Coast Guard ladies scoreless the rest of the way, making the two early goals stand up.
After managing just five shots in their loss to Little Three rival Williams last week, coach Eva Bergsten-Meredith hoped for more chances on goal. Her wish came true as the Cards launched twice as many shots on goal against the Bears. The overall great performance of the team pleased her.
“It was a great win on the road against a physically strong and fit team,” Bergsten-Meredith said. “We had some chances to put the game away, but we didn’t manage to capitalize. We settled down and started passing the ball better though.”
The Birds continued their defensive attitude for much of the first half of their next game, against Mount Holyoke, holding the Lyons scoreless for almost the entire half. Michelle Thorne of Mount Holyoke set up Maria Carriedo’s goal in the thirty-ninth minute to break the impasse, then Thorne beat McFarling three minutes later to give the Lyons a sudden 2-0 lead heading into halftime. That was the only scoring in the game, as the rest of the contest proved to be a defensive struggle with neither team able to capitalize on scoring opportunities.
“We weren’t as mentally prepared as we should have been,” said forward Lauren Ogden ’07. “We just have to regroup so that we’re ready and beat Trinity Saturday.”
McFarling made five saves as the opposition peppered her with fourteen shots. The Red and Black managed just six shots on goal.
The Cardinals play their first conference match Saturday as the Trinity Bantams come to Middletown to hit the local pitch. Kickoff is at 2:00 p.m.
Leave a Reply