Senior day for five Cardinal soccer players went from festive to apprehensive as St Mary Ryken smothered the Ireton offense before the second fireworks erupted. After a scoreless first period, Knights’ senior Alysse Houston capitalized on a Cardinal turnover in their own end and streaked in alone to put Ryken up 1-0 at 42:43.
Ireton’s Katrina Guillou responded at 48:15 to tie the game on a spectacular move into the box and a blistering shot in the corner. Houston came back a off another defensive lapse and staked St Mary’s to their last lead of 2-1. Sophomore defender Nicole Bond launched a long direct kick at the 59:23 mark over the head of junior keeper Sarah Dvorak and knotted the contest at 2-2.
Junior Hannah Thomas, a steady defender, leaped high on a corner kick from Adriene Maday to head the go-ahead goal in the net at the 65:49 mark and the Cardinals held on for the much needed win to keep them in pursuit of a third seed in the upcoming conference tournament. The Cardinals held the statistical edge in the game with 14 shots to 7 for the Knights, an 8-5 advantage for shots on goal, and a 3-1 corner kick lead.
Ireton (8-5-1) finishes the regular season on the road with a rematch with preseason favorite, Good Counsel in Olney, then travels to Kensington next Friday to end the campaign at Holy Cross. Tournament play will begin on Monday, Nov 8th with play-in games, the Cardinals will enter the fray on Tuesday with quarterfinal action.
Processing your request, Please wait....
