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Contact: Jenni Brockman Phone: 804-443-3357 Fax: 804-443-6781 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Tappahannock (February 13, 2004) - St. Margaret's varsity soccer team defeated every team in the league en route to the regular season championship and took home a hard-won second place in the league tournament as the winter sports season ended last week. 
Photo left:
A Scotty player demonstrates the drive and determination that characterized St. Margaret’s final tournament game against the Steward School
St. Margaret's entered League of Independent Schools tournament play on Tuesday, February 10, with the best record (3-2) of any team. The Scotties faced a strong St. Anne's-Belfield squad in the first round just one week after SMS ended STAB's four-year winning streak. St. Margaret's fans crowded the sidelines to cheer on the home team, and the Scotties on the field responded. Senior Sarah Weakley of Montross scored early with an assist from junior Catherine Chilton of Lancaster. St. Anne's answered a few minutes later with a goal of their own, tying the score at 1-1. St. Margaret's regrouped, and with excellent support from the midfield, Chilton immediately put a second goal on the board for the Scotties. Control of the game wavered back and forth for the entire second half, but stellar runs from right wing Rebecca Dickinson, a sophomore from Loretto, kept pressure on the STAB goal. Co-Captain Sarah Copeland, a Tappahannock senior, held down the midfield's defense and continued to make offensive plays. Both sweeper Ashley Leake and stopper Annie Arnest, a junior from Kinsale, effectively ended St. Anne's runs on the SMS goal. With help from senior goalie Meredith Walsh, the Scotties kept STAB scoreless through the final minutes of the game to clinch a 2-1 victory. Coach Louise Cook thought that her team played some of the best soccer she'd seen all season. She named Dickinson, Copeland, Leake and Arnest as St. Margaret's players of the game. The win against STAB advanced the Scotties to the LIS championship game on Wednesday, February 11 against Steward, which defeated Trinity Episcopal in the first round. With a 1-1 record against Steward in the regular season, St. Margaret's traveled to Richmond with high hopes and a busload of fans. The Scotties tweaked their strategy in anticipation of Steward’s powerful and aggressive goalie, a top prep player who is capable of dominating the entire field. In the first half, SMS looked to its forwards as an important component of this strategy, and St. Margaret's peppered the Steward goal with shots. Steward managed a few break aways, but defenders Leake and Neillee Katona, a Dunnsville junior, turned the ball around repeatedly. Play became more physical as the game wore on. Nonetheless, at the end of the first half, the score remained tied at 0. The second half saw a further increase in physical play--and still no goals. Each team made inspired runs, yet neither managed to put one in. St. Margaret's Walsh tallied up a game total of 10 saves, while SMS made 18 shots on Steward’s Lauren Malizia. After two 35-minute halves, the score was still tied at 0. Two five-minute overtime halves followed, with more jockeying for control of the ball and scoreboard. St. Margaret's continued to play hard and fast, but could not get a ball past the Steward goalie, and Steward did not control the ball long enough for a successful shot on Walsh. At the end of the overtime, each team chose five penalty kickers, and the shootout began. Steward missed the first shot, but made the next three. St. Margaret's missed the first three shots, and the game was called at 3-0, drawing one of the best soccer seasons in recent memory to a close. “We’ll be back next year,” Cook promised. “and we’ll get that tournament banner, too.” |
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