The St. Mary’s girls soccer team (11-4-2) defeated Bishop Stang (7-8-1) on a cloudy Wednesday at Manning Field, 3-0.
Earlier this month, St. Mary’s defeated Stang, 3-2, on the road. On Wednesday, St. Mary’s completed the season sweep with freshman Sophie Skabeikis scoring two goals – giving her 27 on the season. Issie Skabeikis found the back of the net as well, and sophomore Brooke Maloney collected three assists – giving her 14 this season.
Minutes in, Sophie Skabeikis collected a lead pass and gathered position before performing a timely spin move around the Stang defense. However, the ball was cleared away shortly after.
Both sides held possession through seven minutes, but neither established a set offense close enough to the net. A cross found its way in front of St. Mary’s goalkeeper Kylie Kennison, but she deflected the ball and held on.
Stang was aggressive in the midfield – advancing towards ball-dribblers and battling for loose balls. In the offensive zone, however, its possessions only lasted seconds before St. Mary’s cleared the ball away.
St. Mary’s Calli Allaire impressed on defense, winning an individual matchup near the endline and feeding her fellow defender to clear the ball downfield. The score remained 0-0 through the first 20 minutes.
St. Mary’s got its first golden chance with Moloney bolting into the box and firing towards goal, but the ball went just high. Despite coming up empty, Moloney received a hug from a teammate for providing the spark. Bella Owumi tried one from the 35-yard line to catch Stang off guard, but it, too, sailed high a few minutes later.
At the 17:35 mark of the half, Kennison came way out of her goal to block a Stang shot. She got taken down to the turf afterwards – a perfect example of taking a hit to make a play.
Stang got possession down to the 15-yard line, but a trio of St. Mary’s players smothered the ball-carrier – led by eighth grader Grace Kauch who sent the ball in the opposite direction.
The score remained 0-0 at half.
There were lots of jump balls to begin the second half with both teams struggling to leave the neutral zone.
St. Mary’s Olivia Egan couldn’t control a Stang corner kick and allowed her opponent to get a shot off. Egan made up for her mistake, however, extending her leg to block the shot.
Sophie Skabeikis scored at the 29:01 mark with a bomb from long distance, sending the ball just inside the left post as a diving goalkeeper failed to stop it. St. Mary’s took a 1-0 lead.
Desperation caught up with Stang as its players started shooting from long distance due to an inability to cycle on offense. Foley said his team switched formations in the second half – similarly to how they played a tough Bishop Feehan team earlier in the week.
“That kind of frustrated them in terms of our different formation. I don’t think they [Stang] were ready for that,” St. Mary’s Head Coach Jim Foley said.
St. Mary’s found breathing room with sophomore Issie Skabeikis lofting a shot from the 25-yard line over the keeper’s outstretched hands. St. Mary’s lead was extended to 2-0.
The scoring touch didn’t stop there. With just under eight minutes remaining, a rebound rolled right to Sophie Skabeikis who made no mistake – tucking the ball in and giving St. Mary’s a 3-0 advantage.
Owumi was effective with her dribbling throughout the second half, using her length and long strides to keep the ball away from Stang.
Time expired on Stang and the season sweep was complete. The final score favored St. Mary’s, 3-0, after a three-goal second half.
“I just told them at halftime – have fun and play soccer, and we were able to do what we needed to do,” Foley said.
