Monday evening, Richard Montgomery’s girls varsity soccer team produced a dominating display to defeat long time rivals Blair High School 3-1.
It was a milestone match for the three JV captains, sophomores Elizabeth Blake, Brynne Schoen, and Giulia Testa, all of whom had been recently moved up to varsity. Blake and Schoen played their first game for the varsity team against Blair, while Testa will join the team for their next game against Quince Orchard on Thursday.
The Blair Blazers kicked off the first half, but Richard Montgomery swarmed them, quickly gaining possession. Sophomore Delaney Goetz had the first shot of the match in the first minute, but it was saved easily by Blair’s goalkeeper.
Three minutes into the match, senior Daisy Grant’s shot on goal led to an RM corner. Blair cleared the ball from the corner kick and went on a break. Luckily, sophomore Ally Ratkowski-Howe stopped the break after taking the ball from an oncoming Blazer.
Five minutes later, RM won another corner. This time, Goetz managed to get ahold of the ball and rocketed a shot towards the goal. It ricocheted off the underside of the crossbar and into the goal, putting the Rockets up 1-0.
In the fifteenth minute, Blair had their first chance on goal. A Blair player dribbled the ball through RM’s defensive line and into the goal box. Goalkeeper Chloe Shankle came off her line to stop the ball, but the player managed to get a shot off. Fortunately for RM, the ball went wide.
Twenty minutes into the match, Richard Montgomery had another great chance. Senior captain Hannah Greco won the ball off a Blair goal kick and passed it off to the other senior captain, Sonia Postolache. Postolache passed to junior Kate Schuck, but Schuck’s shot sent the ball sailing over the crossbar.
Five minutes later, a mishit clearance from Blair sent the ball into the middle of the goal box, straight to RM senior Bryony Hollingsworth. Hollingsworth hit a decisive shot into the bottom right corner of the goal, increasing the Rockets’ lead to 2-0.
Eleven minutes from the end of the half, Blair got another break. However, their resulting shot went wide again.
Soon after, RM got a third corner kick. The rebound fell to senior Mackenzie Harwood, but her shot was saved by Blair’s goalkeeper.
In the last minute of the match, the Rockets were still pushing for a third goal. Junior Sue Lee got the ball and passed it to Ratkowski-Howe, who crossed it into the goal box. It ricocheted off a Blair defender and back into the center of the box, but the goalie grabbed the ball before Ratkowski-Howe could get a touch on it.
Richard Montgomery kicked off the second half. Possession bounced between the teams at first, but RM were stringing more passes together and creating more chances.
Blair had a break in the seventh minute, but senior Summer Oh covered the ball well, allowing goalkeeper Judy Choi to collect the ball.
Richard Montgomery gained two corner kicks within minutes of each other. The first resulted in a shot from Postolache, but it went wide.
The second saw the ball sailing into Blair’s goal box, where it fell to Schuck. She kicked it into the goal, putting RM three goals ahead.
Nine minutes before the end of the half, a Blair player broke through RM’s defense and was clear on goal. Choi came off her line to stop the play, but the player dribbled past her. She had done enough to impede the play, though, because the player’s shot went wide of the open net.
A minute later, however, Blair scored from a shot from the eighteen-yard line.
The game ended 3-1 for the Rockets.
“I was super nervous,” said Schoen, after the game. “I mean, your first game with varsity is kind of a big deal. I was just thinking, ‘Am I good enough to be here?’ But everybody on the team was super encouraging. They’re really fun to play with.”
“And I think [the game] went really well,” she added. “We dominated for a lot of the time, our possession game was really strong, and we kept the ball in their half for a large part of the game.”
The next game for the Rockets will be varsity’s Senior Night, on Thursday, October 13. It’s the Rockets last home game of the season against Quince Orchard, and they’ll be looking to increase their two-game winning streak. Come out and support the seniors!
Featured photo by Ayesha Khawaja.
