Ending a three-game losing streak, Richard Montgomery’s varsity girls soccer team defeated the Albert Einstein Titans 6-1.
The emphatic win also marked the return of senior Bryony Hollingsworth to the lineup, after being unable to play for several weeks due to injury.
Richard Montgomery kicked off the first half convincingly. Just one minute into the match, they won a corner. Freshman Helena Chang got the ball after Einstein attempted to clear it, and she fired RM in front with a powerful shot into the goal.
A period of RM dominance ensued. Junior Katya Morsli had a shot. Then, junior Kate Schuck managed to cross the ball into the Einstein goal box for sophomore Delaney Goetz, but she was ruled offside. After an RM free kick, Goetz got possession of the ball and passed it off to the wing, where it was crossed in but collected by the goalie.
However, the game grew more contentious as the minutes passed. In the eighth minute, Einstein gained a free kick. It led to a Titans corner, and the resulting ball fell to an Einstein player, who smashed it into the goal.
The game was now tied. Einstein had two more shots, within a minute of each other. The Rockets were doing well, but the recurring problem was that they kept being caught offside.
In the eighteenth minute, the audience was on the edge of their seats when Morsli crossed the ball into the Einstein box. Sophomore Ally Ratkowski-Howe got her head on it, but Einstein defended well. Senior Mackenzie Harwood gained possession of the ball, and sent it back into the goal area, but RM was ruled offside.
In the twentieth minute, senior Bryony Hollingsworth was substituted in, playing her first competitive minutes in weeks.
Eight minutes later, she had her first chance. Hollingsworth dribbled past several Einstein players and ended up one-on-one with the goalkeeper. Her shot was saved by the keeper, though.
Four minutes before the end of the half, Hollingsworth sent a through ball for junior Sue Lee. Lee took the ball and scored RM’s second goal.
Then, in the last minute, senior captain Sonia Postolache arced a shot over Einstein’s keeper, making the score 3-0 to the Rockets.
Einstein started off the second half, but RM got the ball back quickly.
One minute into the half, Morsli sent a through ball for Schuck, whose resulting shot was straight at the goalkeeper.
A few minutes later there was a nervy moment for the Rockets in which Einstein had a good run of passes into the RM goal box. However, their shot went wide.
In the seventh minute, Schuck passed a through ball to Goetz. One-on-one with the keeper, Goetz’s shot ended up sailing several yards above the crossbar.
Goetz had another chance ten minutes later. Amid offside calls from the opposing team, she controlled the ball from a through ball and shot, but her effort went wide.
Two minutes later though, RM got a fourth goal. Freshman Kyra Wisneski crossed the ball into the Einstein goal box, and Morsli just tapped it in.
In the twenty-ninth minute, Goetz finally got her goal. Through on goal for the third time, she made no mistake in scoring.
Five minutes later, Hollingsworth capped off Richard Montgomery’s scoring with a goal for herself.
The game ended with the Rockets on top, six goals to one, but it was more contentious than the scoreline suggests.
“I don’t think our team played as well as we could have, but we still got a victory and that is what we came here to do,” said Lee. “We had a lot of shots, so that was good, and we capitalized on a good percentage of them.
“But I think we should improve on passing and getting first to the ball, and not holding onto the ball for so long.”
The girls will be looking to draw from their win against Einstein on Monday, when rivals Montgomery Blair visit for one of the season’s crunch matches.
Featured photo by Ayesha Khawaja.
