St. Mary’s tops rival for B title

Park defeats St. Timothy’s, 3-1, for C Conference title

That 0-4-1 start to the St. Mary’s girls soccer season now must seem like a distant memory for coach Sarah Molina and her squad.

“Every time we lost a game, I reminded them that they could beat any team in the IAAM and that they had the potential to win a championship,” Molina said.

The Saints accomplished just that when they beat their rivals, the Severn Admirals, 3-0 to claim the IAAM B Conference girls soccer crown Saturday at Anne Arundel Community College.

Goals by Lindsey Grady, Amanda Roy and Chloe Byrne made the difference for St. Mary’s (12-6-1) in a game that was not at all a mismatch, even without Severn’s injured forward Eileen Doherty on the field. The Saints and Admirals (13-8-2) entered the postseason as the No. 3 and No. 4 seeds, respectively, and in their lone regular season meeting, it took double overtime for St. Mary’s to pull out a 2-1 win.

Good defense from both sides dominated the first half, though the Saints had longer possession and more chances. In the final minutes of the half, Severn senior star Michelle Money pushed Lindsay Hegewisch, leading to a St. Mary’s free kick within decent range of the goal. Chloe Byrne’s free kick hit the top-right corner of the crossbar, and off the rebound, Lindsey Grady broke through the resulting scrum to score.

Not quite eight minutes into the second half, St. Mary’s senior forward Sarah DeWitt managed to break away from two defenders and got a clear shot at the goal. Severn’s Inde Lauer made an admirable save, but freshman Amanda Roy kicked in the rebound for just her second goal of the year.

PARK 3, ST. TIMOTHY’S 1: Park School won its second straight IAAM C Conference championship thanks to two late goals from Bella Palumbi and Abby Stubb.

St. Tim’s got on the board first with a goal by Lauren Streaker, but the Bruins tied it just before halftime when Lexi Mantilla scored, assisted by Palumbi. The scoring breakthrough required a strategic decision by Park head coach Andrew Gillis.

“St. Tim’s, I think they were playing for a draw. They wanted to get it into overtime,” he said. “We made a little bit of an adjustment by pushing Bella (Palumbi) up with Karinne (Summers), so we moved two forwards up, which I think got us that breakaway. Karinne checked up, Bella went behind, got a touch on the ball and then beat the goalie.”