Clinching the Potomac
NP girls soccer blanks La Plata for 7th-straight win, 2nd-straight division crown
Since being shut out the first two games of the season to Calvert County outfits Northern and Huntingtown, the North Point girls soccer team has been on a different level.
Tuesday, the Eagles kept up their winning ways with a 6-0 shutout of the visiting La Plata Warriors in a Southern Maryland Athletic Conference Potomac Division game.
After a sluggish start to the season, North Point (7-2, 5-0 SMAC Potomac) are riding a seven-game win streak and haven’t allowed a goal during that stretch, outscoring their opponents 44-0, as it clinched its second straight division title. It will play for the SMAC championship against the winner of the Chesapeake Division winner.
The Eagles are off until Tuesday when they go to St. Charles for their final division game, come back home the following night for senior night versus Leonardtown to makeup a Sept. 29 postponement and wrap up the regular season at home versus Calvert next Friday. All games scheduled for 6 p.m.
Even if North Point lost to St. Charles, it still would hold the tiebreaker over La Plata (7-4, 5-1) because of Tuesday’s win.
“We’ve grown a lot from the first two games. We weren’t mentally focused at the start of the season and we drew the hardest bracket the first two games,” said North Point head coach Kiante Webb, whose team boasts experience with eight of his 11 seniors in the starting lineup. “I just had to go back to self responsibility for the girls and straight up teamwork. Hard work and dedication always prevails and I’ve been trying to get them to build into that and looks like they bought in. The leadership has really stepped up, seven in a row.”
Senior goalie Tailor Gammons finished with nine saves in the shutout.
“When it comes to La Plata in past years
it has always been a emotional game because they are our in-county rivals,” Gammons said. “We put that to the side this year and we kept the ball moving and played our game, kept it simple. I think we can win the rest of our games in the regular season and go into the playoffs.”
North Point took a 3-0 halftime lead as senior striker Brianna Reid scored twice in the opening half.
Reid’s first goal came on a penalty shot in the eighth minute of the game after she was knocked down down in the box by La Plata junior Hannah Lind.
With eight minutes left in the first half, Reid’s second tally came as she took a shot with her left foot that hit the right corner of the net past La Plata goalkeeper Mackenzie Higdon (6 saves).
“This was a big game for us, but we are really trying to get ready for next week with Calvert and Leonardtown, two really tough teams out of county,” said Reid. “Last year we lost to Leonardtown three times, so we literally want to beat them this year. We’ve been really using these past games as practice to get better.”
Inbetween the two Reid goals, North Point junior forward Sonnia Moses tallied with 15 minutes left that gave her team the 2-0 lead after she split two La Plata defenders and nailed a shot with her right foot that hit the back of the net.
“Our first two games we weren’t playing as a team it was more independent,” Reid said, “but now we are playing like a family and it has helped us out a lot because we’ve done so much better.”
In the second half, North Point picked up the scoring once again as Taylor West, Destiny Edison and Desiree’ Salaver all added goals to secure the shutout win.
“The early momentum from the PK didn’t help, but we just didn’t play a complete game,” La Plata head coach Kevin Barry said. “We moved the ball up the field nicely in transition, but when it came to getting inside the 18 we weren’t able to produce like we have been. North Point was really strong up top with Brianna and didn’t allow us to get much going.”
La Plata is next scheduled to host Huntingtown and close out the regular season at Chopticon. Both contests are scheduled for 6 p.m.