North Point girls soccer outlasts Leonardtown on senior night
Latour’s second-half goal lifts Eagles to ninth straight win
The North Point girls soccer team did not let its hot streak cause them to lose focus or not bring the same passion into Wednesday night’s anticipated Southern Maryland Athletic Conference nondivision contest versus archrival Leonardtown.
There was, after all, some built-in motivation. It was senior night and the Eagles have nine to be exact.
Fittingly, it was one of those seniors who supplied the biggest moment.
Defender Aimee Latour stepped up with 18 minutes 44 seconds left in the second half as she nailed a shot with her left foot into the right corner of the net from 15 yards out on an assist from senior teammate Isabel Piazza, propelling North Point to the eventual 1-0 victory over the Raiders.
Wednesday’s contest was a makeup from a Sept. 29 postponement.
For North Point (9-2 overall), the Potomac Division champions, it was its ninth straight win. The Eagles are scheduled to host Calvert at 6 tonight, followed by a trip to the SMAC championship game at 5 p.m. Tuesday at Northern, the Chesapeake Division champion.
“First I dribbled out wide and then I brought the ball closer into the middle with my left foot and just took the shot,” said Latour, who scored just
her second goal of the season. “Last year we lost to Leonardtown three times, including the playoffs, so we really wanted this game. This is was a big win for us.”
On how the play developed that led up to the eventual game-winning goal, Piazza said, “There was two defenders on my back so I dished it off to Aimee who made a huge goal for us. We knew it was going to be a physical game, but we just kept battling and was able to put one through. Our defense really played strong in the back.”
North Point has been lights out during the win streak, outscoring its opponents 53-0.
“At halftime I told the girls that we were right there and all we need is one goal and we got it,” North Point head coach Kiante Webb said. “This was a big win for us, but we know we will probably be seeing Leonardtown again in the [Class 4A East Region] playoffs. I knew this was going to be a tough game and we were able to pull it out.”
Leonardtown had a similar outcome on Tuesday night, falling at Northern 1-0. On Wednesday, the Raiders weren’t able to get any clean looks at the goal to score.
“We had our chances, we just couldn’t capitalize,” Leonardtown head coach Jennifer Henderson said. “I told the girls that we will see them again in the playoffs. The game could have went either way tonight, they just took advantage of a scoring opportunity. It was a battle defensively on both ends and we came up just short. We just have to come back stronger put this game behind us.”
North Point senior goalkeeper Tailor Gammons had another solid performance, finishing with four saves on the night. Leonardtown goal-keeeper Madison Insley saved six shots in the losing effort.
The Raiders are scheduled to host St. Charles at 6 tonight.