Crofton reaches 1st title game via shutout

Seniors score all Cards’ goals in victory over Huntingtown

Crofton girls soccer played this season with its first senior class ever. A school since 2020, it also marked the first time the program reached the postseason.

It was unfamiliar territory for seniors Cassidy Nichols, Maddy Cook, Meghan Piazza and Alana Morris. They represent half of the team’s seniors, a group that is doing all of this for the first time.

The four members of the school’s inaugural senior class combined to score all of the Cardinals’ goals, sending Crofton (14-31) to its first state championship game with a 4-0 victory over Huntingtown (13-4-2) in the Class 3A semifinal.

“We didn’t have any seniors last year, and now this year we have eight,” Crofton coach Travis Bonfigli said. “They’re all contributing. To have that senior leadership, I think it’s the most important thing. It’s made a difference the whole year.”

Nichols, a first-team All-County representative, was the first of the foursome to find the net. She darted downfield four minutes into the contest, passed to her right and broke for the goal. The forward got the ball back and immediately sent it flying into the top left corner of the net, giving her squad an early advantage that they never gave up.

The Hurricanes squandered several chances to score against a tough Cardinals defense led by Ruby Shoots, another key contributor in the senior class.

“She is unbeatable,” Bonfigli said. “That back line … they’re just playing phenomenal.”

Huntingtown’s best look came in the 49th minute. With the score still at 1-0, first-team All-State forward Megan Hinton curved around defenders and tried to fire a strike from near the corner. But a sliding Crofton defender kicked the ball out of bounds to halt the opposition’s best chance.

A quiet end to the first half and start to the second followed Nichols’ goal, then ended with just under 20 minutes remaining.

Cook doubled the Cardinals’ lead with a shot that grazed off the crossbar and over a leaping Madison Harris in net.

The goal set off an avalanche of offense in the final minutes of the second half. Classmates Piazza and Morris soon followed with goals of their own. Piazza increased the lead to three, and Morris pushed the score to 4-0 to cap off a 12-minute stretch with three goals.

“It’s been all seniors all year long,” Bonfigli said. “That’s the core of our team.”

With a win over Mt. Hebron in the state title match Nov. 17, Crofton would clinch its first-ever championship. It’s more unfamiliar ground on the horizon for the Cardinals’ senior class, the group that has led the way all season.

“We’ve had our eye on the prize the whole year,” Bonfigli said. “To be one of the teams that’s still going to be playing next weekend is huge.”