Eagles stop Garrison Forest to win second straight IAAM C soccer championship

by Derek Toney

Though it had the fifth-best record in the nine-team IAAM C Conference girls' soccer league during the regular season, Annapolis Area Christian School still "talked the talk." But Eagles coach Paul Brophy understood reality spoke a little louder.

"This year, we knew we weren't a fifth place team, but you can't say it without backing it up," said Brophy. "We kept telling ourselves we're not in the fifth place, sixth place, and kept bouncing around there. But we said until we acutally go beat somebody ahead us, we're a fifth place team."

The Eagles "walked the walk" to the championship Saturday afternoon, defeating Garrison Forest School, 3-0, at Glenelg Country School. In its first two years in the league, Annapolis Area has claimed the IAAM championship glass bowl.

Kelly Ostergren, Hillary Thompson and Tori Halvorson each scored goals for the Eagles (12-6), who joins Chapelgate Christian (C; 2004-2005) John Carroll (A; 2004-2005), St. John's Catholic Prep (B; 2000-2001 and 2003-2004) and St. Mary's (A; 2000-2002) as repeat champions in league history. The Severn school did it the hard way, beating three higher seed teams.

"We were losing to all these teams we thought we were better than and we couldn't get the ball into the net," said Thompson, a senior. "Once the playoffs came we started scoring more, and it made all the difference."

In early October, Annapolis Area was mired in a three-game league losing streak, scoring just one goal. But the Eagles amped their play for the pivotal stretch run, closing the season with six consecutive decisions. In their three postseason decisions, Annapolis Area Christian scored 12 goals en route to victories over Mount Carmel, which had a better regular season record than the Eagles, Gold division champ Key School and Garrison Forest, which placed first in the Red division.

"It's not uncommon, but they stepped up big when it counted and they wanted it," Brophy said. "We knew if we just kept doing it and putting that pressure on the offense, things would turn around."

Brophy knew his defense, led by Rachel Gruzinski, Kristie Barlow, Alex Devore and Thompson, would keep the Eagles in contention. Freshman Alexis Flamming, who Brophy cut from the varsity at the beginning of August practice, successfully marked the opposition's top player including Garrison Forest sophomore Stephanie Muller, who scored five goals in two regular season games.  

"It was frustrating because we knew we dominated the whole time, but you get tired," said Gruzinski of the early October stretch. "Today, we wanted to shut them down. We weren't giving up. We did our jobs and did it well."

Devore set up the game's first score, kicking the ball towards Garrison Forest's side where Ostergren efforted her way through and found the net at the 18-minute mark of the first half. About a minute into the second half, Thompson scored unassisted.

In the 15th minute, Thompson's corner kick was converted into a score by Halvorson. In the postseason, eight different players scored for Annapolis Area with Ostergren leading the way with four goals and junior Christie Valentine with three.

"Our defense has been unbelievable, even when the offense couldn't put it in the net," said Ostergren, a junior. "We knew we could do it and it's just exciting to be able to prove it."

In its inaugural season, Garrison Forest showed its belonged, winning the Red division title and had the best overall mark (15-2-1) in the league. Grizzlies coach Casey Schoberlein said Annapolis Area Christian experience was the difference.    

"AACS knew what to expect a little bit more than we did," said Schoberlein, who will return 17 out of 20 letterwinners next fall. "Hopefully we'll have a better understanding of the pressure and intensity of a game like that."

Muller and Emily Bishop represented Garrison Forest on the conference all-star team with Gruzinski. The rest of the team included Glenelg Country School's Olivia Weinrub, Lindsey Puopolo of St. Timothy's, Mount Carmel's April Mitchell, Brittney Heise and Ally Emerson, Michelle Safferman from Beth Tfiloh, Key School's C.J. Coddry, Caileigh Feldman and Jessica Greenwald, Oldfields School's Sarah Wall and Annie Isaacs, and Erin Stein of Towson Catholic.  

Brophy said the Eagles didn't expect to win the championship last season. They didn't sneak up on anybody this year, and despite a few stumbles, they were able to walk first across the championship finish line again.   

"They're both pretty sweet, but it so exciting to come back and do it again," said Ostergren. "There's a lot of pressure to win the second one, and then you don't follow through. It wasn't beginners' luck."

"It's pretty exciting that we came from one of the last places, but the coaches were still hesistant to play us because we dominated games but couldn't get the ball in the back of the net," said Gruzinski, a senior. "This week, we showed them and we're coming home with the championship bowl."

IAAM C CONFERENCE SOCCER CHAMPIONSHIP
at Glenelg Country School
Annapolis Area Christian 3, Garrison Forest 0
Goals: Annapolis Area-Ostergren, Thompson, Halvorson. Assists: Annapolis Area-Devore, Thompson. Saves: Annapolis Area-Cheek 10; Garrison Forest-Simms 14. Halftime: Annapolis Area, 1-0.