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By Andy States
Content Editor, DigitalSports.com
The season just barely begun, Leonardtown's Jessica Cooke knew Thursday night's game at Northern was one of the more important contests on the schedule.
"This is what we live for," Cooke said, "We live for the competition and Northern definitely gives competition."
Cooke set up Leonardtown's only goal on a throw-in that Lauren Donovan was able to deposit into the net just over three minutes into the game. That goal provided the only scoring, as the visiting Raiders earned their second win of the season by a 1-0 count over Northern.
"It was a great game tonight," Leonardtown coach Jennifer Henderson said. "Northern is a very talented team. We knew it was going to be a battle the whole game. We've had very close games with them for years. Tonight was a big win for us."
The teams have both been major factors in the SMAC race in recent years. Leonardtown (2-0, 2-0) is consistently a contender and is just two years removed from a 4A state championship, while Northern is the defending 3A South champion and has been a mainstay at the top end of the conference standings. While it is just the first week of the season, Thursday night could turn out to be a key contest as the season progresses.
"We knew this would be a pivotal game for the season," Henderson said, "so the girls were psyched up to come out and play hard tonight."
Donovan's early goal put the Raiders in the driver's seat. Northern (0-1, 0-1) did manage a good share of possession time, but was unable to slide the tying marker into the goal.
"I don't know if [the early deficit] factored in, but I think to a degree it always puts people into a panic a little bit," Northern coach Jay Loveless said. "They might have tried to hurry things a little bit. We settled them down at halftime, got them back in their game."
While its scheduled appearance at the Tuscarora tournament last weekend was washed out, Leonardtown did play its first game of the year Tuesday night at North Point, a 2-0 win. Northern had not had the benefit of any prior games, leaving it with a tall order against one of the conference's best to open things up.
Leonardtown, which has only one scheduled hom game in the month, is scheduled to see its next action on Saturday at Westlake. Northern is set to host Great Mills on Monday.
"They had a game at the beginning of the week and we didn't," Loveless said. "That might have played into it a little bit, but they beat us with speed."
"Overall, I think the girls played a real nice, clean game of soccer," he added. "They worked it from our back to our front with connecting passes and we had some nice through balls. We're just going to have a hard time finishing, I think."
Email: astates@digitalsports.com
