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By Andy States
Content Manager, SMAC
Prior to the start of Northern's contest with Thomas Stone on Monday night, the Patriots' seniors were recognized before their last home game. Fittingly enough, one of those seniors went on to provide the winning goal moments later.
Northern senior Jody Durbin scored just 24 seconds into the contest to put the Patriots in front. Her goal turned out to be the only score of the night, as the Patriots won their 10th consecutive game by a 1-0 count over the visiting Cougars.
"It was really exciting," Durbin said. "I had so much energy that I just ran down there and put it in so we could at least have a goal at the beginning of the game."
Northern (10-1, 10-1) pretty well dictated the action from that point on, though it never again slipped one into the net. The Patriots dominated possession time, though Coach Jay Loveless was looking for a little more from the effort.
"I would have liked to have seen a little bit better game tonight than what we had," he said. "Our touches weren't real well and our connecting passes weren't the best. Hopefully -- it was the weekend after homecoming -- maybe they danced too much."
Durbin's early goal sparked the Patriots, but as time wore on without another tally, Loveless was concerned that Stone (7-5-1, 6-4-1) would gain confidence and find a way to tie the score.
"Yeah, it did in the beginning," he said of the goal energizing the team, "but then what happens is the fewer opportunities you have and not scoring any goals the other team's confidence keeps building and building and building and I think that's what happened here tonight."
But Stone was never able to find its groove offensively. The Cougars had very little possession time in their offensive end and were unable to put any real pressure on Northern in the attempt to tie the game.
"We didn't generate too much offense," Stone coach Andrew Prozik said. "Part of the problem was our doing. Our midfield wasn't pushing forward and helping our forwards out. When you don't do that you're not going to generate much offense.
"[Northern] played well, but we didn't have the numbers to really go against them and test them as well."
The loss was the second in a row for Stone, which had enjoyed a five-game unbeaten streak prior to Friday night's game with Leonardtown. The Cougars lost to Leonardtown 1-0, meaning that following Monday's loss to Northern the Cougars had lost to each of the SMAC's top two teams by 1-0 scores.
"It's good to see we're keeping the games close," said Prozik, whose team is the No. 6 seed in the 4A East playoffs and will play at South River in the regional quarterfinals, "but we have to make that next effort so we can hopefully win some of these games."
Northern, the defending 3A South champion, is scheduled to play at Chopticon on Tuesday in its regular-season finale. The Patriots earned the top seed in the 3A South, and will play the winner of a Chopticon-Crossland first-round match in the regional quarterfinals.
"I think they got their opportunity," Loveless said. "It's whether we show up for every game. We got the talent. We got the personnel. It's just a matter of how they play."
