GOLDBERG'S SEVEN GOALS PACE GATORS

 

By Mike Buchanan
mbuchanan@digitalsports.com

Kirsten Goldberg had the hot hand on Friday, scoring seven goals to lead St. Paul’s School for Girls to a 12-11 play-off win over Roland Park Country, on a perfect spring at a beautiful setting at St. Mary’s Seminary Field in Roland Park.

The win avenged an earlier season loss to Roland Park, and sent Coach Tierney Ahearn’s team into the IAAM A Conference quarter-finals next Tuesday.

The two teams met back in early April, and RPCS eked out a win in a game that was tight until the very end. In that one, Laura Simanski broke a 7-7 tie with a late second-half goal for an 8-7 win.

Friday, however, it was SPSG on the winning side of a one-goal game. And it was a case of too much offensive firepower from Goldberg and Kate Cathell. Goldberg put her stamp on the game in the opening half, scoring six of St. Paul’s seven goals, as the Gators took a 7-5 lead into the break. Cathell got the offense going, with five assists, and Goldberg put the finishing touches on a number of those passes.

Roland Park came out with an early run in the beginning of the second half. Liz Hamilton scored, unassisted, and then Hamilton made a perfect pass to Courtney Kirk right in stride for another goal, and the game was tied at 7-7.

The Gators answered quickly and decisively, going on a four-goal run over a span of  just three minutes to take an 11-7 lead. It would prove to be a lead too big for the Reds to overcome.

Simanski broke the run with a free position goal. The Reds added another goal to cut the deficit in half and pull to within two. But SPSG’S Kristina Beese came up a big score to push the lead back the three, 12-9.

Roland Park Coach Erin Millon called a time-out, setting the strategy for a late rally. It helped, as the Reds responded with back-to-back goals. Lucy Scholz scored unassisted to make it 12-10. But then the Reds encountered some bad luck, as scoring star Simanski went down with an ankle sprain, and would be lost for the remainder of the game.

Still facing a two-goal deficit late in the game, and with their top scorer on the bench, prospects for advancing in the playoffs did not look good for Roland Park.

Millon’s squad kept battling, though, and pulled to within one on a goal by Kirk with a little under two minutes remaining. The Gators were able to get control of the ball and run down the clock, keeping RPCS from getting a chance at a tying goal.

Simanski scored five goals before hobbling to the bench late in the second hald with the ankle injury. Kirk scored three goals and assisted on one. Hamilton had a pair of goals and one assist. Goalie Jane Randall had 12 saves.

Goldberg had to be the game MVP with her seven goals. “We did a lot of picking, and I just cut off and got great passes from Kate [Cathell], I think only two of my goals were unassisted and both of those were free position shots,” said the Dartmouth-bound senior. “At the end we kept giving the ball up and I was a little worried, but we hung on and pulled it out. Our team has improved since we lost to them earlier in the season.”

The Gators also got two goals each from Iliana Sanza and Beese. Sanza also had two assists. Sarah Hefner had one goal. Isabel Harvey had three saves. Barb Black played the final 15 minutes in goal and had four saves, several of them key in the final minutes as the Reds tried in vain to close the gap.

When asked about keys to the victory, Ahearn said “Kirsten [Goldberg] was just dominant. She had a phenomenal game today. And we had key saves in the final minutes in goal. Everything we did today worked. We were running our plays with confidence. We can score off the fast-break, but now they are buying into the concept that we can score off of running our plays as well.”

“We wanted to limit them possessions, which we did. We also wanted to limit second and third chances when they did have the ball, and we did that. We did a great job on the draw, and as I said the offense was clicking,” added Ahearn.

The good news, for Gator fans, is that the team wins and advances; the bad news is that SPSG has to travel to No.1–seed John Carroll on Tuesday.

After savoring the win over Roland Park for about 10 minutes, Ahearn said, looking ahead “John Carroll is a phenomenal team. We will have to make history and we will have to bring our A game to do so.”

St. Paul’s SG 12, Roland Park Country 11
Goals: SP – Goldberg 7, Sanza 2, Beese 2, S. Hefner; RP – Simanski 5, Kirk 3, Hamilton 2, Scholz. Assists: SP – Cathell 5, Sanza; RP – Kirk, Hamilton, Scholz. Saves: SP – Harvey 3, Black 4; RP – Randall 12.
Half: SP, 7-5.