Baltimore Lutheran's Christie Brown prepares to fire on goal during the second half of her team's semifinal victory over Oldfields.
Despite strong upset bids, both heavily favored Garrison Forest and Baltimore Lutheran triumphed in the IAAM B Conference indoor soccer semifinals Wednesday afternoon at the Perring Athletic Club, setting the stage for a rematch of last year's final.
Sophomore Kara Shetrone scored the go-ahead goal with 12:08 remaining for Garrison Forrest, as the Grizzlies held on to beat Key School, 3-2.
Senior Lindsey Zito and junior Whitney Williams both added first half goals for the Grizzlies (8-3 overall). Freshman Leni Ballinger provided both goals for the Obezags (5-3-3).
“We wanted to make sure we came out and played our normal game plan,” said Garrison Forest coach Kelly Vaughn. “But we did switch around some of our girls to create match-ups that we thought would work well as far as height and talent.”
In front of the net, junior Christine Knauss had 12 saves for the Grizzlies while junior Regan Foy had 27 saves for Key.
In the second semifinal, Baltimore Lutheran scored three unanswered goals in a five minute span to rally from an early second half deficit to defeat Oldfields, 4-2.
Junior Casey Rusnak had two goals, both in the second half, and Christie Brown and Jess Scoggins each added a goal for Lutheran (10-2-2). Senior Delali Kpakol and Sarah Nutter scored for Oldfields (7-6-1).
“We came into today thinking we could exploit their numbers. We wanted to tire them out in first half and explode in the second half,” said head Lutheran coach Dave Merritt. “Seeing as it was the semifinals, we knew going into this that it would be a tough game, we just needed to play Saints soccer.”
Junior Aimee Chotikul had 23 saves for Lutheran while Oldfield’s Allie Singer had 27. Chotikul is going for her second consecutive title after minding the nets this past fall for Lutheran's boys team which won the MIAA C Conference championship.
In last year's IAAM B indoor championship, Garrison Forrest defeated the Saints, 5-2. They met twice during the regular season as Garrison Forest won, 2-1, in early December before Lutheran closed the regular season with a 5-1 win over the Grizzlies Jan. 23. Both teams finished 7-1 in Division II.
The game is scheduled for Friday afternoon at DuBurns Arena, at 3 p.m. It will be followed immediately by the A Conference title game.
IAAM B Conference semifinals
at Perring Athletic ClubGarrison Forrest 3, Key School 2
First Half: Garrison Forrest 21:22, Goal: Williams; Key School 8:13, Goal: Ballinger; Garrison Forrest 4:05, Goal: Lindsey Zito.
Second Half: Key School 16:01, Goal: Ballinger; Garrison Forrest 12:08, Goal: Shetrone.
Half: Garrison Forrest 2, Key 1.
Baltimore Lutheran 4, Oldfields 2First Half: Oldfields 22:21, Goal: Nutter; Lutheran 16:01, Goal: Brown.
Second Half: Oldfields 23:40, Goal: Kpakol; Lutheran 9:46, Goal: Rusnak; Lutheran 6:20, Goal: Rusnak; Lutheran 5:56, Goal: Scoggins.
Half: Lutheran 1, Oldfields 1.