Girls Soccer: Stopping Notre Dame’s Audrey Cain no easy task

RADNOR — It’s not often, at the high school level or otherwise, that a soccer team’s gameplan hinges on how to contain the opposing right back.

That is, however, one way to approach Notre Dame’s Audrey Cain. Such is the danger posed by the outside back and Rutgers commit, who can provide dangerous service with either foot and maraud through midfield like the ball is attached to her foot by a string, that devising ways to minimize her influence is point No. 1 in the tactics talk.

Wednesday afternoon, Agnes Irwin’s best chess move to neutralize Cain didn’t work, the senior setting up Abby Reger’s opening goal, then helping control the game late in midfield in a 3-1 Inter-Ac League victory.

Agnes Irwin’s gambit was to take dangerous scorer Lily Fusco and plant her high and wide on Cain’s side. In theory, that would make Cain think twice before carrying the ball in midfield.

In practice, though, it meant Cain could take her space, so long as she did so responsibly, and bet she could recover to the backline before Agnes Irwin could regain possession and play into that brief opening.

“It was kind of hard having Lily out here, and I think a lot of teams know that I like to go forward,” Cain said. “So having their outside winger stay wide prevented that, and it’s a smart move by them. But I feel like we adapted well and we were able to switch in from my position so I was still able to get forward.”

The final score on that granular tactical battled was even. Twelve minutes in, Cain went on an attacking sortie, prancing between midfield lines and slipping in a ball that Reger ran onto and finished, though it might have taken a touch on the way off an Agnes Irwin defender to put off goalie Lindsay Reidenbach.

Agnes Irwin would hit back on tic-tac-toe counterattack in the 65th. Payton Quinones picked her head up to spot Fusco wide right, and Fusco played a decisive ball that split the center backs and allowed Maya Johnson to fire home from close range. But by the time the Owls scored that “textbook goal,” as Johnson put it, Notre Dame was already three goals to the good.

Notre Dame’s wing play came out superior, from Cain and others. The second goal came 20 minutes in, with Agnes Irwin’s backline dropping back and staying wide to mark those threats. That allowed freshman Sophia Demchyk to waltz to the top of the box and put her laces through a shot.

Cain, who played both right and left back and finished the game in central midfield, should’ve had another assist in the 28th. Only a tremendous diving save by Reidenbach (six saves) denied her, swatting away a Maura O’Reilly effort.

“I love playing with her,” Reger said of Cain. “She definitely does an awesome job with the ball. When I’m making runs, she can see those and she plays me the ball.”

The Irish finally got their third goal from the left winger. Center back Avery Hannah stepped into space in the left side of the midfield and slipped a ball through to Lola Pena. The sophomore let the service run in front of her and one-timed a deft chip to the back post that left Reidenbach no chance.

Agnes Irwin (5-2, 1-2 Inter-Ac) looked better as the game wore on. The Owls had two chances to beat goalie Sophia Hall late in the first half, though neither a Kennedy Kelleher free kick from 30 yards nor Quinones’ follow off a Campbell Collins throughball escaped the stellar sophomore’s grasp.

The Owls’ insistence on playing out of the back, and occasional hesitance to push the issue when they got the overloads that tactic is designed to create, meant the front three of Quinones, Fusco and Johnson were often starved of service. They rectified that some in the second half, with Gabby Bongiorno finding space on the right to dribble at the defense, but it came too late.

“We’re a really technical team, so we like to play smart,” Johnson said. “It is tough as a forward sometimes just because there’s a lot of passes that need to happen before (the ball) gets to the top. But we try to take our chances as best we can, and as soon as the ball is played in behind, me and the other forwards are right on it.”

Cain was a big part of a surprising season from Notre Dame (6-2, 2-0) in 2021, in which they won 16 games and made the final of the Pennsylvania Independent Schools Athletic Association tournament. The first steps toward building on that have gone pretty well.

“We definitely have something to prove this year because last year we made it so far,” Cain said. “So every game, we try to come focused and really try our best and try to live up to last year’s standards.”

In the Bicentennial League:

Christian Academy 4, Renaissance Academy 2 >> Jess Kucharczyk scored twice, and Lea Sareyka added a goal and two assists to lead TCA on Tuesday.

Avalee McInnes added a goal and an assist for the Crusaders, who broke a 2-2 tie at half.