Lansdale Catholic scores 3 in 2nd half, cruises past Christopher Dock
TOWAMENCIN — The chances the Lansdale Catholic girls soccer team could not put away early turned into balls that found a way into the back of the net in the second half on a hot Tuesday night against Christopher Dock.
Erin Toburen gave the visiting Crusaders a 1-0 halftime lead over the Pioneers, with LC’s constant pressure finally paying off for three goals in the final 40 minutes for a 4-0 non-league victory over Dock.
“I don’t think we necessarily played any better, it just that the balls that we saw skirt wide and high suddenly went in,” Lansdale Catholic coach Tom O’Donnell said. “And that made all the difference. Everybody calmed down and relaxed.”
Sarah Opdyke added a goal and assist, while Kate Henesey and Jules LaSanta also scored for the Crusaders (1-1), who earned their first win in 2015 after dropping their opener 4-2 to Penn Charter last Friday in Ocean City, N.J.
“The heat definitely got to us in the first half, but we definitely picked it up,” Opdyke said. “We all worked as a team, got our passes on our first touch so it was a good second half.
After Toburen’s goal, Christopher Dock (0-2) created a pair of chances off corners – including a shot that hit the crossbar and went over – but struggled in getting the ball down the field for most of the contest. Having graduated six seniors, the four-time defending District 1-A champs are still figuring things out.
“We just don’t know how to play to each other yet,” Dock coach Ray Hess said. “And when we did get the ball it was like a couple passes in the midfield and then lose it. We never went anywhere with it. We’re going to work on getting to goal.”
Both teams next get into league play. LC starts its Philadelphia Catholic League schedule Wednesday hosting Neumann-Goretti at 3:45 p.m.
“This team is not going be the toughest team in the league, it’s going to be another chance to really knock it and reacquaint ourselves with one another,” O’Donnell said. “We acted like strangers in the first half that was scary.”
Christopher Dock, meanwhile, is home against MaST Charter for a Bicentennial Athletic League matchup 3:45 p.m. Thursday.
“We’ve got to find a way to do something,” Hess said. “But five goals last game (against Wyomissing) we gave up, and we gave up four here, you can’t be giving up four, five, six goals a game. So, we’ve got to solve the sieve first.”
GIRLS #SOCCER: Kate Henesey scores to give @LCCrusaders a 2-0 lead 2nd half against Christopher Dock. pic.twitter.com/0n1KHCn42O
— Mike Cabrey (@mpcabrey) September 9, 2015
Toburen put LC up 1-0 at 24:31 in the first half as she lofted a shot from the middle of the field over Dock freshman keeper Audrey Schweizerhof and into the net.
“I came from the side, I saw there was a lot of people open in the center, so I crossed it in,” said Opdyke, who got the assist on the goal. “And fortunately Erin Toburen got the ball and shot it and got it in.”
Lansdale Catholic had a handful of good opportunity to add to its lead before halftime, but ended up sending many of their shots wide of the net. Opdyke got a chance after making a run down the right side, but her shot to the near post was denied by Schweizerhof.
“She’s only a freshman, she’s got a lot of potential,” said Hess of Schweizerhof. “She got bombarded a little bit. I can’t fault (her) for a couple of those goals. Actually, it’s because our outside mids didn’t cover on two of those. We got to do a better job of marking up.”
The Crusaders finally got their second goal at 16:57 in the second half on a throw in. Rose Stella’s toss found Henesey between two defenders, with Henesey cutting back from the end line for some space to touch the ball between the post and Schweizerhof for a 2-0 advantage.
Opdyke made it a three-goal lead for LC when she beat the out-coming Schweizerhof for a ball played forward by Julia Friel and put it net at 13:37.
GIRLS #SOCCER: @jules_lasanta scores the final goal of @LCCrusaders' 4-0 win over Christopher Dock. pic.twitter.com/Oi6fZykNog
— Mike Cabrey (@mpcabrey) September 9, 2015
“I came up on the side, I knew she going for a shot, maybe a cross, so just to back her up I went up and fortunately the ball came right where I was standing,” Opdyke said. “Popped it in.”
LaSanta made it 4-0 with 6:28 remaining. Kelsey Burns did not get a clean hit on a shot inside the box, but LaSanta was there to knock it into the right side of the net.
