Youth/High School Soccer
Early goal, depth and goalkeeping key for Episcopal in win to open Inter-Ac
An early goal and a big penalty kick save by Taylor Moore sparked Episcopal Academy to a 4-0 win over the Academy of Notre Dame to open Inter-Ac play on Tuesday afternoon at home.
Senior forward Presley Wahl got things going for the Churchwomen early with a goal inside five minutes but Notre Dame – winless in the conference a year ago – showed character and resilience going the other way as they overcame an early wave and started to create off the counter. A penalty in the box whistled against goalkeeper Taylor Moore gave the Irish a lifeline but Moore was there to stop the penalty and a diving stop to her right eight minutes later kept the score 1-0 going into the break.
“Those momentum shifts in high school games can make or break games sometimes,” head coach Andrew Fraggos said, noting that Moore’s PK save was the junior’s second of the season.
The second half started much the way the first half began with Episcopal dictating play and moving the ball and it was Wahl again who had the finishing boots on to double the advantage. With reinforcements coming off the bench, Episcopal was able to stretch the lead to 4-0 but the final scoreline was also deceptive of how tight the game was for the first hour.
“I think what sets us apart is when we can play 18 players,” Fraggos said. “That’s tough to handle in the second half. We’re one of the deepest teams in the area in terms of how many kids we play.”
Senior Ava Cavanaugh and junior Mary Orobono rounded out the scoring while Orobono added an assist. Senior Devon Stewart collected two assists on the day and ninth grader Emma Garcia also had an assist.
Episcopal, the defending Inter-Ac and PAISAA champions, improved to 2-1-2 on the season ahead of another home match on Friday against Germantown Academy and a trip to Maryland to face Maryvale Prep on Saturday.
