Staples Girls Soccer Rolls in Season Opener

Editor's Note: The following was submitted by Staples Girls Soccer. 

The Staples Lady Wreckers started their season with a bang on Wednesday evening in Norwalk.  Staples visited Brien McMahon under the lights and came away with a 6-0 victory.  From the start Staples won the possession battle and rained down shots on the McMahon goalie.  Juniors Maggie Walsh and Lauren Garcia, Freshman Lydia Shaw, Freshman Charlotte Rossi all took aim at the goal in the first 15 minutes of the game.  

It wasn’t until the 19th minute when Garcia received a ball up the left line from Senior Caitlin Hoberman and fired a missile to upper corner to start the scoring for 2013 season.  A few minutes later, Staples forced McMahon into a turnover on their own side and earned a corner kick. Garcia placed a ball just outside the 6 yard line and found Senior Captain Gea Mitas for a header to go up 2-0.  Staples continued to control most of the play with Walsh, Shaw and Mitas winning lots of balls in the middle and possessing the ball well.  

With 2 minutes remaining, Freshman Charlotte Rossi’s persistency paid off when she outmuscled 2 defenders in front of the McMahon goal and poked one into the net to give Staples a 3-0 lead at half.

It was more of the same in the second half, as Garcia found the net again in the 50th minute. After receiving a pass from midfield, Garcia dribbled across the box and fired another shot from 25 yards out that sailed over the keeper to put Staples up 4-0.  

Staples pressure and precise passing never let McMahon link up more than 3 passes in any one possession. Senior Meghan Lonergan, Junior Meg Root, Senior Caitlin Hoberman and Sophomore Kate Lesch shut down any threat from McMahon.  When Driscoll subbed in Sophomore Elizabeth Mitas and Freshman Claire Lonergan the defense didn’t miss a beat. Goalie Mary Bennewitz is getting comfortable playing at the 18 as she handled any through balls and swung them to the fullbacks to start another offensive push.

In the 64th minute, Staples made another run at the goal, but this time it produced a hand ball foul in the box.  Captain Meg Root calmly stepped up and punched the ball to the lower right corner to make it a 5-0 game.  Freshman Tia Zajec and Morgan McWhirter came in midway in the second half as wings and were impressive. Each owned their side of the field.  

McWhirter earned her first goal of her Varsity career as she struck a corner kick that bent around two defenders and the goalie to find the net.  The rare unassisted goal for McWhirter gave Staples a total of 6 goals on the night.

Coach Driscoll was pleased by her squad’s quick start as she stated after tonight’s game, “The girls started the season with a great team performance. They battled hard, moved the ball well and scored 6 goals.  Lauren Garcia started the team off with a laser of a shot to the upper 90. That goal created a lot of confidence for Garcia and the rest of the team.”

Staples is off for a week before heading down to Stamford on Tuesday 9/17 to face the Knights.