BOSTON – It took a timely corner kick, but Latin Academy came away with its fourth straight Boston City League title Saturday afternoon.
The Dragons used a quick corner to confuse the O’Bryant defense in what ended up being the lone goal of the contest in a 1-0 victory at Madison Park/O’Bryant.
“It feels good,” said first-year head coach Saddene Green. “The girls worked hard all season. We had 12 seniors this year, so it’s a great way to kind of send our senior players off.”
After a relatively quiet first half that saw just two shots on goal for Latin Academy (9-3-3), the corners started to pile up with three in five minutes for the Dragons. The fourth came in the 68th minute and that is when they took advantage.
Junior Hazel O’Rourke quickly ran to the left corner and quickly sent the ball to a wide-open senior captain Maggie Klass right outside the box. She put in the back of the net for the 1-0 lead.
“I knew she needed to put that ball down right away,” said Most Outstanding Player Klass about the goal. “We take advantage when teams aren’t set up and ready. That was my exact moment when I was able to just yell at her to put the ball down and be able to receive and shoot.”
Overall, Latin Academy allowed just one shot on goal to O’Bryant (9-5-2) as junior Claire Hauck made the stop in the 76th minute.
“Our philosophy is trying to have purpose on the ball in the offensive end,” Green said. “So, we were playing two touch, three touch soccer in their end, trying to move the ball, trying to frustrate them a bit, and taking fouls because we try to utilize our set pieces a lot. So, I think we did that really well.”
