LYNN – A tense Catholic Central League girls soccer match between St Mary’s and Archbishop Williams ended in a 1-1 tie Wednesday.
St Mary’s (1-1) started strong defensively and had some drives up and down the field, but had trouble following through on scoring. Sophomore Andrea Basta scored a goal midway through the first half to give her team its only lead of the game.
Despite letting up a goal, Archbishop Williams (2-1-1) stayed with St. Mary’s offensively throughout the first half. The Bishops’ persistence was rewarded when Maeve Delaney scored off a corner kick, which thrilled the team and head coach Gary Burke.
“We’ve been working on that corner kick,” Burke said. “We were very happy when that corner went in.”
Going into the second half, the teams were tied 1-1. Archbishop Williams picked up its defensive play, further preventing St. Mary’s from upping their score. However, the Bishops were also unable to generate many scoring chances.
As the game advanced towards the final seconds, the girls seemed to lose speed, which, coupled with pressure from the clock, did not allow either team to break the tie.
St Mary’s head coach Patrick Curran said he he doesn’t want his girls resting on their laurels. Going forward, they’re going “back to basics.”
“We’ve had a good preseason … our first three games we played really well, we came off a really good win Monday night where we were very proud of the effort and how the girls applied themselves in the game.” Curran said. “We got into the habit of winning, and I think our girls thought that we were going to win every game… So we have to hit the reset button.”
This was the first league matchup for the season for St. Mary’s while it was the second for Archbishop Williams after it lost to Cardinal Spellman on Monday. The Bishops and Spartans are set to meet up again on Oct. 4 in Braintree.
Although Burke wants to see his team play “more physical,” he was happy they held their own against St. Mary’s, which have some strong players and is always tough competition.
“St. Mary’s, they have a couple of terrific players … we got to learn that we can play with that style too,” Burke said. “We survived today. We’re young and we’re growing.”
