Cardinals Take Charity Cup

By Christopher Shaban
EAGLE TIMES STAFF
CLAREMONT — After a slow start, the Stevens Cardinals women exploded with Maddie Minckler leading the way with five goals as Stevens downed Fall Mountain 6-0 in the annual Charity Cup game on Friday.

A very young Wildcat team stymied the high-powered Cardinals for the first 30 minutes, as Skyelar Blanchard was following Cardinal sharpshooter Maddy Minckler all over the field. The Cardinals started off as the aggressors with shots on target, but nothing to show for the effort. With Stevens wings Kiley Bundy and Tori Dalke not finding their tempo, the Wildcats were matching the Cardinals in the midfield area. Stella Lavertue and Alyissa Paquette were squared off against Fall Mountain’s Sophia Grillone and Mariella Tsitsonis.

“We need to get much, much, much better, we’re not even close to where we can be,” said Cardinals coach Tim St. Pierre.

With the first half melting away, Lavertue fed Minckler beautifully, and suddenly it was 1-0, but the Cardinals would find the net two more times before the half. Minckler notched a hat-trick before the half ended with goals 30 seconds apart, as Stevens headed into the break leading 3-0.

With another great soccer crowd on hand, the Cardinals came flying onto the field for the second half with a much quicker tempo that kept pushing the Wildcats deep into defensive mode while the Cardinal side of the field remained quiet. “We had such a strong back line last year. I learned so much but this year we have a really strong defensive group as well. We seem to know where we should be going before the ball gets there at times” said Stevens standout sophomore Bella Bovell.

With the Cardinals offense finding its stride, Lavertue added to the Cardinals score as the Wildcats began to run out of gas. “Stevens is a solid program and Tim is a wonderful coach. We are very young, but I liked our intensity and the more we play, the better we will get,” said Wildcat first year coach George Tsitsonis.

Kendal Cote was solid in net for Fall Mountain (0-2) but with the Cardinals (3-0) playing downhill, the shots kept flying, as Minckler continued to pile up goals on the year with two more before her evening ended to give her nine in just three games for the Red and Black. “Having the firepower in front of me plus a great defensive line makes me very happy” said Cardinal net-minder Hailey Knight as she recorded her third shutout of the year. “We’re still growing as a team after graduating nine seniors, but we are building chemistry and getting better,’’ added Knight.