By Christohper Shaban
EAGLE TIMES STAFF
LANGDON — If there is a bigger rivalry than Fall Mountain and Stevens, I’d like to know about it because on Monday, the records were out the window with some intense soccer for not just 80 minutes, but for the entire night of two games.
In the early game, the high-flying Cardinals were matched stride for stride, and left Wildcat Country with a slim 1-0 win, to grab their 11th win of the season.
With Fall Mountain coach George Tsitsonis packing his defensive box full of Wildcats, the Cardinals tried to get one into the net, but it wasn’t until just before the half that Kiley Bundy found Maddy Minckler on a beautiful pass that resulted in the only goal of the match.
These two clubs met earlier in the season in Claremont as the Cardinals won easily, but on Monday, it was a battle all game long with skirmishes breaking out all over. Cardinal defender Isabella Bovell was wrestling with the Wildcats striker Charlotte Reilly, while in the midfield it was Stella Lavertue and Skyelar Blanchard going toe-to-toe with each other. Elsewhere, Tori Dalke and Mariella Tsisonis were at each other all evening.
In the Fall Mountain defensive end, the best battle of the night matched Minckler and Clara Stewart, who just kept pushing, pulling, and shoving each other all over the field in this super intense battle.
“This feels like a win against one of the best teams in the state,” said Stewart, while her coach was at a loss for words. “I got very emotional, to see the amazing growth of this team against Stevens was just remarkable,” said Tsitsonis.
The Cardinals controlled play for long stretches with Alyssa Paquette really taking lots of space in the midfield, while Aiden Antonivich’s leadership really took hold. “We were playing Fall Mountain and they came ready to play, but so did we. We want to win every time we step on the field,” said the senior.
The wing play of the Cardinals Brianna Marsh was stellar, as she dug her shoulder into the Wildcat defenders to keep play heading downhill for Stevens. “This game was personal, not in a bad way, but it is Fall Mountain, we have something to prove. The season is a long way from being over and we need games like this to work even harder, tonight was a battle,” said Marsh after the game.
The Cardinals improve to 11-1 with four games remaining, while the young Wildcats sit at 5-6 with five winnable games left.
“We want and need the challenge of games like this, we have a bullseye on our back, and we need to be ready to go for 80 minutes,” said Cardinal coach Tim St. Pierre, who ended the night having coached his 400th game.
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