O'Connell Girls Win Soccer Crown

By David Steinbacher
Special to the HERALD
(From the issue of 11/28/02)

The Bishop O’Connell Knights were crowned 2002 Washington Catholic Athletic Conference (WCAC) champions after securing a 2-0 win versus Good Counsel. The game was played Nov. 21 at Paul VI High School in Fairfax.

The Knights and Falcons have been nemesis for nearly the past decade. The "Royal Blue and Silver" scored a late goal in each half to prevail.

Sophomore striker L.B. Puglisi put O’Connell in the driver’s seat with a late first half goal. She knocked in shot from 15 yards out. It was a hard grounder that beat Falcon goalkeeper to the right and found the corner of the net.

"We cleared the ball," said Puglisi. "They missed their opportunity at it. I ran onto the ball and put it away. Our offensive game plan was to wait until they committed and then to play the ball through the seams."

"They took away some of our quick passing and clogged the middle," said O’Connell Head Coach Alberto Starace. "We did our best to break the zones and get into the seams tonight."

O’Connell put the exclamation point on the contest when sophomore mid-fielder Amanda Dabbenigno scored a late second-half goal for the final 2-0 victory.

Dabbenigno, with an assist from defender Kerry Philbin, scored from 10 yards out as she angled in a shot toward the corner of the post.

"Kerry made a real good cross," Dabbenigno said. "I ran onto the ball and put it in. "This was an intense, high pressure game."

"Our defensive game plan was to mark their players real well and to keep the ball out of the box. Give credit to sweeper Lauren Kelly, stopper Elizabeth Muldoon and defenders Melissa Toulouse and Kerry Philbin," said sophomore goalkeeper Ariel Baniowski.

"Our offensive game plan was the run through the seams. We wanted to play as a team, to move the ball fast and to take shots from the outside," said junior midfielder Nataly Arias.

"It feels good for the seniors to finally leave with a championship," said Puglisi. The Knights lost to Ireton in the semifinals last year 1-0 and to Good Counsel in the finals in both 2000 and 1999.

"We knew it was going to be a fast paced game tonight," said Starace. "We were physical when we needed to be and our kids worked well together tonight."

The Knights finished with an overall record of 14-2 and were ranked first in the Washington area.

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