In the battle of soccer titans, Bishop O’Connell defeated Good Counsel 4-0 in the girls’ 2003 WCAC soccer championship. The title clash was played Nov. 8 at Montgomery Soccer Complex under the lights in bone-chilling temperatures.

The Knights, coached by veteran Alberto Starace, improved to 19-1 overall on the season and avenged their lone setback of the season — a 2-1 loss to the Falcons exactly one week earlier.

"We were very focused for this game tonight," said Starace.

Good Counsel, coached by veteran Jim Bruno, concluded the current campaign with a 20-1 overall record. O’Connell entered the title game as the Washington Post’s second ranked team. Good Counsel was ranked number one.

Junior striker L.B. Puglisi started off the Knights scoring barrage. Puglisi, who scored all three goals in the Knights’ 3-0 semifinal win versus Ireton on Nov. 7, booted in the game winner versus Good Counsel.

"There were about 20 minutes remaining in the first half. I dribbled in and beat the Good Counsel keeper to her left from about eight yards out. Mick (Imgram) assisted," said Puglisi.

Sophomore Sarah Fening was the Knights other starting striker during the contest.

"The field at the Montgomery Complex was very big. We’ve got a lot of players on this team that know how to score. The bigger the field, the tougher we are to stop," said Starace.

Late in the first half, junior defender/midfielder Amanda Dabbenigno beat the Falcon keeper to essentially put the exclamation point on the contest.

"Mick (Imgram) passed it to me on the ground. Their keeper and their defenders were to the right side. I hit it left-footed from about 18 yards out and beat her to the left side," said Dabbenigno.

The suspense was essentially over at halftime for the 400 fans in attendance. The Falcons had controlled approximately 40 percent of the first half action, whereas the Knights had controlled approximately 60 percent.

Starace was so confident that his team was in control that he removed standout junior goalkeeper Ariel Baniowski at halftime and played freshman backup keeper Aly Pont the entire second half.

"Last Saturday, when we lost to Good Counsel in the regular season finale, we were kind of tired, but tonight we were rested and we were very intense. Our defenders played very well tonight and they played deeper, which also helped," said Baniowski.

Early in the second half, Good Counsel unloaded two hard shots but the Knight defenders Lauren Kelly, Jeanne Neal, Melissa Toulouse and Dabbenigno came up with big defensive stops.

The Falcons also unloaded a blistering shot and a corner kick with 29 and 28 minutes remaining. The former was wide left and the Knight defenders cleared the latter.

With 25 minutes remaining, Knight standout junior midfielder Mick Imgram settled the ball and blasted a right footed torpedo shot from 35 yards out. The blast found the top of the net and beat the Falcons keeper to make the tally 3-0.

"I wanted to dedicate this game to my brother. He wasn’t able to make the game. I wanted to play my best tonight with him in mind," said Imgram.

As well as the Knights were playing, a miracle would have been required to conceivably get the Falcons back into the game. Starace substituted liberally during the game’s final 25 minutes. One sub, freshman striker Liz Carroll, nearly scored with 14 minutes remaining but the Falcon keeper made an excellent save. However, with 10:55 remaining, Carroll unloaded a hard shot that found the top of the net making the final score 4-0 and the O’Connell celebration was on. Combined with a 9-0 thrashing of Elizabeth Seton in the quarterfinals and the 3-0 win vs. Ireton in the semis, the Knights outscored their postseason opponents 16-0.

With time running down in the game, senior midfielder Nataly Arias barely missed scoring the Knights’ fifth goal by inches. Arias is one of only three seniors on the team, along with Kerry O’Keefe and Cara Iorianni.

Arias and Imgram were the Knights inside midfielders. O’Keefe and junior Cassidy Burton were the outside midfielders.

"We worked real well as a team tonight. We passed the ball well. Defensively, we really pressured them," said O’Keefe.

"Our strength is ball control. The girls did that very well tonight," said O’Connell assistant coach Tim Lucas.

"This may be my best team of all time. When the girls stepped on the field this year, they showed people that they really know how to play. There are many weapons on this current team," said Starace.

The Knights scored nearly 120 goals this season in 20 games. The team’s offensive production was led by Arias - 30 goals, Puglisi - 25, Imgram - 18, Carroll - 13, and Dabbenigno and Fening - nine each.