The Bishop O'Connell Lady Knight Soccer Team improved to 6-2 overall on the season with convincing wins this week over McNamara (4-0) on Sept. 19 and Seton (3-0) on Sept. 20. The Knights are coached by Alberto Starace and Tim Lucas.

"We don't have any superstars on this team, but we're getting better with each game," said Starace.

Scoring for the Knights versus the McNamara Mustangs was junior forward Liz Carroll (pictured at right), sophomore "sweeper" Greer Drummond, sophomore midfielder Nathalie McAdams and sophomore midfielder Amber Dunlop. Carroll scored another goal against Seton on Wednesday.

On the season, O’Connell has defeated Georgetown Visitation 3-1 (Carroll - all three goals, senior midfielder Christy Francis - two assists and Drummond - one assist); Spalding, Md. 2-0 (freshman midfielder Danielle Corey - one goal/one assist and sophomore forward Brooke Chang - one goal/one assist); Paul VI 2-1 (Corey – one goal, Carroll - one goal and freshman defender Casey Philbin - one goal).

Both the 2-0 win versus Spalding as well as the 2-1 win versus Paul VI were during the McDonough, Md. Tournament.

The Knights other win thus far in the young season occurred Sept. 15 when they traveled to Fairfax and thumped WCAC rival Paul VI 5-1.

The Knights scored two quick goals in that contest. After the first eight minutes of the contest, O'Connell led 2-0 courtesy of early goals by junior midfielder Kika Toulouse (assisted by Philbin) as well as by Carroll (assisted by Chang).

"We've [midfielders] all done a good job this season balancing our offensive midfield play and our defensive midfield play," said Toulouse.

The next 32 minutes or so were scoreless. Both the Knights and the Panthers headed to intermission with the visitors from Arlington nursing a 2-0 lead.

Nine minutes into the second half, Carroll scored again with assists from both Chang and senior midfielder Marie Bernier.

Carroll's goal gave the Knights a 3-0 lead and essentially took the suspense out of the contest. Late O'Connell goals were scored by Carroll and Chang. The Paul VI goal was tallied by sophomore Kellie McKeever.

For the season, Carroll leads the O'Connell scoring brigade with nine goals. Other key players for the Knights this season include junior goalkeeper Aly Pont, senior "stopper" Bridget Ripa, senior defender Kathleen Moriarity, sophomore midfielder Katie Vogel, senior midfielder Courtney Beale, junior midfielder Alyssa Dabbenigno and senior "stopper" Katie Reynolds.

"Defensively, it is important for us make sure that the defense is organized and make sure that we communicate with one another," said Pont. Ripa and Francis are the Knights’ captains this season.

"Our chemistry is different than last season (when the Knights were very senior laden)," said Ripa. "We're learning to play with one another and we're starting to mesh well together."

The team’s only losses thus far include a 2-0 setback to Pennington School, N.J. (ranked #18 in the country) and a 1-0 setback to WCAC foe St. John’s.

"We didn't play real well as a team verus St. John’s," said Starace. "Perhaps that loss will prove to be beneficial down the road."

The veteran coach has won four CGAA (Catholic Girls Athletic Association) titles in past years and has won five WCAC Titles in recent years.

"Defensively this season we pressure the ball," he said. "Offensively this season we use the flanks and get as many players involved as possible. Our goal is to hopefully get back to the WCAC Title Game and to hopefully win it."