When defending Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference champion Calvert Hall visited John Carroll more than a month ago, the Patriots were primed to knock the Cardinals from their lofty perch as a team ranked third nationally by prepscoccer.com and No. 1 by the Baltimore Banner/VSN.
Because that soccer showdown, played in front of a large and enthusiastic crowd in Bel Air, ended in a 3-3 deadlock, it really didn’t settle which team might gain the upper hand entering a daunting 20-game league schedule.
Since then, both teams have held up well by boasting a combined 22-1-3 record coming into Wednesday’s rematch at Calvert Hall’s Paul Angelo Russo Stadium in Towson — with the second-ranked Patriots (11-2-2, 10-2-2 league) suffering the lone loss.
This time around, the Cardinals (14-0-1, 13-0-1) made sure the standoff in Bel Air would be the only blemish on their record before embarking on a trip to Cleveland this weekend to challenge St. Ignatius, currently ranked third nationally, behind Calvert Hall and St. Benedict’s by prepsoccer.com.
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Calvert Hall coach Rich Ziokand’s troops exploded for three goals in a torrid six-minute span of the second half and tacked on two more goals to secure a satisfying 5-1 victory.
The first half was played to a standstill as the teams gingerly probed for an opening to produce the all-important first goal.
Senior Cody Angelini and junior Franke Mattucci had the best opportunities for Calvert Hall to break through in the opening period while John Carroll’s Joshua Petty played a ball into Ryan Skandalis that the senior star launched into the side of the net to keep the match scoreless.
”The first half was really a feeling-out period,” Zinkand said. “We were just trying to figure each other out.”
Things changed quickly in the second half, with the Patriots getting the better of play and threatening to pull ahead on a blazing ground-hugging shot from Andrew Denard that was pushed wide on a diving stop by Calvert Hall senior keeper Nate Jones.
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Petty’s 8-yard attempt from an angle also skipped past the far post before the Cardinals picked up their play and went into full attack mode.
”We started to move the ball quicker,” Zinkand said.
Calvert Hall senior Penn State commit Ben Madore, who had just been denied on a terrific kick-save by John Carroll goalie Amir Smith, triggered the ensuing corner kick to junior Rocco Pastore for a header and a 1-0 advantage with 24:45 left in the final period.
Pastore said that he “missed badly” on a shot in the final seconds of the first game and was eager to make amends.
”I saw Ben and I went to the corner,” Pastore added. “I knew it would be a perfect ball in — and I found it.”
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”It was very important to score first and gain momentum,” Madore said. “When we’re clicking like that, we’re hard to stop.”
Just over three minutes later, senior Rich Monath took possession just inside the midfield line and hustled toward the goal with a convoy of Cardinals in tow.
Senior Cody Angelini finished the play on Mattucci’s pass as the Cardinals doubled the lead to 2-0 until Madore made it 3-0 shortly thereafter.
His perfectly-placed strike on a 30-yard direct kick traveled just over the Patriots’ defensive wall and sizzled above Smith’s outstretched arms and into the net for 3-0 cushion with 18:39 left in regulation.
A textbook fast break, executed flawlessly by senior Tyler Flynn (goal) and junior Ryan Henneman (assist) upped the margin to 4-0 in the 69th minute.
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To its credit, John Carroll kept fighting and came up with a goal by Christian Rugeli in the final minutes, which was answered on Madore’s second goal — and Henneman’s second assist — of the match with 58 seconds to go.
”We didn’t respond very well to their first goal,” John Carroll coach Jim Fendryk said. “While nobody wins a championship in October, they taught us a pretty good lesson today.”
NO. 1 CALVERT HALL 5, NO. 2 JOHN CARROLL 1
JC 0 1 — 1
CHC 0 5 — 5
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Goals: JC-Christian Rugel; CHC-Ben Madore 2, Rocco Pastore, Cody Angelini, Tyler Flynn.
Assists: CHC-Ryan Henneman 2, Ben Madore.
Saves:JC-Amir Smith 4; CHC-Nate Jones 3.
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