MC soccer girls score at will

Manassas Park Head Coach Richard Spagnolo said that his girls soccer team members are learning how to play together.

While they learn, lessons along the way may not be so kind, like the one Madison County gave them: how to score early and often.

Madison’s girls soccer team took immediate control of the April 21 match and scored at will en route to its 8-0 win and early stoppage.

Samantha Cubbage scored two goals and Katy Salmon, Rachel Strahan, Ashley Sealander, Lindsey Wheeler and Mariah Crigler each scored one, plus an own goal to complete the rout as Madison improved to 7-2-1 overall and 3-1 in the Bull Run District, while Manassas Park fell to 2-7, 1-2.

Things went so well that Madison was afforded the season’s first luxury of playing goalie Tori Puryear in the field.

With her teammates firing at will with 21 first-half shots on goal compared to just three for Manassas Park, which concluded with a 7-0 lead at the intermission, the junior keeper made the change to forward and Julia Craig came in to play in goal during the second half.

Puryear soon made her presence in the field known. She had four of the team’s nine second-half shots on goal and assisted in the team’s final score when Crigler connected from 10 yards out in the 56th minute.

Craig had one save but it was defender Ellie Hill who proved instrumental in preserving the shutout. Midway through the second half Craig came out to challenge a Manassas Park opponent but was soon out of position with Manassas Park set to shoot on an empty goal. Hill caught up with the player and stopped her attempted shot to preserve the shutout.

Madison played without the services of Ivy Jacobs, the team’s second-leading scorer, who was out of the lineup with an illness.

Cubbage, the team’s leading scorer, added two goals to her season total, which is 14, just two shy of last year’s total with six regular season games left to be played.

She scored the first of her two goals in the second minute on a header after she took a crossing pass from Sealander. Five minutes later the tandem hooked up again with Cubbage connecting from 18 yards out and in front of Manassas Park keeper, Jessica Trujillo.

In the 15th minute, Salmon took an assist from Craig and scored from 18 yards out to make it 3-0.

Sealander, who combines with Crigler to take the designated corner kicks, unveiled the art in the 17th minute and found Strahan in front of the box and she did the rest to make it 4-0.

Sealander scored the team’s fifth goal unassisted when she connected from 15 yards out during the 25th minute to make it 5-0. The own goal was scored in the 29th minute after Wheeler’s shot was deflected and a Manassas Park player inadvertently kicked it into its goal.

With four minutes remaining in the first half Wheeler put the finishing touches on the first-half rout when she scored on an unassisted play to make it 7-0.
In the second half, Crigler took the assist from Puryear and scored from 10 yards out during the 56th minute to make it 8-0 and the referee invoked the slaughter rule four minutes later.

It was the second time this season that Madison has forced an early end to a match. The girls defeated Rappahannock County by the same score on April 9.
In the match, Madison had 30 shots on goal and Manassas Park had just five. Trujillo was kept busy throughout and registered 15 saves.

Sealander now has a team-best 17 assists on the year followed by Cubbage with 7. Puryear has recorded 73 saves and allowed just 1.79 goals per game this season.

The match against Manassas Park was the only one played last week. The team was scheduled to play against Clarke County on Monday but due to rain the match was postponed to May 4.

Madison was scheduled to be in action this past Tuesday at Rappahannock and today (April 30) at home to Clarke County.