Spalding and Good Counsel Battle to Scoreless Tie in Girls' Soccer Match

A regulation soccer goal post is all of five inches wide, but as Courtney Hoyes, the leading scorer for No. 1 Archbishop Spalding, watched her shot glide toward the goalmouth in the Cavaliers' nonconference showdown with No. 3 Good Counsel on Wednesday night, it might as well have been a mile.

The shot, which came with just more than four minutes remaining in the game, careened off that dreaded piece of aluminum and rolled harmlessly out of bounds, cementing a 0-0 tie between two of the area's premier girls' soccer programs.

"Any kind of break, that ball is in," Spalding Coach Bob Dieterle said after his team registered its first non-win of the season. "It's just by the grace of God we didn't score."

Ranked as the top girls' soccer team in the country by some publications, the Cavaliers have had a relatively small margin of error in compiling a 10-0-1 record. Spalding has won three overtime games and been a part of several other close calls already this year, with less talented opponents packing it in the defensive end.

"Every team just wants to tie us," explained Hoyes.

Good Counsel would disagree. The Falcons controlled large portions of Wednesday night's game, with the duo of Crystal Koczot and Alexis Prada the main catalysts in the midfield. But they generated few legitimate scoring chances through the game's first 65 minutes, and Spalding took advantage latter.

Its late-arriving aggression created perhaps the contest's most exciting moment. With 17 minutes remaining, the Cavaliers' Michelle Boivin executed a nifty move around a Good Counsel defender to get inside the penalty box before centering right to the feet of teammate Emily Brydon in front of the net.

Standing a mere three feet away was Good Counsel goalkeeper Alecia Dennis, who up until that point had seen just one shot all game. Dennis guessed correctly on Brydon's point-blank shot and stopped the potential game-winner.

"I was scared there," Good Counsel Coach Jim Bruno said after his team's defensive breakdown led to the chance. "Goalies are at the mercy of the other players . . . and sometimes the post, too."

Notes: Spalding goalkeeper Jocelyn McCoy has given up a goal just once in her past 25 appearances dating back to last season. The junior has allowed just 14 goals in 42 career games. . . .

The result was Good Counsel's third tie in a row, but the Falcons have not given up a legitimate goal during that time. In its two prior games, the only goals the team allowed came on penalty kicks.