Cavs converge for amazing run at unbeaten girls soccer season

Twenty-seven players converged into one pile in front of the goal, with smiles stretched across faces, arms raised in triumph and high-pitched screams echoing deep into the Finksburg air.

This wasn't just a celebration for Archbishop Spalding. It was a release.

The Cavaliers completed a three-month stretch of defending the targets on their backs by blending consistent work and overpowering skill to translate into a near-perfect season and a second consecutive Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland A Conference soccer championship.

"We earned it," Cavaliers coach Bob Dieterle said.

Archbishop Spalding (20-0-1), which recorded the program's first 20-win season with a 2-0 victory over Mercy in Sunday's final, found itself ranked fourth in the nation by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America.

It's not hard to see why.

Whether on defense or offense, the Cavaliers almost always came out one - if not more - step ahead of the opposition and were a 0-0 tie with Good Counsel away from being, presumably, the top team in the country.

"I feel like we all are amazing, and we all know how to play together," said Courtney Hoyes, who scored four of her 16 goals during the first two postseason games. "There's going to be times where some of us make mistakes, but as a team, we play well."

Spalding routinely silenced those staring back, while pulling away in a fluid motion. Eighteen Cavaliers scored - the last was two-game veteran Mo Ostrowski late in the final - to form a balanced attack that outscored the opposition, 77-6.

Maggie Morrison, the author of a title-clinching bender past Mercy's Rachel Bourne, collected team-highs with 18 goals and 10 assists, and she paired with Hoyes to dismantle the opposing defenses - especially during the postseason.

The two scored twice against St. Mary's in the opener, and Hoyes saved the Cavaliers with a goal six seconds away from elimination against John Carroll and again in the second overtime.

"Every game, me and Courtney come in and say, 'Come on. Let's go. Let's play. Whatever happens, happens,'" said Morrison, who fed Hoyes on the game-winner in the 97th minute. "We're very supportive, so whoever can put one in puts one it, and we're all happy."

Morrison and Hoyes - who each delivered six game-winners - turned out to be a winning combination for a team that, for the first time in five years, lacked an offensive player who struck instant fear in a defense.

"We don't have a Christine Nairn or an Erica Paige anymore," said Olivia Tomoff, one of four returning players who formed a near-impenetrable defensive unit. "Courtney and Maggie really stepped up and got us goals; same with our outside midfielders and center midfielders. … We were a lot more team-oriented because we didn't have that one person to look up to to give us the win."

They still got the wins, though, largely because of that back unit.

Jocelyn McCoy, who's doing her best to usurp Karen Blocker's place as the program's best goalkeeper, recorded 16 shutouts. It hasn't been easy, but it certainly could have been more challenging. Thanks to the other 10 players on the field, McCoy didn't even field a shot from Mercy.

With Tomoff, Kirsten Frank, Dani Beard and Michelle Boivin patrolling the back, McCoy stopped 69 of the 73 shots on goal and let one through - on average - once every 397 minutes, 29 seconds.

"I'm sure Jocelyn would say we make her job easier, but it's definitely the goalie, too," Frank said. "Jocelyn, especially this year, really stepped it up."

With that schedule, the entire team needed to elevate its game.

Archbishop Spalding, with top billing during a two-week stretch in September, played and beat McDonogh (13-2) - ranked as high as seventh in the nation - Notre Dame Prep (11-3-1), Mercy (12-5-3) and John Carroll (12-6-2) twice just in its own conference.

Add in games against Washington Catholic Athletic Conference champion Good Counsel (14-2-5) and public schools Severna Park (13-3), 15-1 prior to forfeiting two games, South River (14-2) and perennial contenders Glenelg and Eastern Tech - with seven state titles and 11 finals appearances since 1997 between them - and it's easy to comprehend that emotional release.

"It's tough to win from beginning to end because everyone's coming to get you," said Dieterle, who calls this team the best he's coached in eight seasons. "You're going to get everyone's best game. Over the season, it's hard to keep everyone at that level."

Even so, Archbishop Spalding was able to maintain. The Cavaliers were pressed into overtime on four occasions, and each time, they walked off the field coated in victory.

Had Hoyes' late shot against Good Counsel not hit the left post, a No. 1 ranking would be an afterthought.

"This team has been so good this year," said McCoy, owner of 30 shutouts in two years as a starter. "We have so many good players. … When we play, we're all pumped up and focused, and that helps us win."

What began with a preseason retreat to Deep Creek Lake ended in a championship-sized celebration at Gerstell Academy - exactly how it was scripted.

"We're all just really comfortable with each other from practice and Deep Creek and years of playing with each other," Frank said. "When you're comfortable with someone, you just have more confidence and everyone meshes better."