High School Soccer:
Lady Vikings Edge Out Cherry Hill East 1-0

Monday, October 19, 1998

By Forrest Robleto
SJSports Staff Writer

In a game which featured some terrific individual matchups and extremely well matched teams, Eastern squeezed out an almost impossible goal to give the first place Vikings a win over the previously unbeaten Cougars of Cherry Hill East. Some of the best matchups on the field were Cherry Hill's Christy Madden against Eastern's Jessica DiSabatino and Eastern's Courtney McCrudden against Cherry Hill's Jesse Naumann, while in the middle Rhea Campbell and Merideth Sobel matched up.

As the game started, McCrudden brought the ball all the way down for Eastern and was way out in front of everyone. Naumann caught her and drove the ball out of bounds. McCrudden got the corner kick but Eastern couldn't do much with it. Eastern had a nice shot off a corner, but Lisa Ceril just missed the top of the net. Cherry Hill played a no nonsense defense. Every time the ball got anywhere near the goal, East just blasted it off the field, not even looking for a place to pass it up. Naumann was playing a fine defensive game but she really had her hands full with McCrudden. Brynn Saunders went down in a collision with Julia Girman but it didn't appear that Girman even knew she hit anyone. The game was one terrific one-on-one battle after another.

Christy Madden did a nice job of bringing it down the left side, but she was nose to nose with Eastern's Jessica DiSabatino all the way. DiSabitino did a real nice job, finally taking the ball away from Madden and got a shot in on Snyder that she handled easily. East put some pressure on the Lady Vikings when Christy Madden made a real good shot that Allison Shelly dove to cover.

Eastern switched goal tenders, with Jaclyn Shields replacing Allison Shelley. At the half, there was still no score and the shots were four to three in favor of Cherry Hill. The play in the first half appeared to be mostly in Cherry Hill's end, but the Cougars had the better chances when they got in Eastern's end. Both teams started out the second half strong with really good shots on the net, but each one would be turned away. Finally at 10:26 of the second period, Jenna Merriam crossed the ball to Courtney McCrudden, who threaded a header at an impossible angle between the post and Carolyn Snyder's legs for the winner. Eastern would hold off Cherry Hill to preserve the win.

Photos by Forrest Robleto