ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
A win fit for a King
Patuxent senior nets four goals; girls soccer team tops Warriors
Staff photo by TIN NGUYEN
Patuxent forward Dana King scored all four goals in Thursday's 4-2 win over La Plata.
Anytime the ball was around Dana King, she made the most of her touches.
King was the offensive juggernaut for visiting Patuxent as it took on host La Plata on Thursday night in a Southern Maryland Athletic Conference girls soccer contest.
The senior striker scored all four of the Panthers goals, three in the second half alone, in a 4-2 victory.
“If it wasn’t for my teammates placing the ball in the right position for, I wouldn’t have scored,” King said. “I’ve scored three before in a game, but I never thought that I would score four. We got a couple new players from Leonardtown and our team chemistry is really good right now, we have a lot of seniors.”
It was the second-straight shutout for Patuxent (2-0, 2-0 SMAC), who defeated Great Mills, 6-0 in its season opener last Tuesday. The Panthers hosted McDonough on Tuesday night, a game that finished too late for inclusion into this edition, and will be at Westlake at 6 p.m. Friday.
In the last four meetings, Patuxent has won two out of the last three, with 2009 contest ending in a 2-2 tie in double overtime.
“We came out knowing that it was going to be a physical game with La Plata, it always is, but we kept our composure and took control in the second half,” Patuxent head coach Rico Aris said. “Dana King was a force tonight and she has uncanny scoring ability.”
The Warriors (0-3, 0-1) dropped two more games at the Bethesda tournament on Saturday, falling 3-1 to Mount Hebron of Howard County and Frederick, 4-3.
“No. 11 [King] used her speed and she was very electric and made things happen in the game tonight,” said La Plata head coach Kevin Barry, whose added that four starters got injured over the weekend. “Mentally, we weren’t there tonight; we got down early and couldn’t recover at times.”
With 24 minutes left in the game, Patuxent senior goalie Sharde Jackson knocked down a La Plata penalty kick that was kicked by junior Carson Painter, who finished with two goals in the game.
“I couldn’t let anything get by me,” Jackson said. “We knew La Plata has some scorers, but we didn’t leave any gaps and we marked up. We have a lot of seniors and we communicate well. This was a good win for us.”
Jackson finished with eight saves in the win.
“Sharde was awesome in the box, she saved some big shots for us,” Aris said.
In the first six minutes of the game, both teams traded goals. King connected on a left-footed goal past La Plata goalie Paige DeMent (9 saves) for the first goal and Painter answered with a goal of her own on an assist from junior Antonia Dean to tie the game up a 1, the eventual halftime score.
King opened the second half with a goal on a header from an assist from senior midfielder Samantha McGuigan.
After Painter tied things up with 18 minutes left, King connected on a shot just outside the 18-yard line.
King got loose again with less than eight minutes left and scored through traffic to cap off the night.
“I thought we possessed the ball well tonight and we had some chances, but we couldn’t stop Patuxent offensively,” Barry said. “Defensively, we have to tighten up. We have lot of work to do.”
La Plata took on visiting Westlake on Tuesday, a game that finished too late for inclusion into this edition, and be at Great Mills at 6 p.m. Thursday.
ajmason@somdnews.com
Patuxent 4, La Plata 2
Patuxent 1 3
La Plata 1 1
Goals: Patuxent (King 4), La Plata (Painter 2)
Saves: Patuxent (Jackson 8), La Plata (DeMent 9)