Ryken girls knock off national power

Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2006

But St. Mary’s Ryken knocked off St. John’s, 2-1, to shock the Washington, D.C., school.

‘‘I guess it was kind of like surreal,” said sophomore midfielder Jackie Blake-Hedges, who scored both of the Knights’ goals, ‘‘kind of like I was dreaming because, I mean, it’s St. John’s and they were first place last year and it was kind of just like I can’t believe this is happening.”

It was Blake-Hedges’ second goal with less than eight minutes to play in regulation that held up to be the game-winner.

‘‘It was amazing. This is what we’ve been waiting for,” senior midfielder Jan Taylor said. ‘‘The seniors, we’ve been waiting for this for four years just to come out and beat a team and we did it.”

Sophomore Erin Leddy allowed just the one goal that came in the 17th minute of the game.

‘‘It was crazy,” Leddy said of the ending. ‘‘We were all just hugging each other because it was, like, real and we just beat, like, a nationally ranked team so that was great.”

Leddy joined the team just more than two weeks ago.

‘‘I was asked to play in the summer and I came out for a tryout, but I was kind of busy with some other sports,” she said, ‘‘so one of the players asked me that they’re having a little rough season and she asked me to come out and play. I needed something to do. It was fun and I like it.”

For first-year coach Will Morris, Friday’s victory was more impressive than anything he accomplished in four seasons as Westlake’s coach.

‘‘This is a totally different level than SMAC and this team is phenomenal,” Morris said.

‘‘It’s come a long way with the new coach,” Taylor said of the program. ‘‘He’s a great attribute to our team so with his help we’ve all become more confident and more willing to go out there and give it our all.”

The win was only the fourth of the season for St. Mary’s Ryken (4-9, 2-8) and second in the WCAC. The Knights won just three games last season.

‘‘We have definitely improved a lot since our first scrimmage and this really proves that — to beat St. John’s,” Blake-Hedges said. ‘‘And we’re just working so much better as a team now and everything’s clicking.”

St. John’s struck first as Catherine DeHenzel beat Leddy. Three minutes later, sophomore forward Tosi Sanusi beat three defenders and was pulled down in the penalty box.

Blake-Hedges was given the penalty kick opportunity and she connected to tie the game.

‘‘[The goalie] didn’t even really look like she’d dive for it,” she said. ‘‘I just kind of put it in the corner and she didn’t get it.”

‘‘Tosi really created that one,” Morris said.

The game remained tied at 1 until Blake-Hedges gave St. Mary’s Ryken the lead for good in the 72nd minute. She beat a couple of St. John’s defenders and hit a rocket shot that went off the crossbar and into the goal.

‘‘I just took a shot from outside the 18 and the keeper tipped it and it went in,” Blake-Hedges said.

‘‘Jackie had kind of a stroke-of-brilliance moment there and scored a great goal,” Morris said. ‘‘And once that happened, we kind of packed it in and just have them come to us.”

When the final whistle blew, the players on the bench rushed the field and the girls hugged each other while the seniors were in tears.

‘‘We can compete with these teams,” Blake-Hedges said. ‘‘Last year, we were kind of not with them but this year definitely the big gap has been filled.”

St. Mary’s Ryken played without possibly its top player, sophomore Lauren Feusahrens, who has been out of the lineup due an illness the last few days.

E-mail Paul Watson at pwatson@somdnews.com.