Girls soccer: Cardinal Newman defeats Augusta Christian in state semifinal

The Cardinal Newman girls peppered the Augusta Christian goal incessantly in the first half of their SCISA 3A semifinal soccer showdown Thursday night.

The Cardinals wound up with nothing to show for it.

So when the team took the field after intermission, one thing was on Ayden Boatright’s and her teammates’ minds: put the ball into the net.

“I wanted it so bad, and I’ve been fighting so much to get here,” Boatright said. “I just put my all into it and I didn’t hesitate.”

She did in quick fashion, with two goals in the first eight minutes of the second half. Those goals clinched a a 2-1 victory against the Lions and returned Cardinal Newman to the SCISA 3A girls championship game.

“They have played so well against us in three games this season, and we struggled to score,” Cardinals coach Will Plexico said. “We’ve had great attacks, we kept the ball for a good bit, but our shots didn’t go in, and their keeper did a phenomenal job in all three games.”

Cardinal Newman (16-9-1) will face Ashley Hall at Heathwood Hall on Saturday at 10 a.m. Ashley Hall defeated Porter-Gaud 4-3 in PKs Thursday night.

The Cardinals are looking to put a 2-1 loss to Pinewood Prep in the final game last year out of their minds.

“We’re excited,” Plexico said. “We’ve been looking forward to that day since last year against Pinewood. The girls have been busting their tails for it. We hadn’t really talked about it – we’ve been taking it one game at a time since the season began, but now we can.”

Cardinal Newman outmaneuvered Augusta Christian (11-4-1) in the first half and took 17 shots.

Even so, the Cardinals came up empty. Plexico said he felt Boatright and teammate Caitlin Murphy weren’t doing enough to make a difference in the first half.

“At halftime, we kind of got on them about working a little harder and hitting those long shots,” Plexico said. “That first one she cracked was beautiful.”

Two minutes into the second half, Murphy launched a corner kick that landed near Boatright’s position in front of the left bar of the net. She kicked it away from Lions goalkeeper Keeley Marchant’s range and into the net to put the Cardinals up 1-0.

Six minutes later, Boatright got the ball about 30 yards in front of the net and kicked. The ball was out of reach for Marchant and bounced into the goal untouched.

From that point on, Cardinal Newman focused on ball control.

“We wanted to stay composed and keep the ball,” Boatright said. “We wanted to keep passing and not give it away.”

The Lions’ only break came just before the two-minute mark.

Augusta Christian’s Ivy Spratling was at midfield when the ball came her way. She booted in a goal from about 20 yards out. That score came too late for the Lions to make a difference.

Boatright said she’s focusing on Saturday, but she remembers the game against Pinewood Prep last year – and she remembers the loss.

“We went into that game, and they scored a goal, we scored a goal,” she said. “They scored right after that, and it was so disappointing.”

This time, Boatright said Cardinal Newman will be focused on finishing strong.

“We’re ready to go there and ready to give our all,” she said. “We’re not going to hold back.”

This story was originally published May 12, 2016 at 10:36 PM with the headline "Girls soccer: Cardinal Newman defeats Augusta Christian in state semifinal."