Karlins' Goal Lifts South Windsor Over East Catholic

Buoyed by good news about two of its favorite teachers, the South Windsor High girls soccer team defeated East Catholic 1-0 on in Manchester Thursday afternoon.

Rebecca Karlins scored off a feed from Tori Russo in the 13th minute to provide the game’s only goal, though there certainly could have been more based on the Bobcats’ play in the first 40 minutes.

“I thought we played real well in the first half,” South Windsor head coach Ed Duclos said. “We created incredibly well. We did much better with our diagonal runs and we’re really starting to move the ball a little bit better. We’re playing the possession game that we wanted to. To be up 1-0, I thought it would be two.”

The Bobcats (11-1) had the better chances throughout the game, though South Windsor native Kelly McKenna nearly equalized for the Eagles in the 28th minute. McKenna, who terrorized South Windsor repeatedly with her runs down the left side all afternoon, had a shot cross the goal mouth and ring the outside post.

“They had that one great opportunity in the first half and we got it cleared,” Duclos said. “The back four played really well and Hanna [Basile] did a nice job.”

Basile had four saves to earn the clean sheet, the Bobcats’ seventh of the year and fourth in the last five games. While not as stingy as last year, South Windsor has yielded just six goals in 12 games, three of which came in one game courtesy of Glastonbury.

The Eagles, who were without three starters, fell to 7-3-2 on the year.

“We beat a quality team, there’s no question about it,” Duclos said.