Bryn Mawr Corners Friends in Soccer, 3-1

Erica Matz and Dani Hogarth were an unstoppable combination for the Bryn Mawr School in a soccer match against Friends School on Wednesday, as the two combined for all three goals in a 3-1 home win over the Quakers.

The victory clinches a third straight regular season Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland B conference title for Bryn Mawr.

The Matz-Hogarth duo successfully connected twice on second half corner kicks to break a 1-1 tie and lead the Mawrtians to victory.

“I have to give a lot of credit to Dani,” Matz said after the game. “She always gets them right on target, so I’m just there to finish them.”

Hogarth returned the praise.

“Today, we finally realized we need to start getting it off of corners,” she said.  “Erica had that on her mind and she finished off each corner.”

Mawrtian coach Tina Steck lauded the effort of both players.

“Erica has done a very good job of finishing on those balls a number of times for us this year,” Steck said.  “Dani has done a very good job of making sure that there’s a purpose behind her service.”

Quaker coach Nick Gill said there is a take-home message from the two scores.

“We have to get better on set pieces—they scored two goals off of the same play,” Gill said.  “We have to pick that up because that’s two goals we gave up on the same play so we need to learn from that.”

Bryn Mawr dominated play in the first half yet had to wait until the 38th minute to get on the scoreboard when Hogarth took a feed from Matz and punched a shot just inside the left post for a 1-0 lead.

The Quakers tied the score less than 10 minutes into the second half when Amy Lieber lofted a cross that took a high bounce and eluded the Bryn Mawr keeper.  Friends’ Abby Corkum flicked the ball into the net to knot to game at 1-all.

Then, less than three minutes later, Matz headed a neatly-placed corner feed past Quaker keeper Aislinn Cook to give Bryn Mawr the lead for good.  The combination struck again from the same right-of-goal setting with just more than five minutes left in the game when Matz deflected Hogarth’s corner feed with her foot and into the goal.

The victory keeps Bryn Mawr undefeated in conference play at 8-0; 10-4 overall.  Friends fell to 5-3 in conference and has an overall 10-3 record.