Friends Girls Soccer Easily Tops Lutheran

Taking advantage of a break in the rain, the Friends School girls soccer team caused a deluge of a different type, besting Baltimore Lutheran 6-0 in a friendly soccer match at Friends on Thursday.

It is the second win of the early season for the Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland (IAAM) B conference team. The Lady Quakers topped IAAM A conference Mt. de Sales 1-0 on Tuesday for their first win of the year.

Sophomore midfielder Eliza Harris and senior Laney Mathias each scored two first-half goals for Friends, with Grace Hand and Amy Lieber netting goals in the second half. Harris, Ella Cooper and Mia Mangione each had an assist.

The Lady Quakers dominated the action, rarely allowing the IAAM C conference Saints an offensive surge. Friends keeper Rachel Kehoe did not touch the ball for the first 34 minutes, and then it was only to pick up a harmless ground ball. The freshman had several touches in the second half, yet none were threatening.

Friends lit the scoreboard less than 19 minutes into play when Harris took a feed from Mangione and hit the left side of the net from 15 yards. Less than two minutes later, she out-dueled a Saint for a loose ball and drove the ball home from about 18 yards. With a little more than six minutes left in the half, Mathias scored her first goal with a lofty shot from about 20 yards that tipped off the top of the fingers of Saints keeper Lizz Bott. A right-to-left cross from Cooper to Mathias closed the first half scoring with 4:17 left to play.

Harris passed to Hand on another right-to-left cross 15 minutes into the second half for the fifth Lady Quaker tally. Lieber collected a loose ball and hit from 20 yards for the final goal of the game with a little more than 14 minutes left.

“I really wanted our defense to start developing more of a chemistry, and I feel like we did that today,” Friends coach Nick Gill said in a post-game interview. “We have a freshman starting at outside back [Kailie Saudek], a new pair starting at center back [seniors Emma Sissman and Sarah Wallack] and we have a sophomore [Mackenzie Gerrity] at the other outside back.”

Gill also praised the play of Harris, who moved to midfield this year after patrolling at center back last season.

“She really drove us on throughout the game—she was constantly working 18 to 18,” Gill said. “I couldn’t ask anything more out of her today.”

With only one more tune-up before conference play begins on September 14, Gill looks for the Lady Quakers to be one of five teams in the mix for the B conference title. He cited Bryn Mawr, Severn, St. Paul’s School for Girls and Roland Park Country School as the top teams in the league.

“We have the talent and the depth this year to be competitive with any team in the league,” Gill said. “I would put Bryn Mawr up in front of everybody and those four teams close behind.”

Friends plays IAAM A conference Maryvale on Monday at home, then opens league play at Anne Arundel Christian on Wednesday.