Calvert Hall soccer coach Andy Moore was so mad after last Thursday's loss to Gilman that he didn't even want to want to talk to his own wife after the game.
But Tuesday, he was all smiles after the No. 8 Cardinals got back on track with a 3-1 win against John Carroll.
Calvert Hall (10-4-1) had won four in a row before its loss to the Greyhounds Oct. 21, including a 2-1 win at then-No. 2 McDonogh.
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"You go through a season in the [MIAA] A Conference and it's a roller-coaster ride," Moore said. "Every team has quality and is good enough to challenge you or beat you. But you've got to handle the ups and downs. We had to come back [Tuesday] and really respond to a poor performance and play with some energy. I think we did."
Star midfielder Zach Wenger, who had missed the previous two games with a head injury, got the Cardinals on the board just 10 minutes into the game. Ioannis Sariglou and Justin Breidenstein helped Calvert Hall pull away with goals in the second half.
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The Cardinals have scored three or more goals in four of their last six games.
"When they get chances, they finish them," John Carroll coach Jim Fendryk said. "We came out and pressured and they had a tough time adapting to it, but they finished when opportunities presented themselves."
Yet despite being outshot 15-3, the Patriots (2-12-0) kept the score close for most of the game. They tied the score at one just a minute into the second half when Danny Snee outworked Calvert Hall goalie John Dillon as well as two Cardinals defenders for a loose ball in the box and put the ball in the back of the net.
But Calvert Hall would pull away from there.
Sariglou scored on a free-kick from 25-yards out with 22 minutes left, perfectly placing a shot into the bottom corner of the goal. Justin Breidenstein put the game away with his first goal of the season just more than 15 minutes later.
"Winning today was big," Moore said. "You want to be playing well going to the playoffs. You want to be winning going into that second season."
The Cardinals close out their regular season Thursday at home against No. 7 Mount. St. Joseph (12-3-1), which beat Calvert Hall, 2-1, Oct. 5.
The Gaels have won four in a row and eight of their last nine.
