Determined Cougars Win Third Divisional Contest

FCC traveled to Catonsville and avenged last year's 3-2 by defeating Catonsville 4-1! The pivotal match up took the Cougars one step closer to qualifying for the divisional tournament. The team is one victory away from achieving its preseason goal of qualifying for the second straight year! 

Catonsville started the game with possessing the ball well but found it difficult to penetrate the determined team defending. FCC conceded 6 shots and 5 corners surviving a harried last 20 minutes of the first half. 

In the 37th minute, Manny Mejicanos (E. Roosevelt) delivered a well-placed pace down the center of the field to Gustavo Garcia (Gaithersburg) who received the ball near the mid line and outraced the CCBC defenders. Garcia calmly placed the ball passed the goalkeeper after the keeper collided with his own defender! FCC 1-0 at half!

At halftime, the coaches decided to make a tactical adjustment which would help offset the Cardinals CMF production. 

Garcia struck again in the 60th minute! Preston Windnagle (Linganore) threw the ball in to Mejicanos who flicked to Quincy Tyler (Damascus) who headed on target. The keeper boxed it out to a well-positioned Garcia who struck the ball home from 25 yards out! FCC 2-0!

Again, over all team defending still played a huge role in keeping the Cardinals attack in check. Goalkeeper Jacob Clements (Tuscarora) had to make a few simple saves and came up big with a solid parry over the crossbar!

Now it was Mejicanos turn to add to his overall goal tally as in the 61st minute an errant CCBC kick off was intercepted by Tyler who found Mejicanos. Manny finished from approximately 20 yards out from a difficult angle with pace!

The Cardinals would keep attacking as they totaled 7 shots and 4 corners in the second half. After a brief flurry in the FCC goal defender Sam Lian (Frederick) had to clear the ball of of the line. CCBC did pull a goal back in the 68th minute as keeper Jacob Clements misjudged a lofted shot. Clements would not concede another goal as he was decisive and dominated in the air until he was injured in the 85th as he collided with a hard challenging Cardinal. FCC 3-1

The scoring ended on the day when Lorenzo Bolanos (Tuscarora) chased down an ill-timed back pass to the opposing keeper. The keeper did reach the ball first however the cleared ball careened off of Bolanos's head back towards the Cardinal goal which bounced once and into the goal. Kudos to Lorenzo for always working hard!

The team had to adjust positions and the players responded well and executed our plan. I am very proud of this young group that gets after its opponent yet still defends well conceding only six goals in eight matches!

The team's next match is against the always solid Essex Knights. The Knights traditionally represent Region XX at Nationals and we will certainly be challenged. The kick-off is scheduled for 5:30 at FCC.