WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Catholic men's soccer team began its quest for yet another Landmark Conference championship at Carlini Field on Thursday night, welcoming in the six-seed Elizabethtown. The Cardinals used a strong hold on possession at shots to get out to a 2-0 lead early in the second half and hung on for a 2-1 win to send themselves to their fifth conference championship in the last six seasons.
After taking hold of the game after the first 15 minutes of action, the Cardinals finally broke through with the opening goal of the match 28 minutes into the half.
Holden Woodings delivered a cross right out in front of goal that was punched away by the Blue Jays keeper right into the path of
Liam Giblin. Off the volley, Giblin rifled a shot into the back of the net to put the Cardinals on top 1-0 with his first goal of the season.
Early into the second half, Catholic was able to create a cushion for itself with a second goal to double its lead. Woodings got through on the right side of the 18-yard box and lofted a cross high in the air for a teammate to run under.
Ryan Kelly made a run onto the end of the cross and headed a ball past the reach of the Elizabethtown goalie to also score his first goal of the season.
Just eight minutes later, the Blue Jays punched their way back into the match with a critical goal to swing momentum back in their favor. Hudson Peck set up AJ Sasso who was able to beat a diving
Owen Allegro to his right and cut the deficit in half, 2-1. It was the second goal Sasso has scored against the Cardinals this season.
The Cardinals were able to lock things down on the back end for the remainder of the match and prevent scoring opportunities for the Blue Jays to close out a 2-1 win to send them back to the conference championship. Catholic is now 2-2-1 versus Elizabethtown in conference tournament matchups all-time.
Kelly continued a run of great play in conference tournament matchups with the match-winning goal on Thursday. He now has three goals and two assists in Landmark tournament games. Giblin's goal was the first in the career of the senior defender. He and Kelly both now have one goal and three assists on the season. They become the 14th and 15th different goal scorers for Catholic this season.
Catholic will now try and capture its seventh conference championship on Saturday when they take on Juniata, who is the top seed in this year's tournament. The Cardinals are now 13-7-4 all-time in the Landmark Conference tournament and are making their 10th championship game appearance.
The match with Juniata will take place on Saturday, November 9 on the road. The Cardinals have only matched up with the Eagles one time in the conference tournament, in 2013 and Juniata came away with a 3-1 victory in the semi-final.
