Girls' Soccer

Nat'l Cathedral Upsets Falcons On Notaro Goal
By B.J. Koubaroulis
Special to The Washington Post
Sunday, October 21, 2007; D05

During its pregame homecoming ceremony yesterday, members of National Cathedral School's coaching staff gave each senior flowers and a helium balloon that had a note tied to its ribbon.

The notes had scribbled messages from teammates, but one of those purple balloons escaped, and senior goalkeeper Katie Davis may never know what hers said.

But following National Cathedral's 3-2 win over fifth-ranked Good Counsel, the Eagles' message was clear.

"We can win against anyone," said freshman forward Camilla Notaro, who tapped in the Eagles' third goal of the second half 30 seconds before the final whistle to seal the comeback win.

"We were a lot more aggressive in the second half than in the first," said Notaro, whose team was outshot 4-0 in the first half, but responded with six shots on goal in the second. "Overtime would have been tricky. We didn't want to go to overtime."

It was the first meeting between National Cathedral (11-1, 6-1 Independent School League) and Good Counsel (14-4-1, 11-2-1 Washington Catholic Athletic Conference), both powers in their respective leagues. The teams have combined for 13 titles in two decades.

Good Counsel senior midfielder Katie Pecoraro scored her 12th goal of the season after she controlled junior defender Alex Stadnik's long send-in and converted a left-footed boot from 15 yards to give the Falcons a 1-0 lead in the seventh minute.

National Cathedral junior defender Libby Ulman headed home Larissa Bortz's free kick from the right corner to tie the game at 1 in the 43rd minute.

Twelve minutes later the Eagles took a 2-1 lead when junior forward Nicole Fossi pushed a leisurely shot into an open goal.

Good Counsel sophomore forward Crystal Koczot drilled an unassisted turn-around shot from 25 yards to tie the game in the 59th minute.

"I thought they controlled the aerial game, and we made mistakes," Good Counsel Coach Jim Bruno said. "This is perfect because their egos have gotten up so high, and maybe this will help us focus on what we have to do in the next few weeks."

National Cathedral 3, No. 5 Good Counsel 2 Last-Minute Changes: The matchup wasn't set until early September, when the Eagles' schedule opened up because Archbishop Carroll dropped varsity soccer because of a lack of participation. Kelly Absent : Good Counsel was without senior midfielder Lauren Kelly (eight goals, seven assists), who was on an official visit to Gardner-Webb University, where she recently orally committed to play soccer.