Women's Soccer Earns First Victory of the Season

Thursday. Forward Tamara Johnson led the Hawks in scoring with a hat trick, scoring two of her three goals in the first half. 

The Hawks came out aggressive in the first half, thanks to Johnson's two quick goals. Despite a 2-0 lead, Duron felt the Hawks could have played a better half of soccer.

 "There were things that the girls were doing right," said Duron, "but there were some mistakes that were made that needed to be fixed. The girls did a good job a halftime noticing their mistakes and how we would make adjustments going into the second half."

Duron felt that the Hawks' aggressive play in the first half was an issue. While focusing on attacking the net at will can win a team games, Duron instead wanted to run a motion offense; which consists of moving the ball around in their offensive sets to create opportunities to score. While playing aggressive and attacking the opposition is good, there were times where this strategy left the Hawks midfield vulnerable for Patrick Henry College to take advantage of and score off these opportunities.

In the second half, after making adjustments at halftime, the Hawks were able to play a better brand of soccer. Four of their six goals were scored in the second half due to the girls moving the ball effectively in the offensive zone, finding the right player in scoring position to execute a goal.  Karleigh Cohen led the Hawks with 11 shots, four of them on goal, scoring twice and added an assist. Maurizia Gianan added a goal in the second half, finishing with four shots and one on net. Of the six goals scored in the game, the Hawks had assists on four of them. The Hawks' 35 shots, 12 of them were on goal, with 50% of their shots on goal going through the net. Their second half was much more efficient, as three of their four goals scored were assisted.   

The Hawks look to continue success this Saturday at the CCBC Catonsville.