HOCKESSIN — The top-ranked Padua Pandas found themselves trailing in a soccer match for the first time since March 30 in their soccer showdown with No. 2 Appoquinimink on May 3. The Pandas responded, however, on the strength of a hat trick from Brieana Hallo to win, 4-1, at Hockessin Soccer Club.
The Lady Jaguars struck first in the fourth minute when Olivia Stephen hit the perfect through ball to send Sydney Carr in on a breakaway to give them a 1-0 lead. The Pandas did what great teams do and answered in the fifth minute. Morgan Dawson sent a high ball in, and it was headed in by Sophia Marini to tie the game.
The goalkeepers took center stage in the next 15 minutes as Pandas keeper Colleen McClintock made a great save on a shot by Carr in the 14th minute. Then the Lady Jags’ Sydney Iredell made two diving stops in the 22nd minute to keep the score deadlocked at 1.
In the 27th minute, the Pandas were awarded a free kick from about 50 yards out. Hallo sent a booming kick into the upper right-hand corner of the net just over the leaping Iredell to make it 2-1. Then, in the 39th, the Pandas were awarded a penalty kick, and Hallo got the ball just past a diving Iredell to make it 3-1 at the half.
The Lady Jaguars tried to cut the lead in half in the first 10 minutes of the second half, but McClintock made a stop, and a couple free kicks sailed over the goal. Hallo would get her hat trick goal in the 59th minute on a 40-yard free kick as Lady Jags keeper Isabella Mazzone got a piece of it, but it trickled across the goal line.
The Pandas outshot the Jags, 20-9, but only had a 5-3 advantage on corner kicks. They improved to 10-0 and travel to the Division II’s second-ranked Saint Mark’s on Wednesday at 3:45 p.m.
The Lady Jaguars (9-3) will travel to St. Georges Tech on Wednesday for 3:45 p.m. start.
All photos by Jason Winchell.
