Girls' Varsity Soccer vs Miss Porter's School

Score/Result:

Taft’s Girls Varsity Soccer team played Miss Porter’s on the Katie Jackson Morrison ’92 Field on Wednesday, October 10^th.  Taft found a way to come out on top beating Miss Porter’s 6-2 advancing their record to 4 wins and 4 losses. 

Following fall long weekend, Taft came out of the locker room focused to play a physical team.  Taft moved the ball well as they concentrated on keeping possession of the ball.  An opportunity would present itself in the seventh minute of the game where Cecilia Sousa ’16 would earn her first career goal.  The play began as Teresa Mugica ’13 received a ball on the far left side of the field just beyond the 18-yard box.  Mugica would hit a cross that soared to the far post where Peyton Swift ’15 kept the ball in  play on the end line.  She slid the ball through the middle to Sousa for the finish.  Miss Porter’s had a quick response just a minute later where a long ball created disorganization in the backline allowing Miss Porter’s forward to capitalize.  To continue the scoring of the first half battle, Taft would find the back of the net for a second time by taking advantage of a corner kick.  Taylor Rado ’14 took the kick from the right side and placed it perfectly in the box to find the head of co-captain Katie McLaughlin ’13 who had a textbook cross-header finish.  Both teams would get a few more good offensive chances, but the match entered halftime with the Rhino’s leading 2-1 over Miss Porter’s.

The challenge of the second half would be to focus through an entire play and continue to find the back of the net. In the first 10 minutes of the half Miss Porter’s had two promising opportunities, but goalkeeper Madie Leidt ’16 made some great saves aggressively coming out of her box and challenging the angles of outside shots.  Taft would earn their third goal in the 25^th minute of the half that began with junior Rachel Muskin, who skillfully brought the ball from center field into Taft’s offensive third.  She found the feet of Rado as she checked to the ball and quickly passed to Swift.  Swift struck a low, hard shot that found the net after a bounce.  Although down two goals, Miss Porter’s continued to fight and play a relentless style of soccer.  It would pay off a little under twenty minutes of the half when they scored their second goal once again closing the gap.  With eight minutes left in the game, Taft’s offense would get a jolt from striker Shelby Meckstroth ’13 who would earn her second hat trick this season.  The first came from a corner kick on the right side taken by Rado, who found Muskin on the far back post. Muskin did a great job at keeping the ball in play and crossed to Iliana Smith ’15. Smith earned her first assist of the season as she popped a volley to Meckstroth in the middle for a one-touch finish.  Meckstroth would continue her momentum and just two minutes later, she’d accomplish goal number two.  From the middle of the field Swift changed the direction of attacked and fed the ball to Smith on the right wing.  Smith would again find Meckstroth as she made a fun just beyond the 18-yard line.  Her shot was powerful and found the net after striking the right post. To conclude the day, Meckstroth received a throw from Izzy Stack ’14 had a quick turn and a rocket of a shot over the keeper’s head.  The backline composed of Emma Gill ’16, Natalie Whiting ’14, Rosey Oppenheim ‘14 and Lizzi Pelletier ’13 did a great job defending and allowing Taft to keep offensive possession. Up top, Catherine Kahler ’16 put a great amount of pressure on the defense of Miss Porter’s and contested many passes. The win was a great team effort and had contributions from all the members wearing a Taft jersey.

Taft will travel to Wallingford, CT on Saturday to challenge Choate Rosemary at 2:30 PM.