On a beautiful day in late October – sunny and in the high 50’s – Taft welcomed Kent on Parents’ Weekend. While the buzz around campus is a break from routine it also brought out the best in the Rhinos. Crisp passing and execution of details, especially in the second half, led to goal scoring opportunities in a variety of different ways, in different areas of the field, for different Taft players. The Big Red put in a quality performance from start to finish to earn a 9-0 win. Taft started the day on the correct foot and pinned Kent early in their defensive half. To lead off the scoring, Patience Kum ’21 settled a ball near midfield, carried up through three different Kent layers of defense and slid a ball through to Susanna Adams ’22 for her first of the day. It was a great bit of skill from Kum on the dribble and a calm finish from Adams. Kum would add one of her own less than 10 minutes later. Angelica Megdanis ’23 one-timed a Kent clearance to Paton Roberts ’21. Roberts took space and played Kum through on the visiting goalie. Kum tucked the ball in the side netting for a 2-0 lead. Adams and Kum would connect immediately after the second goal. A beautiful through ball from Laura Malle ’22 gained space up the field. Kum would collect an errant pass in the Kent back line, beat the defenders to the touch line and find Adams streaking down the center for a one-time shot to put Taft up 3-0 at halftime. The second half picked up immediately when the Big Red scored in the first minute of the half. Off of an Adams corner, the ball would land with Malle, who moved to the endline and put in a chip. Co-Captain Elly MacKay ’20 laid the ball off to Roberts who smashed home the fourth goal for the Rhinos. Adams would finish her hat trick in the 51st minute when Roberts played a ball through after a gorgeous build up that went from Amanda Graziano ’21 to MacKay to Kum to Piper Desorcie ’20 to Malle to Roberts to Adams and went forward, back, wing to wing, forward, and then through. Adams capped off a great team possession and team goal. Graziano would add one of her own when she hammered in a ‘goal-of-the-year’ entry. Caroline Messer ’22 continued her fine form when she played herself to the corner and beat the Kent defender to the endline. After Messer’s dangerous cross, a melee in front of the Kent net resulted in a floating ball wide but still in the box. Graziano struck the volley without hesitation and put it straight to side-netting on a dipping rip. Sam Ouellette ’21 would score the first two goals of her Taft career next. The first came off a punt from Eliza Ford ’22 was collected and advanced by Kum. Ouellette found a gap inside, received the pass, and struck home a shot from outside the box. She added her second just five minutes later when a pass from Megdanis, who won a tough 50-50 ball in the center and beat two Kent players off the dribble, played Ouellette into the corner of the box. With a fine bit of technique, Ouellette curled the ball to the far post around the Kent netminder. Messer would cap the scoring when Halle Wagner ’20 found an opening off a throw in to Megdanis who chipped the ball to the corner. Messer carried the ball well and cut inside her defender leaving her 1 on 1 with the goalie and slid home her first goal of the season to end the scoring at 9-0 for Taft. Scoring goals is great but Taft scored team goals against their visitors on the day. 7 of Taft’s 9 goals were assisted and many came off of 7+ pass possessions. Taft’s defense stymied every Kent attack before it got to dangerous positions for goalkeepers Ford and Maria Hogenkamp ’23 to deal with, needing only one save on the day. Alex Prezzioti ’21, Piper Desorcie ’20, Kristina Cornelio ’20, Hannah Travelstead ’23, Kate Vermylen ’21 all help shore up the back line. While Wagner, Taylor Adduci ’22, Kyra McNerney ’20, and Precious Novidzro ‘23 did not show up on the stat line, their involvement in attacks led to goal-scoring opportunities for others. It was a complete team win for the Big Red and all contributed from start to finish for the W in front of their parents. Before the game, the team spoke about the support from their Parents. Yes, it is just another soccer game but the team wanted to play for those that have supported them along their athletic and personal journeys to get to this point. Thank you, Parents, for all the support of the team, this program, the coaches, and (of course) your daughters. Coach Wolff and I are truly fortunate to be able to work with this group of players and their parents. We look forward to the remaining few games on the schedule and ending this season on a high note. Taft takes to the field again on Wednesday as they travel to Westminster on what should be a wet day. Kickoff will be at 3:00pm. Also a heads up to all Parents that Saturday will be our Senior Day. After our game against Ethel Walker, we will go inside the gym and celebrate this fantastic group of student-athletes and leaders. They have set a phenomenal tone for our season and made this year’s culture be themed around support, openness, and hard work. Congratulations to the class of 2020 and we hope all families, not just senior families, can attend on Saturday.