By PAUL GOTHAM
WEBSTER, N.Y. — Kent Brown knew what to expect Monday night.
Facing Our Lady of Mercy for the second time in less than three weeks, the Webster Schroeder coach understood that this match in late September could easily be mistaken for a late October matchup.
The Warriors coach didn’t miss the mark.
Stefanie Sellitto and Abby Herbst scored a goal apiece as Schroeder defeated Mercy, 2-0 in a non-league game.
“We told the kids ‘this is going to have more like a sectional feel to it, more like a semifinal game,’ ” Brown said. “It was a good game.”
Sellitto converted on a corner kick with 2:26 remaining in the first half.
Mercy possessed the ball and dictated play throughout much of the first half before Sellitto connected on her third goal of the season.
“We’re lucky,” Brown said. “Our defending’s strong. It saved our tails a couple times tonight. Mercy got numbers a bunch of times especially in the first half. They were dangerous.”
The two sides played to a one-all tie on September 11th. Mercy (4-3-0) had won three straight entering Monday’s match, outscoring opponents 11-1 during that recent stretch. Monday’s result was the first time the Monarchs had been shut out by an opposing Section V squad this season.
Stefanie Sellitto converts on the corner kick from Kendall Brown to give @Schroedersoccer a 1-0 lead heading into halftime. pic.twitter.com/BbeiTzzVB7
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) September 27, 2021
Schroeder (6-3-0) had won three straight before falling to Gates-Chili last Thursday.
Kendall Brown’s return to the Schroeder defense made an immediate impact, and Megan Fry stopped eight shots for the shutout, the Warriors fifth clean sheet of the season.
Kendall Brown and the @Schroedersoccer backline doing work. pic.twitter.com/uWCbVOpVqM
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) September 28, 2021
“Her and Megan really are comfortable playing with each other,” Brown said of his daughter and her teammate. “They sort of organize the defense. They’re tight friends. You can tell when that wasn’t there. Megan was off, and the defense was off.”
Kendall Brown thwarted Mercy on a handful of occasions during the match and the center back played a vital role in starting the Schroeder offense.
“She’s pretty confident at clearing the ball and driving the ball down the field,” the elder brown explained. “One of our soft spots has been trying to build out of the midfield. When she can drive it and get it to the other end and we can start defending on the other end of the field, that relieves a lot of pressure on our midfielders.
“We’re relatively young in the midfield except for Stephanie Sellitto. We play a lot of 10th graders and a ninth grader in the midfield, so you go against some of the stronger teams and sometimes struggle with the pace of play or the field so big get winded.”
It was Kendall’s corner kick from the left flag that Sellitto converted for the first Schroeder goal.
Herbst scored with 9:42 remaining in the game. Alyssa Doody set up the goal when she won a ball in the Mercy end and fed her teammate. Herbst needed one touch before connecting on a left-footed strike.
With less than three weeks remaining in the regular season, Schroeder holds the third seed in Class A1 with Mercy in the fourth spot.
Takeaway from Alyssa Doody sets up Abby Herbst for a strike form the 18. 9:42 remaining @Schroedersoccer 2-0 pic.twitter.com/7AQqiauneP
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) September 28, 2021
Schroeder travels to play at Penfield on Wednesday. A 6:30 p.m. start time is scheduled.
Mercy hosts St. Mary’s (VI) on Thursday for a 5 p.m. kick off.
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