BELMONT — It wasn’t supposed to start or end the way it did.
On a raw, rainy Monday night, the No. 9 Central Catholic High girls’ soccer team’s 18-game unbeaten streak and more importantly season came to an abrupt end when No. 8 Belmont came away with a 2-0 victory in a Division 1 Round of 16 contest.
Belmont got things rolling early, scoring 99 seconds into the game.
“It’s very disappointing. We just said to the girls that tournament time you have to show up and play your best soccer and tonight was not our best performance,” said Central head coach Jami Hayden. “We got scored on early and I think that was a little bit of a mental break. Then we definitely had the momentum at times but we didn’t capitalize. That’s what it’s all about and unfortunately we got stopped tonight.”
Central’s (16-2-2) best bid to score came in the first half when Abigail Bilodeau took a long feed from Sarah Tressler, and raced to the loose ball, getting a foot on it but it was covered up by an aggressive Belmont goalie, Martha Dimas.
Belmont’s (16-2-2) Danica Zicha scored both goals, the first coming just 1:29 into the game and second just shy of the midway point of the second half.
“She’s a very good player. We did our best and we did our homework on her, then two minutes in she gets one,” said Hayden. “But hats off to (Belmont). They capitalized when they needed to and they’re a good team. I think if this was a different day, a different situation, we’d love to run it back and take them on again, but that’s the tournament and you just have one shot at it.”
The Eagle-Tribune will have more on Central’s season and bright future in Wednesday’s print edition.