Danielle Toes #19 Swarthmore to Win
WESTMINSTER, Mary. -Swarthmore senior Danielle Tocchet (West Point, N.Y. / James I. O'Neill) scored the lone goal as the 19th-ranked Garnet women's soccer team remained undefeated with a 1-0 win at McDaniel in Centennial Conference action Saturday afternoon.
Swarthmore improves to 7-0 overall and 3-0 in the Centennial while the Green Terror slip to 1-8 overall and 1-2 in the Conference. Swarthmore is 14-1-1 in the past two Septembers, its only defeat coming at the hands of Gettysburg on Sept. 24, 2006.
Tocchet, a team captain, took advantage of a poor clear by the McDaniel defense in the early minutes of the game. The senior was running up the left flank as Swarthmore All-Centennial midfielder Maggie DeLorme '10 (Lusby, Mary. / Patuxent) sent in a beautiful cross from the right sideline. The ball glanced off a McDaniel defender and Tocchet never broke stride, out-racing the charging Green Terror goalie. Tocchet arrived a split-second earlier and sent a chip into the upper-right corner at 2:32 for her team-leading fourth goal of the season.
The Garnet defense limited McDaniel to just three shots on the day for the team's sixth shut-out of the season. Freshman defenders Laura Bolger (Centerport, N.Y. / Harborfields) and Sarah Reece (Manhattan Beach, Calif. / Mira Costa) provided strong play along the backline, helping junior goalkeeper Lauren Walker (Fallston, Mary. / The Hotchkiss School) pick up her 14th career shut-out. DeLorme continued to control play in the midfield for the Swarthmore women, getting to a majority of the balls in the air.
Swarthmore returns home to Clothier Field on Wednesday night for an 8:00 p.m. contest against defending conference champion Johns Hopkins. The game is the much-anticipated re-match of the 2006 Centennial Conference Championship game--the Blue Jays won 1-0 to claim their second consecutive title.