While other seniors were disappointed when senior retreat was postponed, senior Mel Lookingland and the other senior players on the varsity indoor soccer team considered it an act of God.
Senior retreat and the IAAM championship game had been scheduled for the same night, February 18 . As a result, six seniors, including Lookingland, would have been at the retreat, leaving the game in the hands of its non-senior members.
After winning 9-0 to St. Paul’s School for Girls on February 4, the team went up against Maryvale on February 15 for the IAAM semi-finals. The team had a rough start. Coach Gary Lynch blamed both the snow break and senior retreat for the team’s lack of focus. Either way, Maryvale scored three goals within the first fifteen minutes.
Senior Kara Fassio assisted Lookingland in JC’s only goal for the first half. Lynch said there were four steps to win the game, “Take over the momentum, hold Maryvale scoreless the second half, score early in the second half, and work simply to score one goal at a time.”
They accomplished exactly that.
Lookingland scored once more and senior Colleen O’Connell scored twice with Lookingland assisting with one of the goals. Sophomore Erica Bodt led the defense “allowing JC to pressure every ball without fear of making a mistake,” said Lynch.
The team faced one more challenge before the time ran out. With less than six minutes left, the team was penalized, forcing them to play with one less player for two minutes. JC pulled through with a 4-3 win.
However, the game didn’t end in celebration. “There was an elephant in the room,” said Lynch. Lynch could see the “feelings of uneasiness and disappointment” in the players’ faces. He thanked the seniors for their leadership up to this point but handed over the team’s success to the non-senior members.
The non-senior members accepted the challenge. “[Sophomores] Erica Bodt, Leah Pace, and [freshman] Jordan Sdanowicbh and I knew that we would have to play as hard as we could,” said junior Cecily Mullin.
The senior members made it clear that they wanted the championship this year.
“We knew that we wanted to go. We did not want to miss this chance,” said senior Alex Mezzanotte.
The seniors were making plans to go to the senior retreat late when the historic snowfall postponed the retreat.
“It was a very big relief knowing that the seniors were going to be able to play. They knew it was their last game so they were leaving nothing behind and playing as hard as they can,” said Mullin.
When it was game time on February 18, JC was psyched and ready to play, scoring three goals against Friends School in the first ten minutes of the game.
“[Friends] only scored one goal on us, which was a fluke, but we brushed it off and came back with 6 others,” said Mullin. Mullin made 17 saves, while only letting in one goal.
JC took a total of 38 shots on the Friends’ goalie, scoring nine times. Coach Gary Lynch attributes the team’s success to “concentrating on playing the ‘next’ minute” and “pressuring the Friends’ players all over the field.”
Lookingland made a school and career record with five goals and two assists. O’Connell, Bodt and Lookingland were nominated for the All Star Team.
“We just got by the last time that we played Friends winning 4-3. We were ready but just had to tweak our game plan,” said Lynch.
“Just knowing that 2010 is going up on the banner is the greatest feeling in the world because our senior class left John Carroll with a great legacy,” said Lookingland.
Rachel Kokoska can be reached for comment at [email protected].