Soccer: Girls' Reach .500; Strawbridge Leads Boys' by 10-Man Reading

In a holiday morning matinee, Belmont's junior midfielder Lizzie Frick knocked in a goal from a scrum in front of the Reading High net after a corner 15 minutes into the first half to provide the margin of victory as the Marauders reached the .500 mark with a 1-0 home victory over the Rockets Monday, Oct. 14.

Belmont (5-5-3) dominated large portions of play especially in the second half as Marauder goalkeeper Linda Herlihy touched the ball twice as the Belmont midfield kept the Reading offense in check. 

The Marauders had many chances to score but Reading 'keeper Meghan O’Brien was outstanding between the posts, making numerous saves and deflecting shots on two second-half breakaways. 

Belmont's Head Coach Paul Graham said the three-game winning streak has brought up the team to equal wins with loses "and we are playing better but we still don't have that killer instinct to put away teams." 

Next up for Belmont will be at Arlington (7-2-4) which tied up the Marauders, 2-2, on a goal in the final 45 seconds back in September. 

"That will be better test of where we are," said Graham.

Strawbridge hat trick leads Marauders past Rockets.

In the past week on the soccer pitch, it's been Andrew Strawbridge's world and other players were only visitors to it. 

For the second time in the past two weeks, the senior forward produced a multi-goal game as he netted a hat trick and assisted on the game's other goal to pace Belmont to their ninth win, winning 4-0 against host Reading High School on Monday, Oct. 14.

Strawbridge started the scoring with 10 minutes remaining in the first half and then assisted on fellow senior Michael Chertkov's sliding goal on the counter attack early in the second half. Soon after a Reading player was sent off the pitch after a red card was issued for "abuse" (bad language) directed at Belmont's Ben Giber.

After scoring his second midway through the second, Strawbridge finished his goal barrage with a flourish. Using a technique perfected by Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo, Strawbridge stepped over the ball several times to place the defender out of position and then struck the ball left-footed into the net. 

Belmont is currently 9-1-3 and hope to have Head Coach Peter Guellnitz back patrolling the sidelines soon.