McDonogh co-coach Ted Scocos takes a simple view of what Laurie Schwoy means to his team.
"She's our finisher," said Scocos. "That's her job, and she's done it 66 times so far."
Schwoy scored her 65th and 66th goals of the season to help top-ranked McDonogh extend its unbeaten streak to 42 with a 2-0 victory over John Carroll in a Catholic League tournament A Division semifinal last night at Utz Field.
Defending champion McDonogh (20-0-2), the tournament's top seed, advances to the championship game on Monday at 5:15 at Utz Field against second-seeded St. Mary's. The Saints defeated third-seeded and No. 14 Mercy, 1-0, in the other semifinal. St. Mary's tied McDonogh when the two last met.
McDonogh struggled for much of last night's game. The Eagles often controlled the ball -- outshooting fifth-seeded John Carroll, 36-5 -- but were often unable to put the ball in the net.
"We didn't play well," said Schwoy. "We really couldn't put the ball on the ground and [move it]."
Schwoy, the area's top scorer with 66 goals and 23 assists, got goals in the 31st and 37th minutes. The junior gave the Eagles a 1-0 lead when she took a pass from Julie Baker near the middle of the box, stopped, turned and kicked it in despite being surrounded by three John Carroll defenders.
Her second goal came when Schwoy took a throw-in from Nicole Whittlesberger, ran through three defenders and beat John Carroll goalie Paige Lozoskie (18 saves) on a shot to the right.
John Carroll (6-7-2) used a stingy defense to keep McDonogh quiet for the final 43 minutes. Kelly Wilson marked Schwoy closely, and Lozoskie made clutch saves.
"Our defense played great," said John Carroll coach Joe Rehrmann. "The whole team came together."
In the other semifinal, St. Mary's used an Erin Hon goal 7:58 into the second half to defeat Mercy and advance to the championship game. Hon took a nice crossing pass from Marianne Gioffre, settled it and beat goalie Jen Bailey with a shot to the far post.
"I was hesitating for a moment because I wasn't sure if the sweeper was going to step up," said Hon. "But I decided to shoot."
St. Mary's (13-5-1), which has gone 11-2-1 after a 2-3 start, had numerous chances for more goals on several of its 15 shots, but could not score.
Mercy (12-6-2) had its best chance to score moments after the Hon goal, but Aubrey Schaeffer's shot hit the crossbar.