St. Mary's senior Kristen Gaudreau found herself all alone at the far post in the first half yesterday against visiting Garrison Forest, and she pounced on the chance to give the No. 7-ranked Saints an early lead.
For the No. 5 Grizzlies, who spent significant time inside St. Mary's scoring circle, a chance like that never came.
Instead, company was always nearby as the Saints' defense denied and denied some more, protecting a lead that would turn into a well-earned, 1-0 win.
St. Mary's improved to 9-2-3 overall and remained unbeaten in the Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland's Applebee Division with a 3-0-1 mark. The Grizzlies dropped to 7-3-4 and 2-2-1 in division play.
The stat of the day was the number of shots that St. Mary's senior keeper Addie Lewis had to rebuff -- three.
On St. Mary's score, Morgan Thalenberg chased down a ball on the left side and sent a strong cross that found Gaudreau, who put in her seventh goal of the season.
After the Grizzlies recorded a 5-0 advantage on penalty corners in the first half, the Saints got a much stronger effort from their midfield to even the field in the second 30 minutes.