Girls soccer: Perry Hall defeats Catonsville for 2nd straight county title

Perry Hall Coach Rick Testerman didn't know who crossed the ball that led to the Gators' second goal in their 3-0 victory over Catonsville in the Baltimore County girls soccer championship game at Franklin High, Tuesday evening, but he sure knew who finished it.

His daughter, senior Samantha Testerman, was on the receiving end of the ball that slid by Lea Ritson's foot onto hers.

"That was sweet," said Testerman, whose Gators (12-3) won their second county title in his second year as coach. "I thought she played really well, and at the end of the season, as a senior, that's when you want to pick your game up. I'm proud of all the seniors. They really stepped up."

The Gators sport 12 seniors on the roster, including two key performers, Preslie Quaranta and Jordan Cassell, who have been out all season with injuries.

Senior defenders Megan Strauch and Paige Tolson were helped out by sophomores Aniya Flanagan and Kara Taylor and junior goalie Emily Shandruk in preserving the shutout against and explosive young Comet offense that took 10 shots on goal compared to Perry Hall's 11.

But Perry Hall made the most of its chances, especially sophomore Sofia Perzan, whose unassisted goals in each half sandwiched Testerman's tally.

"They capitalized on their best chances and we failed to capitalize on ours," Catonsville coach James Fitzpatrick said. "If we could have finished one or two chances, it could have changed the game our way."

Catonsville did put a ball over the goal line midway through the second half, when Deb Milani headed home Rachel Woods' corner kick, but the goal was waved off because of a push by a Comet player away from the ball.

Perzan gave the Gators a 1-0 lead with 27:17 left in the first half when she capitalized on a Comet miscue and raced down the middle before unleashing a low rocket off freshman keeper Natalie Croom.

"It just happened," Perzan said. "I saw it and kid of shot it to the goalie, but luckily it went in."

Croom is one of four Comet freshman who started, including leading scorer Jennifer Nonn and midfielders Allison Dingle and Lauren McDonald.

"I have to give kudos to that Catonsville team," Rick Testerman said. "They have really come a long way. Last year, we were beating them 4-0 at halftime of a shortened game because of lightning and I wasn't really impressed, but they made great strides this year."

On Sept. 15, the Gators defeated the Comets, 5-2, and the coach knew the defense wasn't going to forget giving up those two goals.

"We kind of learned our lesson," Testerman said. "The first time we weren't running with them, so at practice all last week we were working on that no matter who we played."

The Gators experienced midfield, that included seniors Alexa Quaranta, Jamie Sokolis, and senior forwards Testerman, Lauren Van Daniker and Sarah Spivey also kept constant pressure on the Comet defense.

Catonsville had a solid chance to score midway through the first half, but senior midfielder Woods' shot sailed high.

With under two minutes left, McDonald fed Nonn in front of the goal, but her shot went over the crossbar.

Samantha Testerman scored with 32:12 left in the second half and Perzan notched her goal less than eight minutes later for the 3-0 lead that held up until the end.

"They are a good team," Fitzpatrick said. "They are the best team we've played."

Junior midfielder Milani agreed.

"They have so much skill and they move the ball so fast and are a really quick team." said the junior.

She hopes to get a third chance at playing them in the Class 4A North Region championship game. Perry Hall is seeded first and the Comets are seeded second.

"We can stick with them," Milani said. "We just have to finish."

Just like Samantha Testerman did to make her coach a prouder dad.