After allowing a goal to Atholton's Avery Shepherd 90 seconds into their game Friday evening, Marriotts Ridge sophomore goalie Dylan Schoen knew that he had to do better for his team to have a chance of winning against Atholton's relentless high-pressure offense.
"I knew going in that it would be tough one, but after they scored that first one by a very talented player ... I just thought that if I can stop the rest I have plenty of confidence in my team that we could score enough goals to win this," he said.
And stop the rest is exactly what Schoen did, 24 of them in fact, as Marriotts Ridge won, 3-1, to improve to 5-0 in the Howard County standings.
Atholton was also 4-0 coming into the contest, and drops to second place behind Marriotts Ridge and Long Reach, which is also 5-0, with the loss.
After Shepherd's goal, Atholton held the lead for another ten minutes when Marriotts Ridge's Kyle Davis scored a power play goal on a one-timer right in front of the net to tie the game at 1-1.
That score held for the entire second period, though Atholton dominated possession and Marriotts Ridge's few scoring opportunities came on the rare turnover and fast break.
The Raiders seemed to be on the verge of breaking through to take the lead, first on a shot that clanged off the pipe six minutes into the final period, and then two minutes later on a penalty shot by Nicholas Bogdash two minutes later.
But just as he had done all game, Schoen blocked the shot.
"I saw was that he was going to a deke because he had his head down so I just threw my stick out there and got a piece of it," Schoen said.
Schoen's teammates swarmed him after the save, and 30 seconds later, Davis rewarded him with his second goal of the game, again on a power play, off of a putback right in front of the net.
"It felt really good, after I made that save I just said, 'Get one. I'll keep you in it. We can get this if we just get one'," Schoen said.
Atholton hamstrung itself in the game, making 14 penalties compared to Marriotts Ridge's 10, but the Mustangs' final goal came at even strength when T.J. Clingerman scored on a penalty shot with 3:50 remaining to account for the final score.
Atholton and Long Reach will meet again later this season, on Feb. 3, and Atholton coach Bud Michels is expecting another close game.
"They have some good talent on the team and they were able to clear the puck out of the zone fairly quick," Michels said. "We were putting (a lot) of pressure … we were able to capitalize once but they were able to capitalize a few more times … we're going to take this and learn from it."
Marriotts Ridge, meanwhile, will try to knock off its second undefeated opponent in a row when the Mustangs play Long Reach next Friday, Jan. 13, at 4:10 p.m. at the Gardens Ice House.
Last year, Marriotts Ridge won its first County Cup title, but lost to Winston Churchill in the state semifinals.