Planets power past defensive-minded Oakland Catholic
There were a lot of things Kate McEnroe could have multi-tasked with while manning Mars’ net Wednesday night.
Read a book. Scroll through TikTok. Maybe even get her homework assignments out of the way. She didn’t face a single shot from Oakland Catholic in a 3-0 girls soccer win. Oftentimes, she was the only person on her half of the field.
Still, she wouldn’t allow herself to get bored or zone out.
“I just try to stay engaged by talking to the players and helping them work through situations,” McEnroe said.
She did a lot of watching while the Planets’ offense toiled away on the opposite end. The visiting Eagles were the last WPIAL team to top Mars (3-0, 4-0), that win coming in the district final in 2018. Oakland Catholic coach Jim Earle decided a similar game plan was in order.
“We played really good defense against them and beat them, 1-0, in overtime,” Earle said. “The past two times we’ve played them in the WPIAL playoffs, I thought I was trying to be a little too offenseive, and they crushed us.
“I challenged our girls, ‘Let’s play good defense. I don’t care if we score.’”
An interesting strategy, sure, but the Planets have come to expect the unexpected.
“Teams always are going to do something different against us than they do against everybody else,” Mars coach Blair Gerlach said. “They’re going to try to see what works.”
Nothing’s paid off for any of the Planets’ last 67 challengers. Not anything that’s led to a tally in the win column, anyway. Mars is 65-0-2 over the last three seasons and change.
Despite taking on seven shots and three corner kicks, Oakland Catholic (1-1, 1-2-1) held the game scoreless through the first 40 minutes.
Less than three minutes into the second half, junior midfielder Ainsley Ray headed in forward Addison Girdwood’s corner. Later in the period, senior Ava Lewis lasered in a free kick from the 20-yard line and Brooke Hamlet made it a three-score lead four and a half minutes later.
“I thought we played really, really well,” Earle said. “I was really happy that we didn’t give up a goal from real live play. It took set pieces and that’s what I was looking for. For us to play better defense and show we can defend one of the best teams in the state.”
With his crew’s arsenal of weapons, Gerlach felt it would only be a matter of time before the scoreboard tilted Mars’ way.
“At the end of the day, you’ve got to try to win the game,” he said. “If their mentality was (to) keep it close and feel good about the final score line, okay. But, sitting back against us, we’ve got enough players that someone’s going to find one.
“At some point, you have to go forward.”
It marked the third game in a row in which the Planets have blanked an opponent. No one would blame McEnroe for wanting to see more action, but she’s just fine with things the way they’ve been recently.
“When I don’t see any shots, we keep the shutout,” McEnroe said.
