EAGLES VS. FRIARS: ONE MORE TIME

McDonogh’s 4-0 rout of Mount St. Joseph set up Thursday’s clash with Archbishop Curley, with which the Eagles have split the past two meetings. The Friars won last year’s MIAA A Conference title game, but lost to the Eagles on Sept. 29.

by Joe DiBlasi

McDonogh turned a one-goal halftime lead into a 4-0 shut out over MIAA A Conference rival Mount St. Joseph in a critical victory played at Ville Julie College on Tuesday.

Senior sensation Chris Agorsor scored twice after halftime, and sophomore Mamadou Kansaye, once.

Kansaye put the Eagles ahead, 2-0, just 26 seconds into the second half, sparking the rout as the Eagles tuned up for a big game Thursday against an all-too familiar foe.

“I was just in the right place at the right time,” said Kansaye. “We’re all looking forward to the [Archbishop] Curley game.”

“This was a quality win against a good St. Joe team. We stepped up and we scored three quick goals in the first ten minutes of the second half,” said McDonogh coach Steve Nichols, whose Eagles ended a five-game winning streak by the Gaels (10-6, 8-6) that included Friday’s 1-0 shutout of Calvert Hall (9-6-2, 7-3-2).

Calvert Hall has both beaten the Eagles, 2-1, and, tied them, 1-1.

“I’m happy with this win,” Nichols said. “It sets up the showdown game for first-place with Curley on Thursday.”

Nichols referred to Thursday’s meeting with the defending league champion Archbishop Curley Friars (17-2, 10-2), which defeated the Eagles (15-1-3, 9-1-3) in last year’s title game, but which lost to McDonogh, 2-1, on Sept. 29.

“We’re looking forward to the game with Curley,” said All-Metro Andrew Bulls, who scored the lone first-half goal 10 minutes into the game. “We should be ready.”

The Gaels entered the game in third place in the league, which Nichols called, “one of the strongest in the country.”

“You can’t take any game in this conference lightly,” said Gaels’ coach Mike St. Martin. “They did a nice job winning the ball early on in the game, especially on the 50-50 balls. Chris [Agorsor] is tough up top, and I give them lots of credit; they play hard”.

The shutout of the Gaels was the 15th for Eagles keeper Tom Caso, whose team has out-scored the opposition by a combined, 53-5.

“The defense made my job easy,” said Caso, whose Eagles are 8-0-2 in their past 10 games.

“We played together today,” said Agorsor, who may be headed for pro soccer in Tottinhgham, England next year. “There are no easy games. Every game is a challenge.”