Boca nips Pope John Paul

 From Palm Beach Post

BOCA RATON -Behind a dominant defense and some timely offense, top-ranked Boca Raton beat fourth-ranked Pope John Paul 2-0 on Wednesday night.

Ten minutes into the game it appeared that the Bobcats (18-4-1) would be playing from behind when Eagles leading scorer Brittany D'Addio broke away for a shot on goal, but Bobcat goal keeper Caitlin Woody dove to her right to make a beautiful blocking save. D'Addio knocked the rebound just over the crossbar and the game remained scoreless.

Pope John Paul controlled the action for most of the first half, but Boca Raton broke through in the 30th minute when junior forward Alex Major slammed a rebound shot past Eagles goal keeper Lauren Berlingo for a 1-0 lead.

With just two minutes remaining in the first half, Major almost struck again, but this time Berlingo made a diving save to her left keeping the deficit at one heading into halftime.

With 29 minutes left in the game, Bobcats sophomore midfielder Allie Holley scored from 15 yards out when she played an angle from the right side of the field and hit her shot past a diving Berlingo into the back left side of the net, giving Boca Raton a 2-0 lead.

"We've been working on trying to score from difficult angles," Bobcat coach Rachel Grimes said. "And that was just a beautiful example of it by Allie."

The real story of the game, though, was Woody and the Bobcats' defense.

The Bobcats didn't allow the Eagles their first shot on goal in the second half until the 60th minute, and whenever Pope John Paul (16-4-1) did get an opportunity, Woody was there to stop it.

Woody finished with 14 saves to post her 12th shutout of the season.

"We definitely keep improving each game, which is our goal," Grimes said. "If we keep playing like this and getting better, we have a realistic shot at reaching our goals. Tonight was a good example of how good we can be."

Entering the game, D'Addio was among the leaders in the county with 35 goals and 26 assists, but the Bobcats limited her to only one shot on goal.

"It's a testament to how good they are," Eagles coach Bill D'Addio said. "We've seen a lot of good teams this year, but they're the best we've faced.