‘These girls were ready’: Panthers shut-out Tigers, 4-0, to earn county sweep

By Victor Hensley

CALVERT PARK - The Per- ryville Panthers needed to jump one final hurdle to hit a milestone.

But, with less than an hour to go before game time, there was a question of if they’d even have the chance.

Luckily for the Panthers, the weather held up, the ball was kicked off after a short delay and they pro- ceeded to earn a masterful shut-out win, 4-0, over the Rising Sun Tigers (7-3-1) to not only stay unbeaten at 11-0 – just one win away from a perfect regular season – but finish off the Cecil County sweep.

“It was a tough one because the rain moved in, the lightning and all, and we were like, ‘Are we going to get this in?’” said John Myers, the Panthers’ head coach, reflecting on his pre- game concerns. “Then they were talking about canceling and that Rising Sun can’t make it up because they have Monday-Wednesday-Friday this week, so it’s taking away from everything we worked for and we were looking forward to this game.

“So, when (the officials) said they were ready (to play), you can ask Mr. Rash,” he continued, “they had the speakers blaring, they were dancing through the hallways. … These girls were just ready to go.” The Panthers proceeded to win their last game on the schedule just two days later against the Aberdeen Eagles (2-10), 6-1, to solidify their perfect 12-0 regular season.

From the get-go on Monday, however, it was clear that Perryville had brought the energy. Not only were the

Panthers up against a fierce in-county rival with both the Cecil sweep and their perfect season on the line, but it was also one of their toughest tests yet.

And they passed with flying colors.

The Panthers got a big offensive boost from a pair of juniors that were firing on all cylinders, Kamryn Marcinkevich and Sarah Murrell, who each scored two goals and racked up two assists in the win.

Marcinkevich drew first blood mere minutes into the contest, having received a textbook crossing pass from Murrell – who dribbled into the left corner – and fired a shot past Tigers goalkeeper Jordan Lynch. But, the shot was a little too far to the left, smacking off of the post and right back into Marcinkevich’s lap. With a continued on C-2

Elkton Defeats

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SUN ON TOP 3-1 VS PERRYVILLE PAGE C4 second-chance opportunity right in front of her after grabbing her own rebound, she made sure she didn’t miss the second time, slotting the ball perfectly into the left corner of the net to give Rising Sun a 1-0 lead in just the sixth minute.

Before the end of the half, though, Murrell made sure it was her turn to get in on the action.

In the 26th minute, Marcinkevich took control of a free kick on the Tigers’ 40-yard-line and promptly walloped a deep pass over Murrell’s head, toward the penalty box. Murrell tracked it down and, in the blink of an eye, buried a shot into the net from about 20 yards out to increase the Panthers’ advantage to two goals, 2-0, which they carried into the halftime break.

“I feel like me and Kam have played together for so long that we just know each other and we have a connection on the field because I had both of her assists and she had both of mine,” said Murrell after the win. “So it was just kind of like, ‘Please go in, please go in,’ as it was going, but then once we scored, it was just a great feeling knowing it came from Kamryn.”

Despite the Panthers’ two-goal halftime lead – and the eventual four-goal win – Rising Sun’s defense came to play and, for the most part, contained some of Perryville’s best playmakers.

In total, the Tigers actually out-shot their opponents, registering eight shots-on-goal to the Panthers’ six.

The difference, however, was the quality and strength of the shots, along with Perryville’s sophomore goalkeeper Sarah Cantrell simply saving everything that came her way, totaling eight saves on the day as she continued to impress in Perryville’s fifth clean-sheet win of the year.

“Our defense and our keeper just keep on working every game,” Myers said. “Sarah’s just back there talking, directing the field, calling everybody off, making the saves she’s supposed to make. … She’s just playing phenomenal right now. We talked at the beginning of the year, after her season last year, and it’s like, wow, she could be the best keeper in the county.”

The second half was déjà vu for both squads as Rising Sun continued to out-shoot Perryville, but was unable to put the ball in the net, while both Murrell (64th minute) and Marcinkevich (67th minute) got on the board again to make it 4-0 in favor of the Panthers.

Marcinkevich undoubtedly had the goal of the night in the 67th minute when – after chasing down a pass from Murrell – she barely got a shot off in the nick of time with a defender on her back and Lynch attempting a slide tackle at her feet. She collided with Lynch’s legs a split-second after tapping the ball, causing her to do a flip and collapse on the ground while the ball hurled toward an empy net for the score.

Perryville’s big night was only made more special given that it was senior night for Kylie Narvell, the team’s lone senior, who has been a pivotal member of the Panthers throughout their ups and downs over the past four seasons.

“Kylie is amazing,” Myers said of his senior. “She just works. She’s at every practice. This preseason, she took over the entire summer workouts and everything. She was there working with our junior class and everything to kind of keep them going. … She got hit pretty hard in her knee in the last game, so she’s got a pretty good bruise there, but she's like, ‘I'm not sitting this one out, I’m going in.’ And she’s just out there working every minute she’s out there.”

Not only had the Panthers not earned the county sweep in years, but their kryptonite had always been the Tigers, a team none of the players on this year’s roster had conquered.

“It was good to finally have a chance against Rising Sun,” said Narvell, “because I know, especially from my freshman year, there's really never been a chance except with other teams.”

“To finally go out there and prove to (Rising Sun) that we have a good team and we’re filled with juniors,” said Murrell, “so we have a solid team for next year, too. We're a team to beat in the county, it's not just them.”