No. 1 Bishop Moore girls overwhelm Astronaut, 9-0
ORLANDO, Florida – Every member of Bishop Moore Catholic’s girls soccer team drew ‘b2b’ on their wrists before their Class 4A, Region 2 quarterfinal match on Tuesday night.
Translation: Back to back.
The defending Class 4A state champ Hornets began their quest for consecutive state titles with a convincing 9-0 rout of visiting Titusville Astronaut. It was the 15th shutout of the season for top-ranked Bishop Moore (16-2-3), which advanced to Friday’s home regional semifinal match against either The Villages Charter or Nature Coast Tech.
Bishop Moore's Gabby Garcia (8) works on dribbling through the Astronaut defense on Tuesday night in a Class 4A, Region 2 quarterfinal. The top-ranked Hornets won 9-0.
Photo by Jeff Gardenour
“Very proud of these young ladies for coming together and coming out hard and strong,” said Bishop Moore coach Amy Geltz. “Just moving the ball and finishing well.”
Senior forward Victoria Pou had a spectacular game with four goals and one assist for the Hornets, with all four scores coming after the first-half water break. The game was called at halftime because of the mercy rule.
Pou was one of five players to score for Bishop Moore, which takes a six-game win streak into the next playoff match.
“It’s a really big win because we have a really strong team,” Pou said. “This has been our goal the whole year: to go to state. This is just one step to get there.”
It took just a little more than 6 minutes for Bishop Moore to get on the scoreboard – a perfect cross from Sienna Rivera set up a header into the net by Raelin Miller with 33:49 left.
The Hornets then blew it open with four more goals over a 6:04 stretch. Pierson Rawlin scored on a deflected shot from teammate Avery Jacobs, and then Jacobs followed with a goal on an assist from Miller.
Bishop Moore's Sienna Rivera (31) works the ball against Astronaut's Skyler Brown on Tuesday night in a Class 4A, Region 2 quarterfinal. The Hornets won 9-0 -- their 15th shutout of the season.
Photo by Jeff Gardenour
Madison Gellner then got in on the scoring parade with a pair of goals, with assists from Gabby Garcia and Pou to give Bishop Moore a 5-0 lead with 21:12 left in the first half.
The second part of the first half belonged to Pou, who just used speed, athleticism and pinpoint accuracy to score the game’s last four goals.
“Having four goals is a lot of fun in a big game,” she said. “Just doing my thing for my team so that we can accomplish our goals.”
The team’s scoring depth figures to cause serious problems for most opponents going forward. And that fact is not lost on Geltz.
“I think the depth that we have is incredible,” Geltz said. “We can do a lot of different combinations, switch many people around. We’re very lucky that we have a lot of players that can totally adjust. It’s a great thing to have.”
Now, it’s on to the regional semifinals. Four more victories and the Hornets will realize their goal: back to back.
“We just got to keep focused and do what we need to do and make it to states again,” Geltz said.
Astronaut (9-10-3) rarely threatened Bishop Moore over the 40-minute contest. The Hornets dominated time of possession and spent most of the night attacking the War Eagles’ goal.
