October 10, 2009|By Todd Karpovich | Todd Karpovich,Special to The Baltimore Sun
In a topsy-turvy season in the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association A Conference, fourth-ranked Calvert Hall remained steady with a complete performance Friday against No. 13 Loyola.
The Cardinals suffered two losses earlier in the week but dominated the visiting Dons for a 4-0 victory. Pete Caringi led the Cardinals with two goals, and he said his team is formidable when it plays hard for 80 minutes. With the victory, Calvert Hall took over sole possession of second place behind McDonogh.
"It was sad we lost those two games, but we had a four-game winning streak before that and were doing great," Caringi said. "It just made us focus this entire week. Our goal is to win a championship this year."
Loyola (5-4-2 overall, 5-4-1 league) was coming off a victory over top-ranked Mount St. Joseph on Wednesday but could not find the same magic against the Cardinals (7-4, 7-3). Caringi scored midway through the first half when he headed in a corner kick from Alexander Bullington.
The Cardinals controlled possession, and Caringi struck again when he poked in a shot from inside the penalty area off a pass from Elliott Crompton just three minutes into the second half. Daniel Baxter added a third goal when he dribbled across the penalty area and fired a shot inside the near post with 18:26 remaining.
Calvert Hall bounced back from losses to Perry Hall on Monday and Archbishop Spalding on Wednesday.
"We worked on keeping the ball," said Calvert Hall assistant coach Bryan Bugarin, who was filling in for head coach Andy Moore, who was dealing with a family matter. "I think when Loyola beat St. Joe on Wednesday that was good for us because we were still in second place. We figured if we could come out and get a good win here, it would take us forward."
Nicholas Mangione added Calvert Hall's fourth goal off another cross from Bullington. Loyola's Douglas Adjei had several nice runs but could not finish.
"You usually have one of these once a season, where everything kind of goes wrong," Loyola coach Lee Tschantret said. "It was just a clunker. The better team won today. They were coming off two losses and just came out flying."
Goals: C-Caringi 2, Baxter, Mangione. Assists: C-Bullington 2, Crompton. Saves: L-Peitsch 5; C-Krach 3, Madden 2. Half: C, 1-0
