Class L girls soccer: St. Joseph shuts out Masuk, claims second straight championship

MIDDLETOWN >> It took awhile, but St. Joseph won its second consecutive Class L girls soccer championship, defeating Masuk 4-0 in front of 800 at Rosek-Skubel Stadium at Middletown High School Saturday afternoon.

Fifth-seeded Masuk held third-seeded St. Joseph scoreless in the first half and was deadlocked with the favored Cadets 0-0 after 40 minutes. St. Joe had one shot off the crossbar and another just over the bar and clearly dominated play but had nothing to show for it.

“We talked about that at halftime,” said St. Joe coach Jack Nogueira. “We said not to get frustrated, that it will come. When you apply constant pressure like we did, eventually things will break our way so we told them not to get flustered.”

Nogueira was right. Things broke the Cadets’ way immediately when Masuk (15-2-2) was called for a foul in the box in the first minute of the second half, giving St. Joe’s Jess Mazo a penalty kick.

She didn’t miss.

Less than three minutes later, Lindsey Savko scored the first of her two goals off a pass from Mazo and at 2-0, St. Joe was in control.

“That PK allowed us to relax a little bit and we weren’t as tight after that as we had been,” said Nogueira. “Then once we got that second goal, we were in good shape. The next two were beautiful goals.”

The third goal came with 16:50 left to play and it came from Mazo, who took the ball from midfield to the 10 and fired a rocket past keeper Calli Sederquest, who had no chance.

“Mazo’s only a sophomore,” said Nogueira. “But I tell anybody that if there’s a better sophomore in the state of Connecticut, I haven’t seen her. Savko’s goal was her 30th this season. She’s been a tremendous player for four years.”

Mazo was named the game’s MVP.

“It’s feels great to have coach say that about me,” said Mazo. “He’s a great coach and he’s very blunt, so for him to say that means a lot to me.”

Savko finished the Cadets’ scoring with 7:01 remaining.

“St. Joe’s is very good,” said Masuk coach Eleanor Brainard. “We knew it would be a tough match, but we stayed with them for a half. The penalty kick kind of took the wind out of us. But we left it all on the field and that’s all you can ask. We had just three starters back from last year, so even to be here is a great accomplishment for these guys.”

St. Joe (17-1-1) had a 24-7 shot advantage. Sederquest had six saves, none of which were difficult. Masuk keeper Veronica O’Rourke had 11 saves, including several difficult ones.

It is the third St. Joseph title in the last four years and fifth since 2007. Masuk made its only other appearance in a final in 2012, also a loss.