Johnson scores 3 to lead SCC by Saints

Published 11:45 pm Friday, January 25, 2013

By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

LAPLACE — Make it two in a row for St. Charles Catholic.

Jalynn Johnson scored all three goals for the Comets as they won at St. Martin’s Tuesday, 3-1.

After going winless through predistrict and the first half of district play, the Comets have won two consecutive games and have a chance to finish with an even district mark if they can defeat St. Martin’s in a rematch Monday, slated to begin at 4:30 p.m.

“We’ve been playing much better defensively, and it’s carrying over to the offensive side,” said St. Charles coach Eleno Rodriguez.

“We’re stopping people and the defenders and midfielders are doing a good job of getting the ball out wide to our forwards as quickly as possible. And as a result, we’re seeing many more scoring opportunities.”

Rodriguez has praised Johnson, the team’s lone senior player, for her leadership throughout a trying final season. He said that seeing her performance Tuesday was rewarding.

“It was extremely satisfying to see Jalynn’s efforts pay off,” said Rodriguez.

“She’s been working so hard throughout the season, both in games and at practice. She’s provided leadership, and she just deserves to have a game like this.”

Defensively, he said that Kaitlyn Lemoine and Jasmine Stipe controlled the middle defensively, while Julia Torres continued to impress in the goal.

“I’ve never seen such an aggressive goalkeeper,” said Rodriguez. “She continuously sacrifices herself to make plays.”