The chemistry showed instantly. Boston had earned a hat trick a little more than 11 minutes into the Catholic League game. And with Archbishop Ryan struggling to cross midfield into O'Hara's territory, it seemed clear who would run away with the victory.
Jessica Randazzo was also instrumental Wednesday, as she scored O'Hara's fourth goal after Cicione dribbled the ball down the left side of the field - her specialty - through defender after defender before getting it to the circle and ultimately to Randazzo for the goal.
The Lions (8-0 overall, 3-0 league) had a 7-0 lead at halftime.
The win marked O'Hara's fourth shutout of the season and third against Catholic League opponents.
Though the Lions' front-line trio, in addition to Randazzo and her two goals, carried O'Hara's offense, they did have trouble scoring off penalty corners. Of 19 corners, the Lions scored just once.
But that's only a problem for a team when it can't score in other ways, and O'Hara had no problem doing just that. Rather than score off penalty corners, the Lions found success by spreading out the field and capitalizing on fast-break situations.
"We're really trying to work on our corners. We are struggling with them," Murphy said.
Archbishop Ryan (1-4-3, 0-1-2) staved off goals from consecutive O'Hara corners in bundles. In the second half, the Lions had eight straight corners without a goal.
Ryan finally got into the Lions' circle with a minute to play, but time expired before the Ragdolls could play out their first penalty corner.
Cardinal O'Hara 7 2 – 9
Archbishop Ryan 0 0 – 0
Goals: CO-Grace Boston 3, Jessica Randazzo 2, Marissa Cicione 2, Amy Kelly, Emma Lindsay.
Saves: CO-Liz Piszker 0; AR-Nora Mele 5.
Contact Megan Soisson at msoisson@philly.com.
