Charlotte Catholic gets late goal, stops Marvin Ridge in battle of top 5 US teams
Charlotte Catholic dominated more than 80 percent of the second half Friday night.
And that nearly wasn’t enough.
The Cougars got a goal from senior striker Marguerite McPhillips with 51.3 seconds left and edged Marvin Ridge 3-2 in a battle of top-five nationally ranked soccer teams.
“That’s what they’ve done all season,” Charlotte Catholic coach Gary Hoilett of his team, ranked No. 3 nationally.
It was a big night for Hoilett, who has coached girls’ soccer at Charlotte Catholic since 1997. Friday’s victory was the 900th of his career. That career includes eight state championships with girls’ and boys’ teams at the school.
Hoilett’s landmark victory lifted the Cougars to 13-0-1 overall and 7-0 in the Southern Carolina 6A/7A Conference.
It also was a big night for McPhillips, who now has 13 goals on the season.
Her winning tally came nine minutes after Marvin Ridge (14-1, 6-1), unable to get anything going in the first 25 minutes of the second half, tied the score 2-2 on a goal by Lucy Chin.
“She worked hard and was in the right position for that goal,” Hoilett said of McPhillips.
The Cougars had threatened over the closing minutes, regaining momentum after Marvin Ridge’s tying goal. But the Mavericks’ defense repeatedly blunted Charlotte Catholic’s attack.
Finally, McPhillips emerged from a scrum in front of the goal and got off a left-footed shot that whizzed past Mavericks goalkeeper Daye Powell.
And it was a big night for girls’ soccer in general.
Both teams operated at full throttle for 80 minutes, producing a number of close calls in addition to the five goals.
“This was a game between two nationally ranked teams, and it looked like it,” Hoilett said.
Play went end to end during the first half, which ended in a 1-1 tie.
Harper Smith put the Mavericks up 1-0 in the fifth minute of the game, with a shot from the right side of the box that skidded into the left side of the goal.
The Cougars evened the score in the 10th minute on a goal by McPhillips.
The Cougars repeatedly won possession of the ball for the opening 25 minutes of the second half. It finally paid off about 11 minutes into the half, when Mary Martin Spinner escaped two defenders and scored on a wide-open shot from the front of the box.
At one point in the half, the Cougars had outshot the Mavericks 9-1.
Then with about 10 minutes left, Charlotte Catholic’s dominance abruptly ended.
Marvin Ridge’s Chin broke free on the right side and scored with a shot to the left corner of the net.
The same thing nearly happened two minutes later, but Chin’s shot bounced off the left goal post.
“But we responded very well to that,” Hoilett said of the Cougars’ play in the closing minutes. “I have a lot of confidence in these girls. They know what it takes to come back.”
About a minute before McPhillips’ winning goal, Spinner barely missed a go-ahead tally for the Cougars.
The last time Marvin Ridge, the 2024 state champion, lost a match was 11 months ago — by a 2-1 score to Charlotte Catholic in the third round of the state playoffs.
While Friday’s game featured two teams that are state championship contenders — Marvin Ridge in 7A, Charlotte Catholic in 6A — it also was a virtual Charlotte Soccer Association intrasquad match.
More than a dozen of the players compete together in the CSA and are friends.
“We know they’ll be ready for us the next time,” Hoilett said. “These are two very good teams.”
That rematch will be May 4 at Charlotte Catholic.
