GARFIELD HEIGHTS—Cardinal co-coach Brian Gallagher spent the last 20 minutes of the Huskies’ non-conference game at Garfield Heights on Wednesday looking over his shoulder, almost instinctively, searching for a substitute to send into the game.
Unfortunately for Gallagher, his bench was empty.
The first-year program opened the season with 13 players but had just 10 healthy girls available for the game against the Bulldogs. Senior captain Marina Cooper also made the trip, but she was limited to just 10 minutes of action in the first half as she recovers from a preseason injury.
But, Gallagher kept looking over his shoulder almost hoping for a miracle.
It came minutes later when sophomore forward Anna Blubaugh delivered a powerful shot past the Garfield Heights goalkeeper for a 1-0 win, the first in the program’s short history. The Huskies opened the season on Tuesday with a 6-2 loss to rival Berkshire.
“A win in the second game of the season on a back-to-back against Berkshire,” Gallagher said. “This is crazy. I’m ecstatic.”
Gallagher felt a bit uneasy early in the second half when the Huskies were flagged for a penalty, which set the Bulldogs up for a free kick a mere 10 feet from the goal.
To make matters worse, Cardinal goalkeeper Anna Avalon was injured on the play and left the field, leaving the Huskies with nine players against Garfield Heights’ 11 and their backup goalie, Mackenzie Conley, tending the net.
“Mac, who hasn’t been in a goal since I don’t know when, was in there and we’re down to nine against 11, but we were somehow able to maintain it,” Gallagher said. “It was about five minutes until we got control on an out of bounds possession that we were able to sub Anna back in.”
That defensive stand may have been the turning point in the game.
The Huskies gained confidence and when Avalon returned they went on the attack.
Kayla Valentine sent a free ball toward the Bulldog net and Blubaugh beat two defenders to the ball.
“Anna had a breakaway and she kicked it low, it bounced right between the legs and done,” Gallagher said. “Then it was just trying to maintain. I dropped immediately on defense. I dropped everyone back because I wasn’t going to let a free run up the middle. We maintained it and kept it clear. There were some sketchy moments though.”
Garfield Heights got off several shots, including one that just missed to the left of the net and one that skipped off the top of the crossbar, but the Huskies held on for the historic win.
“It feels so good,” Blubaugh said. “It’s like surreal, honestly. We had real high expectations and we knew we had a win in us, but it’s just, like, crazy to see it actually happen. It was like the most anxiety-ridden last minutes of my life worrying if they were going to get a goal. Our defense held strong. It was good.”
Cardinal now has several days off to heal up before its next game at Pymatuning Valley on Tuesday.
“They played hard,” Gallagher said. “They’re going to be super, super, super ready to go against Pymatuning Valley.”
