MIDDLETOWN – The goalie knew the Mercy soccer players and their tendencies, but she broke a little too early in one direction on the penalty kick. Laney Smith went the other way and scored.
At that point, Mercy was in good shape. Heading into the Class LL semifinal game last year against Notre Dame-Fairfield, the Tigers were 21-0. They had won the Class M co-championship two years earlier and the outright Class M title the year before. Now they were in Class LL and knew it was harder, but they were confident. They had just won a quarterfinal game on penalty kicks.
But by the time it was Julia Salley’s turn, in the second round of penalty kicks, things weren’t looking as good for the Tigers. There had been some misses, then the goalie made a save on Salley’s shot, too.
Mercy ended up losing 2-1 to Notre Dame, 6-5 on PKs.
“I kind of had the idea in my head, ‘This isn’t going to be good,’” Salley said Wednesday. “I didn’t want to be like, ‘I’m going to walk up there and miss.’ I tried to place it. Shout out to the goalie, she did a great job. We couldn’t have done anything more.
“We just had to come back this year.”
Which they have. The Tigers, fresh off their second straight SCC tournament championship, are unbeaten once again (with one tie), ranked No. 2 in the large school state coaches poll and the No. 2 seed in Class LL. They will play the winner of the Glastonbury-Simsbury game in a Class LL second-round game Monday at Mercy at a time to be determined.
“The loss last year, it put a little fire in them,” Mercy coach Marcus Harley said. “They were 21-0 going into that game. They had never ended the season on a losing note.”
Mercy (18-0-1) brought back 10 seniors this season; seven are starters. Many have played together on club teams for years.
Smith, who scored the game-winner in overtime in a 4-3 win over Amity in the SCC tournament championship and was named the most outstanding player, has 22 goals and 27 assists. Sophomore Molly Benson has 24 goals.
“Teams were keying on (Smith last year) and this year it’s the same thing. The goals are still there, she’s scoring the goals, but the big jump is the assists,” Harley said. “She’s dishing the ball off. This year, with the experience, now (the others are) scoring the goals.”
Mercy’s defense has been solid, anchored by Salley, Kaylea Micale and Julie Lelko, all seniors. The Tigers have had 11 shutouts this season.
The lone blemish was a 1-1 tie against Guilford on Oct. 7 and the Tigers avenged that with a 5-0 win over Guilford in the SCC tournament semifinal game.
Last year, Salley and Micale were juniors. They had another year. This year is it.
“We go into every game thinking it might be our last one, or it might be the first of many,” Salley said. “That’s my mindset, let’s play every game like it’s our last. You never know.”
“Harley always tells us that before practice: ‘This could be our last practice,’” Micale said.
“We’re all like, ‘Harley. Stop,’” Salley said.
“It’s great motivation, actually,” Micale said.