By Hunter Cloud
The Brookhaven Daily Leader

BROOKHAVEN — St. Aloysius certainly came to play and gave Brookhaven Academy its best shot in the first round of the MAIS Division II soccer playoffs, but Brookhaven had just a little more punch.

Kyndra Quinn scored the lone goal for Brookhaven Academy on a low shot in the dying seconds of the first half, and the Cougars hung on for a 1-0 victory.

Quinn’s goal was the only one of the game although both teams had great chances to score.

St. Aloysius’s best chance came on a cross that bounced across the face of goal midway through the first half. No Flashes player was in position to get a foot on the ball and it went out for a goal kick.

Brookhaven keeper Elizabeth Durr, a seventh grader, said it was the most nerve-wracking moment of the match. Defensively, the Cougars worked hard to keep a clean sheet.

“I was really nervous but excited. I was stressed out when it was 1-0. I thought we would score more goals,” Durr said. “We ended up not letting them score, which is good. We still won the game and got it done. I’ve never experienced this before.”

St. Al keeper Sarah Smith, an eighth-grader, gave her team the best shot by making multiple saves over the course of the night. Defensively, St. Al frustrated the Cougars and had a player shadowing Quinn for most of the night.

St. Aloysius ramped up the pressure late in the match and had a few good looks at goal but could not get a shot on target at the end of the game.

“St. Al is very strong defensively and they have an outstanding goalkeeper so they really made it difficult for us,” Brookhaven coach Alex Brown said. “We had to make the game physical and turn up the intensity against them to get the job done.”