Cate GVS Triumphs 4-2 Against Bishop Diego HS

January 12, 2024

Josie Frazer’s Hat Trick Steals the Show

Josie Frazer ’24 scored on a penalty kick. Photo by Coach P.

Friday, 12-January-24
Cate GVS 4 – 2 Bishop Diego HS
Saves: Jeeyou Jung ’25 (1)
Assists: Nika Iverson ’26, Addie Bracher ’25
Goals: Precious Adjei ’27, Josie Frazer ’24 (3 )

There are a few good stories to tell about today’s game against Bishop Diego.  The first is the story of Josie’s hat trick.  Do you remember that moment in the last World Cup game against the Netherlands when Lindsay Horan is taken out by Van De Donk and then absolutely buries her next shot on goal?  Today that was Josie Frazer.  After being brought down in the box, she earned a penalty kick and drove the ball into the lower left-side netting.  It was clean and left no room for doubt – the sweetest kind of retaliation.  Then, in the second half, after receiving the ball just outside of the box on the left side, Josie put it over the top in an arch into the upper right corner.  Finally, on a free kick outside the box on the right side, she shot for the net with the setting sun at her back and scored, the ball just barely tipping off the keeper’s gloves.  She was unstoppable by sheer force of will.  Don’t mess with Josie Frazer, or you’ll get a roaring imitation of Lindsey Horan.  Lest she get all the credit, the scoring was opened tonight by the younger generation.  Fiona Pan’s ’27 corner kicks could not be nicer, and in the 24th minute, Nika Iverson and Precious Adjei got on the end of one for a beautiful set-piece goal.  Of course, in between all this exciting goal-scoring, there were some other narrative threads.  There’s the story of two goals against, both of which were breakaways and at least one of which was just plain unlucky.  Bishop Diego had some speed up top, especially in the feet of a certain Hubbs sister, and was able to threaten quickly when we were caught supporting the attack.  Conservative adjustments were made in the second half to help with that, but we relied heavily on the “Zoë’s got this” strategy.  Zoë Flint ’25 deserves so much credit for managing emergencies today.  Time and time again, she ran them down and brought the ball out wide to restart our possession game.  Thank goodness for Zoë.  This leads us, finally, to the story I’ve been most wanting to tell: that of our first true possession game of the season.  The tally for completed passes was over 125, which is such an accomplishment.  A lot of the credit goes to Claire Bianchi, who played center midfield while wearing a certain number 10 jersey.  She looked at home in Emie’s spot and worked just as hard, finishing the game with the traditional calf cramp, but one-upping even Lilly Riehl by cramping in both legs at once.  Ooof.  To complete this nostalgic write-up, we were so happy to have Ellie Tunnell, Charlotte Weis, and Gigi Geyer in attendance.  Maybe tomorrow they will bring potato chips when we take on St. Bonaventure.  We expect a good game – St. Bonaventure tied Thacher this season – and we get to play them at home on a sunny Saturday.  We’ll see you on Lower Field for a 1:30 kickoff!