Cardinals Upset Mercer On Opening Day

On a sweltering opening day, the CCBC Catonsville Cardinals clinched their first home win since 2021 in a decisive 2-1 victory over Mercer County Community College.

Catonsville scored two quick goals in the second half before withstanding a Mercer comeback attempt en route to the thrilling win. It marks the first home win for coach Kinglsey Onwuka and speaks volumes of the Cardinals' improved offensive performance.

"We did a lot of work in the offseason on fitness," said Onwuka. "Instead of working on our fitness during the season, we can focus on implementing our system and how we want to play. We've brought in some guys that have helped us on offense and it helped us in this game a lot."

The Cardinals out-shot the Vikings 11-10, with nine of their shots being on goal. Most of the Cardinals' shots came in the first half, where Catonsville debuted a new-look offense. Freshman forward Bradley Ramirez (Newtown) had three shots that just missed the Mercer net.

On the other side of the ball, the Cardinals new goalie kept his cool under intense pressure. Freshman goalie Franklin Duarte (Meade) made a pair of incredible saves to keep the game 0-0 entering the half.

Five minutes into the second half, the Cardinals struck. Sophomore striker Michael Miranda (Lansdowne), having missed a shot just three minutes earlier, capitalized on an excellent pass from freshman forward Mykal Hogan (Boys Latin) and netted the first goal of the game. It took only five more minutes for the Cardinals to hit pay dirt again, as Ramirez finally found the net on another pass from Hogan.

"I think we did pretty well," Hogan said. "We let up a little in the second half but the guys did their job and got the win."

Now ahead 2-0, the Cardinals relied on their defense to seal the game. Mercer would out-shoot the Cardinals in the final frame, but only once did a Viking shot get past Duarte. Up 2-1 with 10 minutes left, the Cardinals withstood a brutal Viking onslaught to seal the victory. It's the first time the Cardinals have won on home soil since a 6-3 win over Carroll Community College on October 5, 2021.

"There are still some things we need to work on," Onwuka said. "But the coaching staff and I are seeing signs of our guys working together and implementing things we've worked on in practice. It's coming together."

Next up for the Cardinals is a match with Montgomery College on August 24.