Rockville, MD - In a slugfest between two neighboring rivals, the Montgomery Raptors came away with a 4-2 win that muddles the top of the conference standings as Howard suffered their first conference defeat of the season.
Montgomery scored twice in the first half despite the teams being even on shots (6-6) in the opening 45 minutes of play.
After a third Raptors goal early in the second half, Howard was able to respond just three minutes later.
Leigh McDonald (Loveland, CO/Mountain View) won the ball in the middle of the field, was able to dribble past a few Raptors and sent a through ball to
Hailey Montoya (Redlands, CA/Redlands East Valley) who chipped the ball over the goalkeeper and into the open net.
The Dragons cut into the Montgomery lead again in the 69th minute as
Emily Delaney (Catonsville, MD/Catonsville) took a long free kick over the Raptors defense which allowed
Nikki Vieira (Sao Paulo, Brazil/Colégio Adventista) the ability to get in on goal to score for the 10th time on the year.
The momentum was stalled less than a minute later as Montgomery was able to secure an insurance goal and then held on from there.
Howard will next travel to Virginia to take on Christendom University on Saturday, October 6 at 12 PM.
