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Columbia, MD -
Kylie Toler (Fulton, MD/Reservoir) and
Madalyn Nichols (Mt. Airy, MD/Glenelg) ran rampent through a strong Frederick Cougars side that came into the game undefeated, as the Dragons came away with a convincing 4-0 victory in their first conference game of the season.
Toler was dangerous in the first 10 minutes as she saw one header off a Nichols corner kick cleared off the line by a Cougars defender. A couple minutes later, she earned a free kick just outside of the Frederick goal box and her free kick caromed off the cross bar as
Grace Pritchett (Dayton, MD/Linganore) hit the rebound just wide.
With the momentum being completely controlled by the Dragons, the breakthrough came just 15 minutes in as a streaking Nichols crossed the ball in from the left side. It fell to
Kayla Hatmaker (Woodbine, MD/Century) in the middle of the box who slammed it home to put Howard ahead.
Howard kept the pressure up and hit pay dirt again at the end of the first half as
Claudia Brush (Catonsville, MD/Catonsville) took the ball down the left hand side and was able to cut inside to find Nichols on the centering pass. Nichols hit the one timer into the bottom corner of the net to double up the Dragons lead going into halftime.
Going into the second half, the Dragons showed no let down as the Howard defense continued to stymie the Cougars. Just inside of the 58
th minute, Toler intercepted a Frederick pass, dribbled 40 yards and split two defenders, nutmegging one of them, then roofed a shot right over the goal keeper for the fourth Dragons goal.
In the 77
th minute, Nichols added her second goal of the game and fourth of the season when she rocketed a left footed laser from 20 yards out into the left side of the netting to seal the win for the Dragons.
Howard will now prepare to host the Dragon Invitational on Saturday and Sunday September 14-15 and will play Rowan College of Gloucester County on Saturday at 1:30 PM.