Five SOL girls’ soccer teams were winners in Tuesday’s opening round of the District One AAA Tournament.
#16 WISSAHICKON 1, #17 ABINGTON 1 (WISS. WINS 4-3 ON PKs)
Between the two of them, Wissahickon and Abington played 38 games. In the end, it all came down to some penalty kicks.
“It was an exceptional game tonight by both teams,” Wissahickon coach Shannon Creamer-Franke said.
The Trojans and Ghosts played 100 minutes to a 1-1 tie, setting up a shootout to determine who would advance in the District One AAA playoffs.
The 17th seeded Ghosts scored first. Maddie Doyle finished off a pass from Marissa Heath in the third minute as Abington took an early 1-0 lead.
With just over 23 minutes left in the first half, Mady Foglia found the net with an assist from Jasmine Bishop to even it up.
It stayed that way for a while.
“Wissahickon center back Mary Matthews should be credited with a stellar game as she closed hard on oncoming Abington, shutting down their attack time and time again,” Creamer-Franke said. “Matthews also was playing it forward and was credited with three shots on goal.
“Keeper Keanna Haney also came up big with seven saves to her credit – two of which were absolute game savers for the Trojans.”
According to the Trojans’ coach, a diving Haney knocked the ball wide to prevent it from hitting the bottom 90 early in the second half. In the first OT, Haney delivered another diving stop to deny the Ghosts a sure goal.
Krysta Memis, Foglia, Maddie Elwell, and Gabby Unipan were all money in PKs as the Trojans won it 4-3, finishing off a tough Abington team.
“Wissahickon’s interim AD, Mark Schellenger, paid this compliment after the game – ‘great game, great win, your girls really dug deep,’ and they did,” Creamer-Franke said. “Not only tonight but in the past week coming up with three big wins when they needed it.”
Wissahickon moves on to face Central Bucks East, the undefeated champs of the SOL Continental, on Thursday
Abington 1-0-0-0 1
Wissahickon 1-0-0-0 1
#8 PENNRIDGE 3, #25 SOUDERTON 0
Pennridge and Souderton know each other pretty well. So it may have been a bit surprising to both teams when they saw the brackets released on Sunday with the Rams and Indians matched up in the first round. But the games must go on. After splitting the season series, the rubber match went to Pennridge.
Late in the first half, the Rams got their first goal from Kennedy Peace. The offensive threat, Peace, deposited a feed from Rachel Velez, making a long run at the net to finish it off. Peace’s goal made it 1-0 going into the half.
In the 48th minute, Souderton scored an own goal to make it 2-0. Jess Milligan was credited with the goal. In the 63rd minute, Pennridge made it a three-goal game. Erin Stevenson got the goal, putting it away for the Rams.
After back-to-back years of first round exits for the Rams, a trip to the second round sure is sweet. Getting Kennedy Peace going—who was there for both first round exits in 2013 and 2014—was crucial for Pennridge.
“It was great for Kennedy to score,” Rams’ coach Audrey Anderson said. “She’s a junior (and was part of the teams that were eliminated in the first round), so for her to score the first goal was very appropriate. It was great to see her finish a run all the way to the goal. It changed the whole tempo of the game.”
Back on September 18, the Indians shocked the Rams, winning 1-0. But Pennridge followed up that loss with a 3-0 win on October 13. With a familiar opponent, it never makes it easy in the postseason.
“It’s a little rough. Regardless of who it is, it’s a conference team,” Anderson said. “Our conference is so good that it’s sad to know that by Saturday at least two teams will be knocked out of the playoffs. We’re competing all season for these spots and we’re all in the same bracket.”
Souderton is a quick team and presented some challenges for Anderson’s squad. Despite being a 25th seed, the Indians have had some impressive results in 2015.
“I was nervous because Souderton is a great team,” she said. “[They have a] great coach and they’ve been doing some good things. Being one of the first times that I remember them being in the playoffs, I knew they were coming out to play. It was a great run for them.”
Next up for Pennridge is yet another Continental Conference foe—Central Bucks South. The 24th seeded Titans upset Downingtown East in its first round game. The Rams won the teams’ first meeting in September, but on October 8, they tied 0-0. Expect a fight on Thursday.
“Their keeper is very good so that’s going to be a challenge,’ Anderson said of Titans’ goalie Sophia Boggs. “We’re going to have to go to the drawing board to see if we can design something special to put in on their keeper.”
Souderton 0-0 0
Pennridge 1-2 3
#24 CENTRAL BUCKS SOUTH 2, #9 DOWNINGTOWN EAST 1
It was a tale of two halves.
The first half belonged to the higher seeded team, Downingtown East. The Cougars’ quickness, excellent passing, and stout backline were on display. The Cougars scored a goal and seemed poised to put the game away in the last 40 minutes
But the second half belonged to the “underdogs,” but you would never know it watching them play. The Titans attacked, putting constant pressure on East, resulting in a pair of goals and a spot in the second round of the District One AAA second round.
“I think they really outplayed us in the first half,” coach Betsy Bullock said. “Their speed of play and possession—we had trouble with them. It’s uncharacteristic of us because usually when we play possession teams, we are better, but they just had the better of the play in the first half.”
The Cougars threaded the needle with passes against the South defense in the first half. Midfielder Madison Baxter started a number of runs for East. They earned corners and kept South off balance. The Cougars defense was solid too, not allowing the Titans to penetrate their backline.
But South turned to Sophia Boggs. The reliable keeper showed she’s the real deal, especially on the biggest of stages. She made five huge saves in the first half alone. East’s Emily Wurzel did get one past Boggs, though with 11 minutes to play in the first half, but Boggs’ strong play kept it close.
“Sophia is really a steady influence in the back,” Bullock said “She’s really consistent and she’s a high level goal keeper for a high school player. We really do depend on her to keep us in games.”
The second half seemed like a new game:
“We decided to play a little more direct as opposed to possession,” Bullock said of the adjustments she made at half.
South missed some chances early on in the second half, but kept the pressure on. Eventually something fell. Freshman Brooke Steigerwalt, who missed an opportunity earlier, didn’t miss this time, scoring off a feed from Krysta Redding to tie up the game with 17 minutes to go.
“I was trying to stay clam and when I saw an opportunity I took it,” Steigerwalt said.
The Titans kept the pedal down and wanted more. With ten minutes to go, the Titans earned a corner. After a near miss, they got a crack at another. Same result and they got a third attempt. The third time’s a charm, apparently. Courtney Taylor’s corner kick found the foot of another freshman, Mackenzie Edwards, who scored to give the Titans a 2-1 lead.
“It’s awesome,” Edwards said. “We all played as a team and that’s all we needed to do.”
“It was nice to see some nice contributions from freshmen, who are going to continue with our program for the next few years,” Bullock said.
South fended off a couple late runs by the Cougars. With 30 seconds left, Boggs made one last save and iced the win for South.
The old 24 over 9 upset. South proved the depth of the Continental Conference defeating Downingtown East of the Ches-Mont League. Next up for the Titans will be a fellow Continental opponent in Pennridge. After dropping the first meeting of the two teams, the Titans worked a scoreless tie when it played the Rams in early October. South will need to play two halves to beat a tough Pennridge squad, and if they can do that, there’s no telling how far they can go.
“We always play them evenly so it will be quite a battle,” Bullock added.
Central Bucks South 0-2 2
Downingtown East 1-0 1
#14 COUNCIL ROCK NORTH 5, #19 UPPER DUBLIN 1
Council Rock North picked a good time to have its best game of the season. The 14th-seeded Indians scored one early and piled it on in the second half to put away 19th-seeded Upper Dublin in the opening round of the playoffs.
Kayla Robinson got North on the board in the sixth minute to open up her busy night. The assist went to Caitlin Duffy.
Upper Dublin actually possessed the ball a bit more than North in the first half, but failed to put together any really dangerous chances. The Indians missed a shot to make it 2-0 before the half, but still went into the half with the lead.
“We got off to a good start,” coach Wendall Beres said. “We scored a goal in the first five minutes of the game and with the defense and goalkeeper that we have, that’s usually good enough to get the job done. When that happens, you play with a different confidence”
In the second half, North came alive. Six minutes into the second frame, Robinson struck again. She took a feed from Mia Scalamandre to make it 2-0. Seven minutes later, Becca Margolis scored with an assist from Meredith Hill. In the 56th minute, once again, Robinson scored completing the hat trick off a pass from Tori Hill. In ten minutes, the Indians put the game out of reach.
“We were flying on all cylinders,” Beres said of his team’s hot start to open the second half.
In the 67th minute, Sydney Allen scored from Lauren D’Amelia to make it 5-0. Becca Watson added a late goal for the Flying Cardinals to avoid the shutout, but the night belonged to the Indians. Robinson’s three goals led the way.
“She’s starting to play with confidence,” Beres said. “With Kayla, that’s the biggest thing. When Kayla scores goals, we’re a very difficult team to beat. We’re hoping to see much of the same from her on Thursday.”
It’s a big win for the Indians, who lost in the first round to Central Bucks South a year ago. They came out ready to play against Upper Dublin, the SOL American champs.
“Last year we were the higher seed and we lost in penalty kicks to CB South,” Beres said of the early exit in 2014. “We wanted to make sure that we didn’t focus on anything more than today’s game. The kids have done a great job all year of only focusing on the next game. We played the best game we’ve played all year.”
Jeri Belardo was solid in net, stopping six shots. The defense in from of her helped fend off any attack from any number of the strong Flying Cardinal attackers.
North will move onto the second round, where it will face third seeded West Chester Rustin. The Indians will travel there on Thursday. Last week, Rustin beat Neshaminy 1-0.
“We’re going to worry about us,” Beres said of the upcoming matchup. “We’re going to put our best step forward on Thursday. I expect a team (Rustin) with 16 wins to be very organized and play good defense. What their offensive threats are, we’ll find out and we’ll do our best to minimize those weapons and hope to score some goals like we did tonight.”
Upper Dublin 0-1 1
Council Rock North 1-4 5
#6 WEST CHESTER HENDERSON 3, # 27 NORTH PENN 1
North Penn’s seemingly improbable run came to an end, Tuesday night, losing on the road to sixth-seeded West Chester Henderson, 3-1. The Maidens won their last six games to sneak into one of the final two playoff sports in District One.
#11 NESHAMINY 4, #22 PHOENIXVILLE 0
The Gabby Farrell Show was on repeat in Langhorne, Tuesday night. Neshaminy’s star put on a clinic, scoring four goals and leading her team to a second round playoff game.
Farrell got 11th-seeded Neshaminy on the board in the 18th minute with an assist from Riley Nyhus. It stayed 1-0 through the half.
In the second half, Farrell got back to work. In the 59th minute, she scored again off a pass from Jackie Ziegler. In the 67th minute, she made it 3-0, completing the natural hat trick. She could have stopped there, but, of course, she didn’t, adding her fourth goal less than a minute later, making it 4-0—a big first round win.
Victoria Smith made three saves in the shutout.
After bowing out early last season, the 2013 state champs will move on to the second round to face a difficult sixth-seeded West Chester Henderson.
Phoenixville 0-0 0
Neshaminy 1-3 4
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