Pennsbury captured the District One 4A title with a 2-1 win over Spring-Ford. Council Rock South earned the fifth and final berth in the PIAA Class 4A State Tournament.
#1-3 PENNSBURY 2, #1-9 SPRING-FORD
MALVERN – Kerry Phillips says she has a mantra she repeats during games.
“I say, ‘God, can you please help us win this game,’” the Falcons’ senior goalie said. “I feel like He has, and it’s amazing that we got this far.”
There certainly may have been some divine intervention in the closing minutes of Saturday night’s district title game against Spring-Ford at Great Valley High School, but there also was some remarkably good scouting that had the Falcons anticipating the Rams’ every move when – with 22.2 seconds remaining in regulation and Pennsbury clinging to a 2-1 lead – the Rams were awarded a direct kick from 18 yards.
“Our coaches love getting write-ups on the teams and telling us all about them,” senior Riley Young said. “We found a video of them doing this kick, so we’re like, ‘Okay, we know what to do. We got this.’
“As soon as we lined up, we said, ‘Dani, you got this.’”
And Dani Cady did get it, almost effortlessly breaking up the play, and while Falcon fans may have been sweating it out, the players were confident.
“The coaches showed us what they were going to do, so we were like, ‘Oh my gosh, they’re going to do this,’” Perry said. “Dani Cady just got it away. I knew we were going to get it out.”
When the final horn sounded, the Falcons and their fans could exhale and then celebrate the program’s second district crown in four years.
“I looked at the clock probably every 20 seconds hoping it was done,” said Young. “This is so great. We weren’t expected to do great things, and last year everyone was expecting us to go all the way and we didn’t.
“This year we were coming up and we’re like, ‘We’re just going to see how we do,’ and here we are in the district final. It’s just awesome.”
“It’s amazing – you have no idea,” said senior Hope Drewes, clutching the gold medal that hung around her neck. “This was our goal since the beginning of the season. We said we wanted to go all the way, and we were determined. Every practice we worked so hard, and it paid off.”
The Falcons broke a scoreless tie in the 15th minute when Drewes served a corner kick into the box that Christina Cataldo-Smith headed into the net. With 34:50 remaining in regulation, Jenna Peters – on the far post – turned a booming kick by Drewes into a highlight reel goal, heading it past the Rams’ goalie for a 2-0 Falcon advantage.
“I really just tried to bomb it to the back post because I knew Jenna would be there making that run in,” Drewes said. “I was hoping she would connect on it, and she did.
“When I hit it, I thought it was a good ball – that’s where I wanted to hit it. Jenna was there so fast, and it happened so fast.”
Peters described the sequence that led to a goal that turned out to be the game winner.
“I saw the ball go back to Hope, and I knew I had to get wide – coach always tells me to get wide before I go forward,” Peters said. “So instead of going forward first, I just went wide.
“I saw the ball coming, I ran onto it, and I headed it. She’s really good at those diagonal balls. We work on that at practice, but it doesn’t usually end with a header.”
“All of us – we saw it happening,” coach Kaitlyn Battiste said. “But it was slow motion and beautiful, like a movie track. Jenna was making the run, and she just went up and got it. It was incredible to see the two of them connect on that.”
Lizzy Kirk came within inches of giving the Falcons a 3-0 lead, but her shot hit the post. Shortly thereafter, with 12 minutes remaining, the Rams drew back-to-back corner kicks, and their late-game push gained serious 
momentum when Kelly Franz scored with 8:11 remaining, setting the stage for the wild ending.
“That was so long,” Peters said of the game’s final minutes. “I just kept looking at the clock waiting for it to go down to zero.
“When they got that free kick, it really was nerve-wracking, but I knew our team wasn’t going to let it in. We want this so much, and nothing is going to stop us. It feels great.”
“It was amazing – I can’t even describe the feeling,” junior defensive back Taylor Muller said. “I was so happy and so relieved.”
“It’s just an overwhelming feeling of happiness,” Perry said. “In the beginning of the season, I didn’t think we were going to get this far, but here we are under the lights on a Saturday night, and it’s just amazing.”
Pennsbury (19-1-2, 10-1-1 SOL) will face Central Dauphin, District 3’s third place team, in the opening round of the PIAA 4A Tournament on Tuesday
Spring-Ford 0-1 1
Pennsbury 1-1 2
Fifth place
#1-6 COUNCIL ROCK SOUTH 1, #1-4 UNIONVILLE 0 (OT)
Julia Goldberg turned a pass from Allie Jones into the dramatic game winner with 12 minutes remaining in overtime. The win gave the Indians the fifth and final state berth from District One.
“It’s exciting for the girls,” coach Nick Heim said. “For the senior class – I couldn’t be any more pleased.
“We had high expectations coming into this year. This senior class has taken this program to a different level, and it’s fantastic to see the joy on their faces when in the postgame speech you get to say, ‘Hey, you bought yourself a bid to states.’ It’s what makes working with groups of kids like this so special. You get to see that joy and elation.”
The Golden Hawks’ first-year coach was thrilled with his squad’s response after falling to Pennsbury 1-0 in the district quarterfinals. They rolled to a 5-0 win over seventh-seeded Souderton and then edged the second-seeded Indians for that coveted fifth state berth.
“They’re a resilient bunch,” Heim said. “That’s kind of been the story of the second half of the season.
“We’ve talked a lot about how we need to learn from adversity because adversity will come again in the playoffs. I think they did in that rough patch we hit at the end of the season. Getting through those moments and being able to remember what it was like when you were in a tight situation late in a game – those are the experiences you lean on. That’s why it’s no coincidence that a senior finds the goal for us.”
The Golden Hawks saw a goal waved off in the first half, and the two teams were scoreless after 80 minutes.
“I thought we generated some good chances in the first half,” Heim said. “The second half was back and forth quite a bit. Both teams had really good opportunities. Emily Helmich came up with a huge save with about a minute left in regulation. They have a really, really fast forward who got in behind our back line. Emily Helmich kind of stoned her on a semi-breakaway.
“When we got to overtime, we said, ‘Look, don’t change what got us to this point. Do not try to alter what you do based on an opponent. Let’s stick to what got us to this game,’ and we did.”
Goldberg’s game winner began in the Golden Hawks’ defensive end.
“They kind of hit a pretty direct ball that Carly Hicky, our center back, settled down,” Heim said. “She picked her head up and hit a great ball that exploded the space in their back line a bit.
“Allie Jones ran onto it – she’s a pretty technical player, and she slid it across the box. The keeper was defending the near post, and Julia Goldberg had a little tap-in there. It was beautiful.”
Heim credited his defense for coming up big against a dangerous Indian squad.
“They played a 3-4-3, and their three forwards were good,” Heim said. “Grace O’Kane and Callie Deola in the back were fantastic as were Carly Hickey and Emily Kavash.
“Our back line is really the strength of our team, but all the way up the field – Paige Mikula put in another incredible effort. Julie Rebh and Sammie Jones helped control the midfield for us. It was a total team effort, and we’re excited to be able to try and make a run here.”
The Golden Hawks’ last trip to the state tournament came in 2014 when this year’s seniors were freshmen.
“As a freshman, you’re not the big contributors,” Heim said. “We had a senior class that took us there.
“I think for them trying to make a run through states as a senior is something they definitely have their eye on.”
Council Rock South (18-3-1, 10-1-1 SOL) will face District 3 champion Conestoga Valley in Tuesday’ opening round of the PIAA Class 4A Tournament.”
Council Rock South 0-0-1 1
Unionville 0-0-0 0
Third place
#1-12 NESHAMINY 3, #1-2 OWEN J ROBERTS 2
Michaela Boyd connected on a shot from 30 yards out in the 74th minute, breaking a 2-2 tie and propelling the Redskins to the win in Saturday’s third place game. The Redskins’ reward for winning is a date with highly regarded Parkland, the District 11 champion, in Tuesday’s opening round of states, but that’s just fine with coach Chelsea Lovelace.
“Unlike Owen J, we wanted to take the game serious and get a full 80 minutes of hard work out of the girls leading us into the first round of states,” the Redskins’ coach said. “So the win came as a result of our girls working hard and doing the things we have been asking of them the past 12 weeks together.
“When they tied it up, our girls kept working hard and pushing to win the game.”
The Wildcats got on the scoreboard 11 minutes into the game when Mahogany Willis found the net. Late in the opening half, Jackie Ziegler’s header (Genna Obringer assist) sent the teams into halftime deadlocked 1-1.
Ten minutes into the second half, Boyd connected on a shot from 20 yards out for her first of two goals, and after the Wildcats tied it up, she answered with the game winner.
Neshaminy upped its overall record to 16-6-1.
Neshaminy 1-2 3
Owen J. Roberts 1-1 2
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