Check out the recaps for SOL girls’ soccer teams in action Friday. Abington/Wissahickon photos provided courtesy of John Gleeson. Check back for a gallery of photos. CLICK HERE to go directly to Suburban One Sports’ GIRLS’ SOCCER GALLERIES.
Neshaminy 2, Central Bucks West 0
Neshaminy had a quick turnaround Friday, hosting a CB West team that’s never easy to play against.
Senior Bri Garyah put together another strong effort, scoring in the first half and assisting on the second-half goal. Neshaminy had gotten excellent play out of its midfield the last two days, an area of the field that’s always an important one to control against a Bucks team that can take a lot of possession from its midfield play.
Neshaminy also posted its third straight shutout and will venture back into SOL Patriot play with some positive momentum starting on Tuesday.
Scoring Summary
1st half
N – Bri Garyah (Leah Kaczmarek)
2nd Half
N – Anna Axenroth (Bri Garyah)
Neshaminy coach Josh Van Reed on the win: “CB West is a tough, physical team and you have to match it. We know there wouldn’t be very many opportunities today, as all of their games have been decided by a single goal. The goal today was to keep the ball moving quickly. We’ve been doing a good job with that the past couple games, and it feels like everyone is very connected on the field, and you can see it with the talking, the movement and the passing.”
–Movement leads to offense: “The first-half goal was a great example. Cassidy Tweedie collected the ball from a clear and beat one girl and played a ball through the defense where Leah could run behind and cross it first time to Bri in the middle to touch in. West came out aggressive after half, we managed it, and we were able to add another one as well. Bri made a great run into the corner of the box and laid a ball back for Anna who hit it off the post and in – well-timed and well-struck.
–Props: “I thought Bri had a great game today up top and the midfielders Mia Stock, Anna Axenroth and Cassidy Tweedie did a ton of work, lots of physical play, lots of distribution.”
Up next: Neshaminy will travel to Council Rock South Tuesday, and Central Bucks West will host North Penn Tuesday.
NESHAMINY 1 1 – 2
CENTRAL BUCKS WEST 0 0 – 0
Abington 4, Wissahickon 1
The season’s been a bit of a roller coaster for Abington, the Ghosts fluctuating between wins and losses halfway through their schedule.
Friday, making up the lone SOL Liberty fixture left unplayed from the first half of division play, Abington rallied to grab an important win. The Ghosts kept themselves in the conversation with the second half of divisional play starting next week, although they’ll have some work to do to move up the league and district standings.
Abington coach Rick Tompkins: “Wissahickon jumped out to a lead in the first minutes of the game, but the Ghosts clawed back on the strength of two Alexis Whaley goals, a beautiful free kick that Nya Riggs bent around the wall and a nice shot by Keira Clemson into the far corner of the goal. Val Zapata, Addy Doyle, Clemson and Whaley provided assists on the Ghost goals.”
Up next: Abington will host Hatboro-Horsham Tuesday, and Wissahickon will host Springfield Twp Monday.
ABINGTON – 4
WISSAHICKON – 1
Harry S Truman 2, MaST Charter 2 (2 OT)
The Tigers fought for 100 minutes in Friday’s afternoon heat and came away with a hard-earned draw against an emotional and motivated MaST Charter team.
Tigers coach Brian Gilbert explained he learned after the match that the MaST Charter players were playing for a classmate who was involved in an accident this week and he called their efforts a worthy tribute. His team also put forth a resilient effort, rallying from a goal down in the second half then getting a couple of superb defensive plays in the overtimes to earn the draw.
Scoring Summary
1st Half
HST – Gwen Marston (Leila Lorenti) 18:00
MaST goal
2nd half
MaST goal
HST – Lila Giunta (Gwen Marston) 24:43
1st OT
No Scoring
2nd OT
No Scoring
Truman coach Brian Gilbert on the match: “It was a hard-fought game. Although there was no winner declared on the scoreboard, both teams showed a lot of heart and there were no losers. Hats off to all the players on both teams for an intense and exciting match.
“I’m proud of the girls as they never gave up and kept fighting, battling back to tie it late in the game. The girls have made positive strides for this program, working hard and building an identity of togetherness.”
–Tigers strike first: “Truman opened the scoring on a goal by Gwen Marston, assisted by senior Leila Lorenti. It was Gwen’s team leading third goal of the season and the assist was Leila’s team leading fourth.”
–Truman battles back: “We found ourselves down a goal deep into the second half. The girls continued to grind, generating multiple chances before finally evening the score. Transitioning the ball from the right side of the field to the left, Liz Delaney made a pass to Natalie Klimowicz who sent a through-ball to Gwen (Marston) down the left wing. Gwen outraced the defender to the ball and sent a left-footed cross, hitting Lila Giuna in stride at the top of the six. Lila buried the shot into the back of the net for the game tying goal and her second goal of the year.”
–Defense stands tall in OT: “MaST had a near breakaway in the first OT, however goaltender Aubrey Thompson read the play and sprinted out of the goal, just barely winning the 50-50 ball at the top of the 18 to keep the game alive. Late in the second overtime, MaST appeared to have another near breakaway opportunity, however defender Natalie Klimowicz showed off her track skills and pure hustle to get back to contest the shot to prevent MaST from scoring. Truman’s strong defensive effort was backed by sophomore center-fullback Bella Romer who logged 100 minutes, playing the entire game, including both overtimes.”
Up next: Harry S Truman will host Lincoln in a non-league game Monday.
MaST CHARTER 1 1 0 0 – 2
HARRY S TRUMAN 1 1 0 0 – 2
New Hope-Solebury 2, Norristown 0
Ceci Capriotti scored twice to lift the Lions to a well-earned win on a warm Friday afternoon.
Scoring Summary
1st Half
No scoring
2nd Half
NHS – Ceci Capriotti (Elizabeth Brennan)
NHS – Ceci Capriotti
Lions coach Laura Motley: “Both teams fought hard tonight in the heat. The score was 0-0 going into half. Ceci Cappriotti capitalized off a pass from Elizabeth Brennan to pull ahead 1-0. Ceci Cappriotti scored a second goal with 10 minutes left in the half. Great team effort tonight.
Up next: New Hope-Solebury will host Springfield Twp on Tuesday.
NEW HOPE-SOLEBURY 0 2 – 2
NORRISTOWN 0 0 – 0
North Penn 1, Gwynedd Mercy Academy 0
After going six days between fixtures, the Knights had to wait less than 24 hours to get back on the pitch after Thursday’s win over Quakertown.
The short turnaround didn’t seem to slow the Knights, who made it four straight wins with three of them coming with a defensive shutout. Gwynedd Mercy has shown a knack for being a team that can put up a lot of shots, but North Penn’s defensive group of Jadyn Sperling, Sophia Zampirri, Allison Schall, Alyssa Chartrand, Alana Drummond, and goalkeeper Julia Fiore kept the Monarchs in check.
Freshman Annaliese Marnien has already logged some big goals in her first season and she added another on Friday, putting away a nice finish off a solid build-up early in the second half.
Scoring Summary
1st Half
None
2nd Half
NP – Annaliese Marnien (Avery Krepps) 49th
North Penn coach Mike Rio on the win: “Really great win today, we controlled a lot of the play and really dictated possession. (Gwynedd Mercy Academy was) strong defensively and we finally found the breakthrough in the second half. In the first half, we got some chances, specifically one off a header on a corner that was cleared off the line by a girl on the post.
“Second half, we kept the pressure on their backs and eventually got a breakthrough when Jadyn Sperling played a long ball out wide to Avery Krepps who beat a defender to the corner cut it back and then found Anna (Marnien) at the top of the box who beat a player and then hit a strong shot into the far post corner.”
–Shutout effort: “Defensively we were solid and Jadyn, Sophia Zampirri, Allison Schall, Alyssa Chartrand, Alana Drummond, with Julia Fiore in goal preserved the shutout. They had a couple of chances off corners, but Julia really controlled the box for us.”
–Midfield masters: “In addition, Lani Bachmann, Paula Fernandez, Maddie Gorman, Paige Gladfelter and Morgan Rodoff each held down the possession and won a ton of balls in the middle of the field for us. Really a good solid team win against a good Gwynedd team.”
–Staying in form with results: “We knew it was important to get results these past two weeks before heading back into the gauntlet that is our division, so I’m really proud of the way the girls have risen to the challenge and hopefully set ourselves for a strong push down the home stretch against some more quality opponents.”
Up next: North Penn will travel to Central Bucks West on Tuesday.
NORTH PENN 0 1 – 1
GWYNEDD MERCY ACADEMY 0 0 – 0
Plymouth Whitemarsh 2, Springfield Twp 1
The Colonials expected to have their hands full with a talented Spartans team on Friday and to no surprise, they certainly did.
PW’s Olivia Bragg came up huge with a game-sealing save in the final seconds to end a very competitive game between the SOL Liberty’s leading side and one of the SOL Freedom’s co-leaders with the restart of division play looming. Springfield Twp struck first on a goal from the always-dangerous Karter Brady. but a short-handed Colonials squad was able to muster a rally.
Molly McEvoy, already establishing herself as a key player as a freshman and Liv Patete scored for PW with the Colonials getting a nice boost from some new names put into new roles.
Scoring Summary
1st Half
ST – Karter Brady
PW – Molly McEvoy
2nd Half
PW – Liv Patete (Lori Flannery)
PW coach TJ DeLucia on the win: “We survived today against a dangerous Springfield team. We were down four starters. so a lot of different players got an opportunity today to contribute.
“We will regroup this weekend, hopefully get some players back soon, and focus on a big game against Quakertown on Tuesday.”
–Spartans strike first: “Springfield got on the board first with 13 minutes to go in the first half, on a really nice goal, it was a really impressive strike out of the air. Through film study, we were very aware of the quality of the Springfield attack – Karter Brady is a terrific player.”
–Jayo delivers on defense: “I have to shout out senior centerback, Kaiane Jayo, who had the very difficult job of marking Brady all game. Kaiane was terrific. Kaiane is unflappable and does her job. She is definitely an unsung hero of sorts for this team.”
–PW equalizer: “We had our chances in the first half, multiple balls bouncing in the box that we did not put away. It is to be expected with a lot of new players playing up front for us. With 90 seconds left in the first half, freshman Molly McEvoy attacked a bouncing ball in the box – struck it out of the air about 10 yards out into the side netting. It was Molly’s fourth goal of the season. Molly is third on the team right now in goal involvements. She made her presence felt all over the field for 80 minutes on a hot, hot day on the turf.”
–Colonials take a lead: “With 20 minutes remaining in regulation, freshman Lori Flannery – in her first career start – receives a ball from junior Fran Delucca, who received her first significant action of the season, that she was able to take to the end line. (Flannery) plays a perfect cross into a sprinting Liv Patete, who made a 40 yard sprint, to get on the end of the cross. She put her laces through the ball to score the game-winner. It was Patete’s second goal of the season, coming off her game-changing performance against Pennsbury last week. She is someone we will need down the stretch here, in the second half of league play, so it’s great to see her have some success.
“A lot of credit to Lori Flannery today, as well. We asked her to do a lot of running and she is getting better and better every game out. She’s starting to understand what we expect out of the forward position. She has a bright future, and she stepped up today, in a much-needed role.”
–Bragg saves the win: “Finally, massive shout out to senior goalkeeper Olivia Bragg – who made the game-saving save with 17 seconds remaining in the game. It was point blank and going above her head. Bragg had great hands, made the stop, and kept the ball in front of her. Overtime was not something we were looking forward to today so thank you to the keeper.”
Springfield Twp coach Chris Tomarelli: “Proud of the girls’ effort against another 4A school. Olivia Gatewood was great in net and Karter Brady had the goal. We look to bounce back Monday at Wiss.”
Up next: Plymouth Whitemarsh will host Quakertown on Tuesday, and Springfield Twp will travel to Wissahickon Monday.
PLYMOUTH WHITEMARSH 1 1 – 2
SPRINGFIELD TWP 1 0 – 1
Souderton 2, Quakertown 0
Big Red’s defense was on lockdown Friday night, as it has been of late in posting a third straight shutout.
Goalkeeper Kahlan Hurley posted the clean sheet with just two saves thanks to a dominant effort from the back line. Offensively, Souderton put a chance away on either side of halftime, taking advantage of a pair of set pieces to do so with Cailee Cush following a free kick for the first half goal and Hannah Beckett turning Sienna Stunkard’s free kick into some insurance in the second half.
Scoring Summary
1st Half
S – Cailee Cush 23rd
2nd Half
S – Hannah Beckett (Sienna Stunkard) 59th
Souderton coach Melissa Lollar: “Souderton’s midfield and defensive line were dominant against Quakertown, giving up very few shots and winning nearly every ball in the air.”
Up next: Souderton will be on the road at Pennridge Tuesday, and Quakertown will travel to Plymouth Whitemarsh on Tuesday.
SOUDERTON 1 1 – 2
QUAKERTOWN 0 0 – 0
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