CB South defeated CR North to earn a spot in Saturday’s District One AAA championship game. To view game action photos, please visit the Photo Gallery.
Brittany Grzywacz talked about her team’s composure after Wednesday’s 1-0 win over Council Rock North in a District One AAA semifinal game.
“These girls know how to hold themselves together on the field,” the Titans’ first-year coach said. “Even if we do go down a goal or if something doesn’t go our way, they do a really good job of keeping their composure on the field.”
The Titans are cool customers indeed. Even after winning a game that propelled their team into the district final for the third time in three years, their celebration was relatively subdued.
But don’t be fooled. They were excited.
“I don’t think I’ve been more excited about something,” senior Sam Bodo said. “I just can’t believe how far we came, and we’re a brand new team. I’m speechless.”
That’s not to say the players hadn’t made reaching the district title game a goal.
“(It was) for the older girls maybe,” senior Corrine Kenney said. “This is going to be our third time, so we were always like, ‘We really want to get there. We really want to get there.’
“I don’t know if all the other players were totally expecting it, but I think deep down we were like, ‘If we keep winning and keep playing our best, we can make it there.’”
The win vaulted the Titans into Saturday’s district title game at Wissahickon High School (5:30 p.m.) against top-seeded Unionville. The Indians earned a 3-1 win over Downingtown East in the other semifinal.
It took a standout effort by the Titans to earn their date with the Indians.
“I had confidence in them,” Grzywacz said. “We were moving the ball around really well. I thought this was one of the best games all season.
“We had some really good passing sequences moving up the field. We were really generating the corners, but they’re definitely a dangerous team. I’m not taking that away from them at all. They generated some corners as well. It was just a matter of who put more goals in. It was a very evenly matched game.”
The Titans drew six early corners but came up empty. The Indians staged some late pressure of their own, but the two teams went into halftime locked in a scoreless tie.
On their first corner of the second half, the Titans saw a shot deflect off the post. On their third corner, Emily Cliggett took a shot that was turned away by goalie Julia Singer, but Kenney was there for the rebound and banged it home, giving the Titans a 1-0 lead with 16:45 remaining in regulation.
“I think that we kept pushing through,” Bodo said. “I know this week in practice we’ve been working hard on corners.
“We had to make sure everything was perfect, and if we did get stopped, we knew not to get down on ourselves. They’re a good team too, and when you play a good team, you just have to play a little bit better and dig deeper.”
The Indians had some chances of their own and saw one of their shots deflect off the post and another deflection turned away, thanks to a glove save by South goalie Sarah Zeszotarski.
“This game was so evenly matched,” Rock North senior Amrit Ahluwalia said. “Field hockey is a game of inches. We hit a post, they hit a post. They had one go in.
“This time they came out on top, so we have to learn from this, and the next time we can’t let it be a game of inches again. This is a good growing game. We’re still in states, we still have that next game in districts, and we’re just going to come back stronger. We always do. I’m really proud of this team. It was a great game.”
Ahluwalia went on to credit the Titans.
“This is the best team we have played all year,” she said. “They’re very talented, but we stuck with them. That’s extremely positive for us.
“We know exactly what we have to work on to be ready for Friday.”
Rock North coach Heather Whalin was pleased with her team’s showing.
“I told them – it just bounced their way today,” the Indians’ coach said. “I was very proud. We played really well today. We’re speedy, which helped.
“Our corner defense was fantastic, and they really work hard on that all the time. I told them – we’re the six seed. Anything from here is icing on the cake. You want to be in the district final, but don’t hold your heads low, which they’re not because they’re proud of what they were able to accomplish this year.”
The Indians will face Downingtown East in Friday’s third place game.
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