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LANGHORNE – There wasn’t a whole lot of drama in Wednesday’s SOL showdown between Neshaminy and neighboring Council Rock South.
Until, that is, time had expired in regulation.
That’s when the Redskins, who trailed 1-0, drew four consecutive corners.
“Basically, I kept saying ‘we are not letting them score’ over and over again,” Rock South defender Lea Britton said. “I’m not going to lie – I was really scared, but I knew that we practice them, and we weren’t going to let each other lose it for the team.
“We’ve got each other’s backs, especially in a game like that. We worked so hard, and we weren’t going to let it happen.”
The Golden Hawks didn’t let it happen, fighting off three corners until the game came to a dramatic end when – on the fourth corner – Neshaminy’s insert pass sailed well out of the circle, allowing Rock South to escape with a hard-fought 1-0 win.
“We’re really trying to work our way back up to the top again, and it’s important that we get these wins,” said Rock South coach Lisa Defeo, whose team improved to 7-3 on the season. “I’m very pleased.
“I was the assistant under Pat Toner years, and it’s going to be hard to follow in her footsteps. I think the girls have really stepped up. They’re very coachable.”
The win was the second of the week for the Golden Hawks, who lost three straight last week after jumping out of the gate to a 5-0 start.
“Coming off those three losses, we had to prove to ourselves and to everyone else that we still had it in us,” Britton said.
“We had to show everyone that we mean business,” teammate Maria Karidas said.
That’s not to say Rock South’s three-game losing streak to Pennsbury (3-2), William Tennent (3-2 OT) and Council Rock North (1-0) wasn’t difficult. It was, but it was also a learning experience.
“Obviously, it was tough, but all of the girls got together and said, ‘We have to change it – stop the talk and do it as a team,” Karidas said. “You can’t do it as an individual. It takes all of us out there.”
“After the first loss, you obviously expect to bounce back, and after the second one, you expect to bounce back,” Britton added. “I think it taught us we’re going to stick together no matter what. I think in recent years we might have fallen apart, but the seniors especially weren’t going to let it fall apart our last year.”
The win was the Golden Hawks’ second in as many games over the Redskins this season.
“We haven’t beaten them (before), so that alone is huge for our program,” Britton said. “This season especially we’re taking steps to become a program like a Neshaminy or a Council Rock North that’s been such a powerhouse.”
Scoring opportunities were at a premium for both teams on the blustery day, and it was Karidas (Kayla Hempel assist) putting the Golden Hawks on the scoreboard with 3:04 remaining in the opening half when she connected in play during her team’s third corner of the half after a relentless individual effort.
“The thing is it’s so frantic in the circle and so intense,” Karidas said. “The ball was stopped, and I had to keep in my head - ‘Relax, pull back and take a shot.’
“There’s no point in freaking out and hacking at the ball – just stay calm and relaxed and take the shot. If you make it, you make it.”
Scoring early, according to Britton, was key.
“I knew if it came down to 10 minutes left in the second half, we would have all been a mess,” the senior defensive back said. “Knowing our team, it would have been too hectic, and we would have just lost it.
“Scoring in the first half was really strong for our morale.”
Armed with a 1-0 lead, the Hawks’ defense was all but impenetrable.
“It’s basically just everyone working together,” Britton said. “We just try to stay positive, and that’s the key.”
Defeo has made several changes in her defensive backfield this season. The first-year coach has two new players – Rebecca Cocco and Alex Agasar – as well as returning veterans Britton and Taylor Frey.
“It’s hard to step up if you’re a new player and have to learn how to mark or play one-on-one defense,” Defeo said. “We work a lot on defense, and they have stepped up.”
The Redskins drew six second half corners – all within the final nine minutes of the game.
“You could see in the last 10 minutes we had potential,” Neshaminy’s Annie Abdo said. “If we played like that the whole game, I think we’d be coming out on top. I feel as though we got more pumped up in the last 10 minutes, and that’s the level we need to be at the whole game.
“We’re all really good friends on the team – we get along. We just need to work hard the whole game. That’s what our weakest point is right now – to keep working hard the whole game.”
For the Redskins, who have scored more than two goals just twice this season, the game echoed an all-too-familiar refrain.
“Our team does not know how to capitalize on opportunities,” Redskin coach Sara Camilli said. “It doesn’t matter how good you play, it doesn’t matter what your stats say if you don’t put the ball in the net. We get corners, but we don’t finish.
“That’s our weakness, and that’s why we’re not winning. They have to find it within themselves. They have to want to win. We’re having a really tough season right now.”
The Redskins are 5-3-1 in league play, trailing conference leader Pennsbury by two games.
“I’m still going to be hard on them because I’m not lowering my expectations,” Camilli said. “They’re going to have to find a way to fight through.”
If the Redskins are going to experience success – according to Camilli, they will have to do it as a team.
“We don’t have a go-to player, we don’t have two girls that show up every day and score,” the first-year coach said. “We have to win as a team. If we don’t play as a team, we’re not going to have a desirable outcome.
“It’s a shame because our record doesn’t show how talented these girls are, and I don’t think they realize how good they are. They have to learn how to win.”
The players, according to Abdo, remain confident.
“We just keeping saying, ‘No more losses,’” she said. “We need to do anything we can to come out on top and just keep working hard, keep practicing hard and everything.
“That’s the thing about this team – no one is getting mad at each other, so it’s a good situation in that aspect, but it’s hard to lose coming from last year. I just try to keep positive and keep trying to win.”
COUNCIL ROCK SOUTH 1, NESHAMINY 0
Council Rock South 1 0-1
Neshaminy 0 0-0
Goals/Assists: CR South – Marie Karidas 1-0, Kayla Hempel 0-1.
Shots: CRS-4, N-5
Corners: CRS-5, N-10
Saves: Ashley Hart (CRS) 5, Alexa Bell (N) 3.
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