By Nick DeLorenzo
With five teams separated by less than two games in the standings, every SOL National matchup from here on out holds the utmost importance in the race for first place.
“There’s so much parody in the league right now that every game is extra important,” Council Rock South head coach Time Keddie said.
In a matchup of 3-1 teams, the winner would be in great shape to keep pace with undefeated Council Rock North while the loser would drop all the way to a tie for fifth place. Luckily for Council Rock South, the Golden Hawks were able to defeat Pennsbury 5-2 behind a spirited scoring attack led by freshman Paige MacDowell.
While South controlled the pace of the game early, the score remained tied for most of the first half thanks to Pennsbury senior goalie and captain Cassie Meade, who made several spectacular saves to keep the Golden Hawks off the board.
“She had three phenomenal saves,” Keddie said. “At that point, she kept them in the game.”
Rock South was finally able to get one past Meade after a scrum in front of the net following a corner kick that led to an Alex Dusak goal with just under 17 minutes to play in the first.
After a few more saves by Meade, South ended the half on a scoring flurry, netting three goals in the final four minutes of the half to go into halftime up 4-0. MacDowell had two of the goals and sophomore Alexa Crosier added the fourth goal in the waning seconds of the half.
MacDowell credits a nice set up from Lauren Heath on her first goal and admits that a bit of luck may have been on her side with her second, proving that good things happen when you put the ball on net.
“The second goal I just put a little touch on it and it stumbled in,” MacDowell said.
“Once we started getting our wheels going at goal as opposed to getting balls at the feet of the defenders, I really thought that opened us up and created better opportunities,” Keddie added.
Pennsbury came out in the second half with more intensity and put more pressure on the South defense, resulting in goals from Molly Phillips and Kersten Formento to cut the lead to 4-2. But it was too little, too late for the Falcons, and Cara Deola scored with three minutes left in the game to seal a 5-2 victory for Rock South.
Keddie was impressed by the way Pennsbury came on in the second half and was proud of his team’s ability to close out the game.
“Pennsbury’s a good team,” the Golden Hawks’ coach said. “It was a tale of two halves. I thought in the second half they put a spirited effort coming at us.
“I thought our defense played well,” he continued. “We were unfortunate with the two goals we gave up, but I thought we responded well by turning around and scoring (goal) number five. That kind of ends their momentum when you have the ability to do that. So I’m very proud of our team.”
With first place Council Rock North falling to Neshaminy (3-1) on Monday, the victory put Rock South into a tie for first place, and as MacDowell pointed out, it puts the Golden Hawks in a very good position moving forward.
“It’s good to put us at a good advantage against Tennent and North [coming up],” MacDowell said.
Keddie agrees, emphasizing the importance of winning every game possible from here on out.
“I think this week in particular we have Pennsbury, Tennent and North, then we’re coming down the back half of the season,” Keddie said. “So obviously with Neshaminy losing last week and with Neshaminy and Council Rock North playing today, this game today was huge because it sets us up to have a share of first place by the end of the week if we take care of our own business.”
Keddie also knows that his team is now in a position to control its own destiny on the road to first place, which is ultimately all that he can hope for.
“It comes down to taking care of business when you need to take care of business,” Keddie said.
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