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By Alex Frazier
Two games.
Two goals.
Two wins.
It must be the shoes.Neshaminy’s Brianna Hires purchased a new pair of cleats a few days ago in her favorite color—red.
They aren’t just red; they’re shiny bright red with three white stripes on the side.
“I just went with it,” she said.
She almost didn’t wear them for the Redskins’ huge National Conference game against Council Rock South Thursday.
“I was hesitant to wear them because they’re not really broken in, but I decided to go for it and see what happened,” she said.
Why not.
The day before she wore them in another league game against Abington and scored the game winner in Neshaminy’s 2-0 win.
True to form, she did it again, scoring the only goal in a 1-0 win over the Golden Hawks.
Ironically, Hires’ game winner came off her head, not her foot.
“We played Abington yesterday and came out real slow,” said Hires, “so today we brought everyone together and had a real good pep talk in the beginning to get everyone pumped up.”
Overall, the game was evenly played. Council Rock South claimed the first half with a downhill advantage on Neshaminy’s short field.
The Golden Hawks nearly capitalized 10 minutes in when Alexa Crosier took possession of the ball around the 12, but she blasted her shot over the crossbar. Other than a couple of long shots, there were no serious scoring threats by either team.
“In the first half we outplayed them dramatically,” said Council Rock South coach Tim Keddie. “In the second half, they played a better half.”
It took less than three minutes for Hires to put the Redskins in front to start the second half. Dale Mason lofted a cross from the left side of the field across the goalmouth to Hires who was charging in from the right side.Rock keeper Nicole Ulrick came out to challenge Hires, but the Neshaminy senior didn’t give an inch as she leaped and headed the ball into the right side of the net.
“I didn’t actually see the ball,” said Hires. “I just kind of went up. I didn’t even know it went in. I felt the goalie hit me in the back of the head, and then everyone started cheering. It was a really good feeling when it went in.”
“It was well defended,” said Keddie. “It was a great service. We had a matchup on her and our goalkeeper came out strong, and she put it in the back of the net. That’s why games like these are 1-0.”
Hires had three other shots, but all of them sailed over the cage.
“The one rolling through the box was perfect, but I kicked it over,” she lamented. “I was so mad. It was a perfect rolling ball.”
The young Neshaminy defense seems to be maturing quickly.
“We did what we had to do to defend,” said Neshaminy coach Rich Reice. “That’s a whole new group back there.”
Neshaminy junior Alyssa Kirk played jayvee last year and has been stalwart at sweeper this year.
“She kept us in shape back there,” said Hires.
Kate McKenna is only a freshman but is playing like an experienced upperclassman. On the wings are seniors Ashley Kahler and Mason, who are experiencing extended varsity experience for the first time.
And senior keeper Lauren Gecht is just now stretching her wings at the varsity level. Although she didn’t face any serious threats, she did a good job of coming off the line several times to win 50/50 balls against Rock’s Jamie Vaniver, who along with Lauren Heath and Crosier were the Hawks’ chief scoring threats.
“I’m real happy shutting out that group,” said Reice. “They’re going to be one of the better teams around.”
The Redskin defenders were under considerable pressure, especially in the last 15 minutes, but they didn’t allow Rock to connect any passes.
The Hawks earned four corners in the second half, two of them in the last seven minutes.
“There was a definite lack of finishing today, “ said Keddie. “There were four brilliant opportunities to be dangerous that we got nothing out of with players who are good enough to put the ball in the back of the net. That’s just lack of execution on our part.
“We’re only four games in. We work on it every day. It’s difficult to play here. The difference in this particular game is we have three really good scoring opportunities. They have one. They finish; we didn’t.”
“Unfortunately we didn’t accomplish what we wanted,” said junior Cara Deola, who was moved forward in the second half to take advantage of her strong foot. She did managed to uncork a couple of powerful shots, but both of them were off the cage.
“The more you keep shooting, the more chances you have of getting it in,” said Deola. “Next time we’ll get them on our home field.”The win keeps the Redskins undefeated at 4-0 overall and 2-0 in the National.
“It was important for us to win this game,” said Hires, who is bound for West Chester next year. “I’m really glad we came out on top.”
For Rock South, it’s back to the drawing board.
“This kind of sets the tempo of how the division is going to fall out,” said Keddie. “Neshaminy was top of the table last year. It was our goal to come in here and walk away with a victory. We didn’t. We’ll re-group and get going.
“I’d rather lose games early in the year than late in the year. It comes down to character. I thought we responded well late in the game. We were just unfortunate we didn’t put the ball in the back of the net.”
Neshaminy (4-0, 2-0) 1, Council Rock South (2-2, 1-1) 1
Goals: Brianna Hires (N)
Assists: Dale Mason (N)
Shots: Neshaminy 11, Council Rock South 6
Saves: Lauren Gecht (N) 4, Nicole Ulrick (CRS) 5
Corners: Neshaminy 3, Council Rock South 5
Fouls: Neshaminy 11, Council Rock South 9
Yellow cards: Paula Jurewicz (CRS)
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