New Hope-Solebury defeated Springfield Twp on Thursday to capture the District One 1A title. Photos provided courtesy of Diana Leferovich. Check back for a gallery of photos.
#3 NEW HOPE-SOLEBURY 3, #1 SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP 1
Four-peat.
The Lions pulled off that impressive feat, reeling off three straight goals in the second and third quarters to capture their fourth straight District One 1A title. If it seems as though it might be getting old, guess again.
“Each year is a new challenge,” Lilly Smith said. “I’m more nervous going into it because there’s more pressure.”
“This year was even more special because we moved divisions, and we lost so much of our team from last year,” Erin Firth said.
“We lost to them twice before (in the regular season), so this felt even better,” Kate Dougherty added.
The three NHS captains acknowledged that the game might well have turned for both sides when their teammate, Avery Mendola, was hit squarely in the face by the ball on a Spartan drive late in the second quarter. An apparent broken nose and the blood accompanying it was unnerving for both sides.
Shortly thereafter, the Lions drew back-to-back-to-back corners. The third one was the charm with Dougherty turning a Sophia Cozza pass into a goal.
“I think it just really builds up our momentum,” Dougherty said of scoring first. “We got really energetic and really wanted to score for (Avery) and make it count.”
“Because they had beaten us twice, I really felt it was important that we scored first,” coach Gwen Smith said. “That was a goal I put out in front of them, and they did it. I’m really proud of them.”
The Lions took that momentum into the second quarter, turning another corner into a goal. This one the first of two goals by Cozza with a Jess Kinker assist. The Lions led 3-0 when Cozza turned a Lilly Smith pass into a goal, also on a corner.
And what a difference a month can make.
On Oct. 5, Springfield edged New Hope-Solebury 2-1 in a contest that saw the Lions collect 16 corners to just nine for the Spartans.
“We couldn’t score – we could not buy a goal the last time we played them,” coach Smith said. “The last time was on grass at our place, and we could not score.
“We kept developing during the season. We haven’t played them since Oct. 5, and I think we just kept growing as a team throughout the season.”
Firth had a different explanation for the Lions’ sudden ability to cash in on their corner opportunities.
“I think part of it was Avery getting hurt,” the senior captain said. “We took it very personally. I know it wasn’t on purpose that they hit her, but it was kind of like an attack on the whole team, so we took that and turned it into momentum.”
The Spartans handed the Lions their only two losses of the league season in their first fall in the Suburban One League. They were the first and only league losses the seniors – who competed in the BAL their first three years – ever had in their high school careers.
“It definitely made us more determined,” said Lilly Smith. “But it didn’t really bother me because I want to play teams that can beat us because that will let us go further in the end.
“Also, I think that’s why we were so good on corners today. When we have a game and don’t capitalize on 16 corners, then we know the next game and the next game every opportunity we take like it’s our last.”
“I also think the first two times we played them – we were still rebuilding from last year,” Firth said. “This time we’ve had a lot more time to get ready. We knew what we were going into, and we just prepared much better.”
Coach Smith was most pleased to see her team respond to a fast start by the Spartans.
“They came out strong and had us on our heels for the first 5-10 minutes,” she said. “We were talking about that – they’re a really skilled team, they’re a really fast team and that we needed to match that energy. I just really challenged them on that because they had higher energy than us at the start of the game.
“We picked it up and kept it going, and we really challenged them to really continue that for the rest of the game.”
While Class 1A is the small school division, New Hope-Solebury would also fall under the category of small team, very small team. The Lions have just 18 players with three of those goalies.
“We definitely shrank a lot from last year, and it took a lot of getting used to, but I think we really just molded together and we bonded really well,” Dougherty said.
“One of the struggles is we can’t split our team up and play a full field scrimmage,” Firth said. “So we have to do a full field 7v7, things like that. It makes it a lot harder to actually prepare to play a full field game against a full team.”
Lion goalie Lydia Eastburn recorded six saves and kept the Spartans off the scoreboard until just 28.2 seconds remained in regulation when Springfield senior Anya Kochanowicz found the cage.
“She really stepped up,” Dougherty said of Eastburn. “She’s been working so hard this season, and she really helped us out today.”
“Being a defender, it makes your job so much easier when you know you have a goalie behind you who you can rely on,” Firth said.
Although the Spartans dominated play in the fourth quarter, drawing six corners and forcing Eastburn to make some big stops, it was a case of too little too late.
“I think we worried about defending our goal instead of putting the ball in the net,” senior captain Maddie Yoder said. “We should have just pushed forward instead of held back.
“I feel like we really haven’t been tested yet, and today was our real test. We knew coming into this game it was going to be a huge game.”
“Sometimes it’s mental in your head,” senior captain Anya Kochanowicz said. “There were a lot of fans outside cheering, and it does get to you a little bit. Keeping our composure was something we could have tried a little bit harder on.
“We’ve always said that New Hope was our toughest competitor because we changed leagues this year.”
The Spartans acknowledged that defending the Lions’ corners posed some problems.
“We weren’t as on our game in our spacing and communication because we haven’t really had that many corners against us this year, so there definitely was a lack of communication,” senior captain Kate Wojeck said. “New Hope always brings it.”
For the Spartan seniors, the hardest part of Thursday’s contest was not the outcome but the realization they had played their final game together.
“Every single field hockey game since seventh grade, the three of us have played,” Wojeck said. “That’s the hardest part.”
“But we’ve got Linda Nix,” Kochanowicz said.
“And that’s better than winning,” Wojeck said. “Being able to play this season when we didn’t know if we’d play – that’s better than anything. We got all the way here. I’m really proud of how far we’ve come.”
Yoder needed just one word to sum it up.
“Unforgettable,” she said. “Unforgettable.”
New Hope-Solebury (9-2, 6-2 SOL) advances to the state tournament where the Lions will face Wyoming Seminary. Springfield Township, the SOL Freedom Division champions, closed out its season with a 9-1 record (8-0 SOL).
New Hope-Solebury 0-1-2-0 3
Springfield Twp 0-0-0-1 1
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