LANGHORNE – Casey Doyle and her Council Rock North teammates had a good feeling going into Monday’s SOL National Conference showdown against Neshaminy.
“Honestly, on the bus the whole way here, we were like, ‘We can do this. We’re going to be the team that breaks their 10-0 record,’” Rock North’s senior captain said.
It didn’t take long for the Redskins to put an end to that kind of optimistic thinking. Neshaminy took an early lead and upped its advantage to 3-0 in the opening moments of the second half before the Indians staged a late surge to trim Redskins’ final margin of victory to 3-1.
“To come up short is a terrible feeling, but we all kept our heads high because we know we played an amazing second half,” Doyle said. “We try to focus on the positive, and I think that’s why we’re having such a good season.”
These days, looking for positives in a loss is the most that Neshaminy’s opponents can do. With just three league games remaining, the Redskins (11-0 SOL, 14-0-1 overall) are still without a loss, and in Monday’s win, they played a first half that bordered on perfection.
“I thought today may be the best game we played,” Neshaminy coach Lisa Pennington said. “We played a full 60 minutes. It was a team effort. Everybody stepped up and played.
“Of course, we had some mental breakdowns a few times, but I thought we played tough. Everybody worked hard, and they really picked up and played as a group today, and that’s what we really need to do coming into playoffs.”
The game was a far cry from the initial meeting between the two teams when the Redskins needed some late-game heroics to turn a 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 win.
“There are a lot of elements in any sport, and one of the elements in that game was the weather,” senior midfielder Diana Rowan said. “It was a real rainy day when we played them. In any sport, there are elements, and you have to work through them.
“We did work through it and beat them with no time left on the clock. They gave us a great game. They’re a great team, but I felt like we worked together more as a team this time.”
That teamwork was initiated by the standout play of the Redskins’ midfield – a fact that was not lost on Rock North coach Heather Whalin who, midway through the opening half, turned and said to no one in particular, “Their midfield is fantastic.”
The Redskins’ midfield – anchored by Rowan, Jenny Hentz, Moriah Allen, Annie Abdo and Melissa Hauss – was at its dominating best in the opening half.
It took the Redskins just over five minutes to get on the scoreboard when – after a shot and save –Abdo (Chelsea Rota assist) connected during corner play.
“That was huge,” Allen said of scoring early. “We knew they weren’t going to give up even after we scored, but it gives us such a confidence boost that we’re winning, and we kept going. We didn’t let down.”
The Indians drew a pair of corners late in the half and collected their only shot of the half on the first, but it was turned away by goalie Alexa Bell.
With 2:14 remaining in the half, Emily Hegner scored on a ball that deflected off the goalie’s pads, sending the Redskins into halftime with a 2-0 lead. That lead grew to 3-0 at the 28:31 mark of the second half when Melissa Hauss (Rota assist) scored.
Making the Redskins’ offensive output even more impressive was the fact that they did it with dangerous forward Marlaine Schneider sidelined.
“We knew we had to come out strong because they wanted to get back at us,” Allen said. “We were really strong as a team today. It was no individual effort. We all worked well together, and different people stepped up everywhere.”
Down but not out, the Indians responded to the three-goal deficit by playing their best hockey of the game to close it out. They got on the scoreboard at the 17:34 mark when Casey Attanasio – who was on the left post – turned a pass from Cara McNamee into a goal.
“We definitely started on our heels today,” Whalin said. “We allowed their aggressive play to put us back on our heels a little bit.
“Then we decided ‘Hey, we can play hockey,’ and we started playing well in the second half, but it was a little too late. Ten more minutes, and it would have been a big difference. “
The win clinched at least a share of the National Conference crown for the Redskins, but they weren’t celebrating.
“We still have three games left,” Pennington said. “We look at each game one at a time. As I said to the kids, we control our own destiny. We keep winning – we don’t have to rely on anybody else. We don’t talk about any other teams. We don’t talk about their record. We don’t talk about the first time we played them.
“We do one game at a time. We never look ahead.”
The Indians, who fell to 8-3 in league play, are in a battle for second place in the league standings.
NESHAMINY 3, COUNCIL ROCK NORTH 1
Council Rock North 0 1-1
Neshaminy 2 1-3
Goals/Assists: Council Rock North – Casey Attanasio 1-0, Cara McNamee 0-1. Neshaminy – Annie Abdo 1-0, Emily Hegner 1-0, Melissa Hauss 1-0, Chelsea Rota 0-2.
Shots: CRN-4, N-9.
Corners: CRN-6, N-8
Saves: Amanda Kause (CRN) 6, Alexa Bell (N) 2.
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