Pennridge and Council Rock North earned big wins in Wednesday’s district semifinals. To view action photos of both games, please visit the Photo Gallery.
GIRLS SOCCER
District One Semifinals
#1 Pennridge 2, #4 Strath Haven 1
At halftime of Wednesday's district semifinal, top-seeded Pennridge found itself trailing on the scoreboard for just the second time this season. In order to rally past fourth-seeded Strath Haven, the Rams would need to play calm and execute properly.
And there was no better example of that than junior Jeannie Jasinski.
With the Rams trailing 1-0 in the second half, Jasinski found an opportunity in the 54th minute and made it count, getting a pass from Megan Shenk in front of the Strath Haven net before calmly making a few moves and firing the ball into the net to knot the score.
"There was a little bit of a scrum at the top of the 18 and Jeannie got the ball," Pennridge coach Jorge Rodriguez said. "Something she does maybe better than anyone on the team, she stayed calm, relaxed, took a couple of touches around a player and then finished. She made it count. She's a very consistent player, she's been probably the best surprise for us this year. She's been outstanding and had some big moments.
"We have probably the best partnership of forwards since I've been here. Throughout the entire year we've had players like Jeannie, Sarah Wiley, Jackie Stevens, come up big. Sometimes our forwards and Stevi Parker get so much attention, a lot of teams neglect what you'd label our role players. But we've had some outstanding play from those players this season."
The Rams have also gotten some superior play from Shannon Chynoweth, and this game would prove no exception as the junior netted the go-ahead goal in the 58th minute.
"After Shannon's goal, we just shut everything down," Rodriguez said. "The defense played the way they've been playing all year. We kept every dangerous opportunity we could away from the net. (Strath Haven) did get a couple of very dangerous chances in the last five minutes, but just as she did throughout the game, Ashley (Schoellkopf) came up with some big-time saves."
The key, Rodriguez said, was the Rams getting through the first half and keeping their wits about them. Rodriguez made some adjustments at halftime and needed the players to work diligently and calmly to get back into the game.
"One of the things I said to the girls before we went into the game, 'We probably haven't faced a team that's going to be more energized and pumped up to play you,'" Rodriguez said. "I knew they were extremely motivated, they came out with a big, strong push, and sure enough, six minutes into the game they're up 1-0. They took it to us pretty good for 20 minutes in that first half. We made some changes to our lineup in the first half, hung in there and really battled it out to get out of there with a one-goal deficit.
"At halftime we made some adjustments, made sure we knew how to get organized. Every single player was extremely focused. Once we made the changes, the girls executed exactly what we were looking to do, which is to play a little bit more possession, and the game completely turned around for us, at least for the first 20, 25 minutes of that second half. The girls didn't get quite as panicky as I thought they might and that was really the difference. They were able to keep their cool. That's this team's personality. Sometimes we get emotional, but we check ourselves quickly and play organized soccer."
They'll need to continue doing so if the Rams hope to claim the district title that eluded them last season. Pennridge will square off against #3 Council Rock North in an all-Suburban One League District One Final at 8 p.m. Saturday at West Chester East.
"This might sound silly, but I'm still looking at it as just another game," Rodriguez said. "It's a bonus if we're able to collect any hardware, but for me, this is a chance to prepare for the bigger tournament we want to be successful in. And it'll be a team we haven't seen this year, so it'll be a great opponent to challenge ourselves."
#3 Council Rock North 3, #7 Owen J. Roberts 1
Council Rock North head coach Larry Sullivan likened his squad to an orchestra. And right now, the Indians are making beautiful music together.
"The music is building to a finale," Sullivan said after his third-seeded Indians dispatched seventh-seed Owen J. Roberts, 3-1, in Wednesday's district semifinal at West Chester East. "Everybody is harmonizing, all the parts are blending and everybody is playing their part."
In what Sullivan called "the best game we've played this year," the Indians jumped all over the Wildcats from the outset.
Caitlin Hannagen scored her first of two goals to give the Indians a quick 1-0 lead. OJR knotted the score late in the first half on a goal by Juliana Provini, but Hannagen netted her second barely two minutes later to put North back on top.
"We came out fast and heavy," Sullivan said. "We were all over them. They tried to break out, but we played in front of their net for quite a while.
"We're really starting to hit our stride. I thought we'd have fits with (OJR). But everybody is understanding what's at stake. Everybody is playing strong, physical games."
Lexi Crocker scored in the second half to give the Indians some insurance, not that they needed any. The play of their defense and goalkeeper Helena Gemmell was exceptional.
"Our back line was so good," Sullivan said. "I never felt worried.
"Juliah Wexler and Kaitlin McNamara are like Ruth and Gehrig out there right now. They don't give anything up. Wexler has made maybe one mistake in the past two games. For a 16-year-old kid, that's amazing. And McNamara is cold steel out there. She's the coach on the field."
The Indians also received stellar play from senior Sarah Scheidell.
"Sarah figured in every one of our goals tonight, either with assists or just setting up the play" Sullivan said. "She really had a good game tonight."
The Indians advance to the District One Class AAA final, to be held at West Chester East at 8 p.m. Saturday. In an all-Suburban One League final, North will face top-seeded Pennridge.
And Sullivan acknowledges that the Rams are the top seed for a very good reason.
"We got there early tonight and watched a little of the Pennridge game," Sullivan said. "I can honestly say that they're better than we are. They look almost professional out there. We've got to try to disrupt that. We've got our work cut out for us."
Consolation bracket:
#8 Council Rock South 1, #18 Bishop Shanahan 0
Council Rock South coach John Oberholtzer made it known how unhappy he was with his team's mental preparation and performance in its district quarterfinal loss to Pennridge. Just one day later, in a consolation bracket matchup, the eighth-seeded Golden Hawks put forth an impressive effort and earned a 1-0 victory over 18th seed Bishop Shanahan.
"They came to play today," Oberholtzer said. "This was a good team effort. We were all over them for most of the game. They had two nice breakaways, but otherwise we were all over them.
"We probably should have scored more than just the one goal, but it wasn't for lack of intensity. We just couldn't buy a goal."
The only score of the contest came on a determined play by Colleen Diviny who followed up as the Shanahan goalkeeper bobbled the ball and poked it home.
Sam Lawson and Liz Eagan split time in goal to notch the shutout. Oberholtzer also noted the strong efforts of Chrissy Vollrath, Paula Jurewicz, Kate Jackson, Amanda Nicholas and Paige McDowell, who, a day after being marked and limited by Pennridge, was wreaking havoc all over the field.
"Paige came to play," Oberholtzer said. "She played her heart out."
The Golden Hawks will advance in the consolation bracket and face sixth-seeded Conestoga on Friday at a time to be determined.
In other consolation bracket games:
#6 Conestoga 5, #28 Lower Merion 0
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