Check out the recaps for SOL field hockey teams in action in Monday’s opening round of districts. CB East/North Penn photos provided courtesy of Tracy Valko. Check back for a gallery of photos.
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CLASS 3A
#3 PLYMOUTH WHITEMARSH 1, #14 AVON GROVE 0
Kaleigh Missimer considered all her options. None seemed viable.
So the senior midfielder – the Colonials’ assist leader with 15 – decided to take matters into her own hands. It was the right move, and with 8:37 remaining in regulation, Missimer delivered a picture-perfect lift shot that turned out to be the game-winner.
“I tried to pass to Ava (Borkowski), Alexa (DeLucca) and Regan (Gehman), but their defense would just swarm the ball,” Missimer said. “I remember I was going down the field, and I saw they all stuck to the forwards.
“I thought to myself, ‘I could probably find an open lane,’ so I started to go towards Ava, and they went towards her, so I pulled left. I just thought in my head, ‘Oh, let’s try something new.’ I lifted it, and it went a little higher than I thought, but it ended up being a really pretty goal right over the goalie’s head.
“It was honestly crazy. I turned around even before it went in because I was so excited. I usually do small lifts, and my grandmom actually loves them – she calls them ‘little flips from the left.’ I do them in indoor all the time, but I’ve never done one quite like that.”
On a day when they struggled to finish, the Colonials needed Missimer’s offensive heroics.
“I thought she played a great game,” PW coach Charise Halteman said. “She really controlled the midfield, showed off some nice skills. It was nice to be able to see her finish and get a goal.
“We dominated offensively in terms of we had more shots, more corners, more circle entries, those sorts of things and overall, probably better possession, but we just struggled to finish today. They had a good goalkeeper. I thought we didn’t make the best decisions in the circle. We should have been shooting a little sooner.
“Instead, we carried it in and got caught in traffic or caught in possession. I felt like we controlled the play primarily. That’s the playoffs – you can dominate the whole game and still lose. I think Avon Grove was very aware of Ava (Borkowski), and I think they collapsed on her pretty quickly, so she was getting herself in tight positions where she really didn’t have the room to maneuver or shoot. Kaleigh probably did have more opportunities in terms of having a little more space to make something happen.”
The Colonials’ dominance is underscored by the fact that they had 27 shots and 15 corners to just four shots and one corner for Avon Grove.
“Our forwards were having a very hard time,” Missimer said. “I was thinking, ‘I know we can get one of these in.’ We had so many close calls. Just the whole game, I was a little nervous, but once we scored, I knew we could hold them the rest of the game.”
Seeing zeros on the scoreboard board heading into the fourth quarter put the high-scoring Colonials in an unfamiliar spot.
“I said, ‘Look, we’ve been controlling the game. We just need to play our game. You have to recognize – they’re going to get in desperation mode where they’re going to start hitting the ball harder, doing whatever they had to do to get it past our midfield line,’” Halteman said. “I thought we played better in the fourth quarter and played a little more composed.”
“I think what happened was we were a little frustrated that we couldn’t score,” Missimer said. “We started to try and use other methods instead of our usual passing and sharing the ball. It came out as looking frantic because we were getting a little selfish.”
The Colonials, according to Missimer, were not about to let their season end in the opening round.
“Last year we made it all the way to the district finals – we had the lead and then we lost, and the same thing happened in states,” she said. “We’ve been working hard this whole year, and we know we’re so lucky to play and we’re like, ‘Let’s go as far as we can, let’s give it all we’ve got every single game. There’s no slacking this year.’”
Plymouth Whitemarsh (11-0, 10-0 SOL) will host sixth-seeded Kennett in Thursday’s quarterfinal contest.
Avon Grove 0-0 0
Plymouth Whitemarsh 0-1 1
#5 CENTRAL BUCKS EAST 2, #12 NORTH PENN 1
There’s nothing the Patriots and Knights didn’t know about each other when they met for the third time in this abbreviated season, and while the Patriots won for the third time in as many meetings, the Knights gave them all they could handle.
“I will give credit 100 percent to North Penn for playing a typical North Penn versus CB East game – it was back and forth, it was hustle, it was feisty, it was – who was going to beat each other to the ball,” East coach Meghann Spratt said. “I told my girls at halftime – ‘Whoever wins the free ball is probably going to win the game, and we have to make adjustments.”.jpg)
“I think we did, but the weather conditions were absolutely horrible with the wind and freezing cold. Overall, just to come away with a win over a team we’ve played three times over 10 games – you get to know them so well and they get to know you so well, but we eked out a win, and that’s all that matters at this point.”
It was the Knights getting on the scoreboard first when Erin O’Donnell scored with 9:33 remaining in the opening period. Three minutes later, Sophia Parker got that goal back, scoring with an assist from Phia Mannino.
“It’s definitely tough – as much as we have an advantage knowing how they play, they also know how we play,” Parker said. “Every time we played them this year in the regular season, it was a tough game each time even though we won both.
“The first time it was 4-1, but I don’t think the score reflects how tough they play and how consistent they are with their effort. It definitely makes it challenging playing a known opponent.”
Parker acknowledged there are the some nerves in a postseason that features a single elimination tournament.
“One thing our team knew going into this – this could be our last game, but we wanted to play like it was our last, not leaving any regrets on the field,” Parker said. “We didn’t want to regret anything, so we channeled those nerves into positive energy and getting hyped before the game.”
With time winding down in the first half, Grace Bethke found the cage with a goal that held up as the game-winner.
“It’s so tough to play a team three times,” Spratt said. “It could go either way. You know each other so well. It’s hard mentally to prepare your team. Even though we came away with two victories in the regular season, I kept telling them, ‘You cannot expect a third victory.’ It was a harder game than our 2-1 win the second time we played them. They had many opportunities they couldn’t capitalize on, and it was really a good game.”
The Patriots’ coach had a high praise for the play of freshman Paige Keller.
“She played an incredible game offensively, setting up and attacking inside the 25, which is so great,” said Spratt, going on to acknowledge the efforts of several others in the win. “Sophia Parker, a midfielder, played an incredible game with her speed and her stickwork.
“My defender Renee Gatto played such a stellar but simple defensive game that just kept everyone poised and made all the right decisions and made a difference in our defensive game.”
The Patriots held a 9-7 edge in shots, but both teams had seven corners in yet another war between the conference rivals.
“Our conference is incredibly strong – most games are really close,” Parker said. “I think it prepares us very well with districts, especially with no playbacks. I think we’re prepared.”
East goalie Emily Bullard was credited with four saves in the win. North Penn goalie Mallory Stowell had six saves, and Megan Albert was credited with a defensive save.
“The Knights unfortunately came up short today but showed their toughness, heart and hustle and played to the final whistle.
North Penn coach Shannon McCracken said. “It was a back and forth battle as was their meeting two weeks ago and the end result could have gone either way as evidenced by the even statistics.
“Midfielders Riley O’Donnell, Kerry O’Donnell, Maddie Waldspurger, and back Megan Albert had great games for the Knights.”
Central Bucks East (10-1, 9-1 SOL) will face #13 Great Valley in a quarterfinal game Thursday. North Penn closed out the season with a 6-6 record overall (5-5 SOL).
North Penn 1-0 1
Central Bucks East 2-0 2
#8 WISSAHICKON 3, #9 SOUDERTON 2
Aiden Drabick was – in a word – unstoppable.
The Trojans’ senior scored all three of her team’s goals, including the game-winner early in the fourth quarter, propelling the Trojans to a win over the visiting Indians in a classic battle.
To say, Drabick’s been a difference maker in the Trojans’ lineup would be an understatement.
“I know I’ve been saying this all along, but she’s really a game-changer,” Wissahickon coach Lucy Gil said. “She’s the real deal when it comes to being a superb field hockey player. She’s well rounded – defense, offense, carrying the ball, whatever.
“She’s got all the skills, and on top of that, she knows what to do with the ball. She knows how to read the defense, and she knows what to do. She’s the complete package, and I’m thrilled that we got Aiden.”
Drabick – a transfer from Great Valley – is enjoying the Trojans’ wild ride that included three non-league games last week and a win in Monday’s opener, the 16th game for the Trojans.
“It’s incredible to me and insane – we didn’t think we’d have a season in the first place, and now we’re going on to the second round of playoffs,” Drabick said. “It’s really special.
“It really hit me when I was on the field that this could be my last high school game. I really didn’t want it to be like that today. We all really wanted to win, and we all wanted to keep going. None of us want to stop.”
With 3:12 remaining in the opening quarter, Drabick began a productive night, turning an Ella Hummel pass into a goal. The senior standout’s second in the opening minute was highlight reel material as she carried the ball down field, blowing by every player in her path on.
“My mindset is just to use speed and keep going as far as you can,” Drabick said. “I always try and look for my teammates, but if it’s not there, you have to keep pushing and keep going. Even if it’s not a goal, get a corner and try and get up in their circle.”
“She needed to change the game, and that was it,” Gil said. “It was around their 30-yard line when she got it – I don’t know if it was a deflection, but she just picked it up and took it. It was amazing.
“You know what’s really nice about Aiden – you can be a really good player, and you’re a good player, but a great player makes everyone else around them great. That’s what she did for our team. She took a team of very good players and made them great. That says something about her.”
Lauren Kenah cut the Trojans’ lead in half with an unassisted goal in the closing minutes of the second quarter to make it a 2-1 game at the intermission
“What was really nice – I know Souderton’s turf really slows them down a lot, but on this field, number one (Kenah), who is going to UVA, got to show off her skills too,” Gil said. “She’s a really beautiful player, she’s got everything going for her. She has that three-dimensional game where she pops it into the air, and she can bring it down at will wherever she wants it. You could see it – it was the battle of the superstars. They’re both every dynamic, they open up the game. It’s really cool.”
A goal by Josie Doughty with an Autumn Hunter assist in the final minute of the third period knotted the score 2-2.
“We were a little nervous at first when they started scoring and coming back, but we knew we could hold it down and not give up any more goals,” Drabick said.
Four minutes into the final period, Drabick put the finishing touches on a dazzling performance, turning Sophia Havrilla’s insert pass on a corner into a goal that turned out to be the game-winner.
“They did it the way it was designed and it worked,” Gil said. “We did not take a lot of shots. We were very efficient today because their goalie is really good. She moves well, and technically, she knows what she’s doing. She’s been trained well.”
Wissahickon goalie Alli Wood was credited with six saves while Souderton’s Jordan Michalak had four saves.
Souderton held an 8-5 edge in corners.
“We didn’t do enough to shut down Aiden Drabick,” said Souderton coach Sue Casciato. “I’m disappointed by the outcome but pleased by our effort.”
Wissahickon (12-4, 7-3 SOL) will host #16 Central Bucks South in Thursday’s quarterfinal round. Souderton closed out the season with a record of 6-5-1 (6-3-1 SOL).
Souderton 0-1-1-0 2
Wissahickon 1-1-0-1 3
#16 CENTRAL BUCKS SOUTH 2, #1 DOWNINGTOWN WEST 1 (OT)
Alyssa Endrick wasn’t there for South’s opening round miracles past, but the senior midfielder has heard about them. The Titans – under coach Pat Toner – have been a nightmare as the underdog in the District One Tournament, and they were back at it again Monday.
This time, it was the highly regarded Whippets they sent home for the season, thanks to an overtime goal by senior Alyssa Endrick.
“I was honestly so nervous,” Endrick said. “Julia Cooper shot from the top, and the goalie redirected it right to me. I just shot and it went in. From then, it was just adrenaline. We were all so excited.
“We just wanted to prove we belonged in playoffs because the day before (the tournament bracket came out) we got bumped down to 17th, and we got put back to 16. We really wanted to prove that we deserve to be there. I hope we make it as far as we possibly can because I think we’re a good team, and we deserve to. We worked so hard all season. The games we play during the season help prepare us for these moments.”
Neither team scored until the third quarter when – at the 8:18 mark – Erin Smith connected during corner play with an assist from Sophia Wasyliw.
“We dominated a good portion of the game,” Toner said. “No one scored again until they got a penalty stroke in the third period. Sierra Margetich scored on a beautiful penalty stroke, and now it’s 1-1.”
That score stood until Endrick’s game-winner during corner play.
“Julia Cooper hit a rocket shot, and Alyssa Endrick got the rebound and just put it past the goalie,” Toner said.
As for the secret to her team regularly playing the role of giant killer, Toner says it’s just a matter of believing.
“I think I can convince them that it doesn’t matter what happened in the regular season – it matters now,” Toner said. “The ‘none of us is as strong as all of us’ mentality. No one person is going to win or lose the game, and I can hopefully get them to believe they can play as a unit, and anything is possible. There is no reason for them to be afraid.
“Downingtown West was 8-0, first place, only gave up three goals all season. I said to them, ‘Well, maybe they’ll give up more today,’ and they did. They were a very good team, they’re well coached, but we played as a team. I’m just really happy for them because as of a couple of days ago, we were two-tenths of a point out.”
Two-tenths of a point away from missing out on the postseason, a thought that was unsettling to both Toner and her players.
“I spent the whole day really upset – I wish I would of thought of one way that I could have done something better,” Toner said. “I always feel bad for the seniors – what could I have done different as a coach or what could our coaching staff have done differently to get the two-tenths of a point back. We had a FaceTime meeting, and I was talking to the captains. I said, ‘I’m really sorry. I’m so proud of you guys, sometimes things like this happen.’ As I was talking to them, it changed. I looked down and said, ‘We’re back in.’ They started screaming, their parents came in and they were screaming. It was kind of funny. They all texted each other, they were going crazy, and we got back in.
“Thank god we got the opportunity. I wasn’t ready to say good-bye to the seniors or anything. I’m so happy we got the chance, and they played really well today.”
Endrick wasn’t the only hero in Monday’s win.
“Our goalie, Gwen DiPrinzio, had a fantastic game – she had nine saves on 10 shots, and she played great,” Toner said. “I thought Julia Cooper had a fantastic game and Alyssa Endrick won the game in overtime. They all played really well. There wasn’t one person that didn’t have a good game today, so I was really thrilled for them.”
The Titans held a 12-10 edge in shots and had a decided advantage in penalty corners (14-6).
“I think that was the difference,” Toner said.
Central Bucks South (5-5-1, 4-5-1 SOL) will travel to Wissahickon for an all-SOL quarterfinal on Thursday.
Central Bucks South 0-0-1-0-1 2
Downingtown West 0-0-1-0-0 1
#6 KENNETT 3, #11 COUNCIL ROCK SOUTH 1
CLASS 2A
UPPER PERKIOMEN 5, UPPER DUBLIN 0
Upper Perk is a perennial 2A power, and the Indians displayed their firepower in Monday’s opening round win.
The Cardinals battled their hosts to a scoreless tie after one quarter, but the Indians erupted for three goals in the second quarter – two in a one-minute span – to seize control of the game. Luciana Carpenter, Bella Carpenter and Kilene Goach each scored a goal. Margo May added a third quarter score, and Cindy Crawson found the cage in the fourth quarter, the fifth player to contribute a goal.
UD goalie Dara Fishman recorded six saves.
Upper Dublin closed out its season with a 6-5 record (6-4 SOL)
Upper Dublin 0-0-0-0 0
Upper Perkiomen 0-3-1-1 5
CLASS 1A
#1 SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP 9, #4 JENKINTOWN 1
The Spartans wasted little time before seizing control of Monday’s district open, erupting for four goals in the second quarter to go into halftime with a commanding 6-0 lead. Anya Kochanowicz had herself a day, leading the Spartans with five goals. Ella Marino added two goals and an assist, and the Yoder sisters – Maddie and Emma – each added a single goal.
It was Maddie Yoder putting the Spartans on the scoreboard midway through the first quarter, and four minutes later Kochanowicz found the cage for a 2-0 advantage. Back-to-back goals by Kochanowicz in a two-minute span to open the second quarter – the second with a Marino assist – opened the floodgates. Emma Yoder and Marino each followed with goals to send the Spartans into halftime with a six-goal advantage. Marino added a single goal in the third quarter and Kochanowicz had a pair – the first a penalty stroke.
The Spartans held a lopsided advantage in shots (25-2) and penalty corners (12-3). Spartan goalie was credited with three saves while her counterpart had 18.
Springfield Township (9-0, 8-0 SOL) will host a familiar foe in Thursday’s title game when the Spartans take on New Hope-Solebury.
Jenkintown 0-0-0-1 1
Springfield Twp 2-4-3-0 9
#3 NEW HOPE-SOLEBURY 4, #2 DOCK MENNONITE ACADEMY 0
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