New Hope-Solebury defeated Dock Mennonite Academy 3-1 to capture the program’s fifth consecutive District One 1A title. Photos provided courtesy of Karla Donohoe. Check back for a gallery of photos.
#1 NEW HOPE-SOLEBURY 3, #3 DOCK MENNONITE ACADEMY 1
‘Five-peat’
There was certainly reason to celebrate for a Lions squad that captured its fifth consecutive District One 1A title on Wednesday night at Wissahickon, and celebrate the players did, ignoring the cold to savor every last moment on the field after their impressive win.
“It’s hard work every year, but every year we have the drive to do it,” senior Kat Thistlewaite said. “We don’t want to lose it since we came in with already winning district champs the years before us. We have the drive to keep it going, and we always kept the motivation up and working hard.”
“We really feel it’s a responsibility to keep the (re)peats going,” senior Lydia Eastburn said. “It makes us work so hard at practice. We really want to keep this going.”
“Just continuing the legacy of what the seniors before us have started,” senior Jessica Kinker said. “I’m just so proud of our team for being able to keep that up, just keeping calm, cool and collected through the whole thing.”
Making the five-peat especially impressive is the fact that New Hope-Solebury is not only a small school but boasts a small team.
“A lot of times we show up to games, and the other team is like ‘Is this just your varsity team?’” Kinker said. “We’re like, ‘No, this is everyone.’ It surprises them. We’re small, but we still do it.”
With just 15 players on their entire squad, the Lions are the very definition of the phrase ‘small but mighty.’ Wednesday’s district title comes on the heels of capturing their program’s first ever SOL Freedom Division title in just their second year in the league.
“Having a smaller team, we have more of a bond,” Thistlewaite said. “We’re able to create those close friendships within the team.
“We always make sure that we’re not just a small group of people but that we’re close with the entire team, and that translates into our play because we’re so close. We trust each other. We don’t leave players behind and make sure we’re always with them. We’re there for each other.”
Wednesday’s win over their former BAL rival was a team effort, and the Lions got on the scoreboard with 8:48 remaining in the opening quarter when sophomore Morgan Riggione turned a Sophia Cozza pass into a goal.
The Lions drew five penalty corners in the opening quarter and added four more in the second. They led 2-0 after Maddie Thistlewaite turned a pass from Cozza into a goal with just over six minutes remaining in the half. The Lions took that 2-0 lead into halftime.
“Sophia Cozza is our anchor,” Lions’ coach Gwen Smith said. “She is on defense, she is up on offense, she is a presence everywhere on the field, and she plays a lot of area.”
The Pioneers made things interesting when – after back-to-back Dock shots and saves by Eastburn – Eden Schrag scored during a scramble in front of the cage to make it a 2-1 game with 3:06 remaining in the third quarter. Less than two minutes later, the Lions’ answered with a goal by junior Avery Mendola.
“Right after their goal, it was one of those things where we were yelling ‘keep your heads up’ and ‘get it right back,’” Kat Thistlewaite said. “We used that energy of the goal getting in on the defensive end to go down the field to score that goal and to continue on.”
“I was so proud of them,” Eastburn said. “We definitely find that when we put one in the net it really gets us riled up, and it keeps us going.”
That 3-1 score stood the rest of the way, and a fifth consecutive district title was in the books.
“I’m glad that we’re starting out games fast, but we need to keep the momentum, and we need to keep all the details up the whole game,” Smith said. “I think it’s some of our youth – we start to get a little bit frantic rather than playing calm.
“That happened in our Springfield (semifinal) game (a 2-1 win), and we kind of panicked the rest of the game, so I’m really proud that we came back. Honestly, even in the Springfield game, we came right down, got it in the circle, but we weren’t able to put it in. At least today, we were able to put it in.
“I’m proud of just everybody stepping up their level of play today that we actually came out strong, we were playing strong. I think it really was a team effort.”
Listening to the players, it’s apparent that teamwork is a hallmark of this year’s squad.
“In practice we’re always encouraging each other,” Kinker said. “If you make a mistake, if something happens, you get right back to it.”
“If you mess up, there will always be someone there - we always support each other,” Eastburn said. “We really played as a team today – we like playing as a team.”
The Lions held a 12-4 advantage in both shots and corners. The Pioneers evened the playing field in a second half that saw both teams collect three penalty corners after NHS held a 9-1 edge in the opening half.
The Lions (16-2-1, 13-2-1 SOL) will be back in action on Tuesday in the opening round of the PIAA 1A Tournament. They will face the District 3 third place team.
Dock Mennonite 0-0-1-0 1
New Hope-Solebury 1-1-1-0 3
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