New Hope-Solebury notched a dramatic overtime win in a PIAA Class 2A opener while CB West & Souderton saw their successful seasons come to an end in Tuesday’s opening round of the PIAA 3A State Tournament. New Hope/Greenwood photos provided courtesy of Karla Donohoe. Check back for a gallery of photos: https://solsports.zenfolio.com/f435525856
Class 1A
#1-1 NEW HOPE-SOLEBURY 3, #3-5 GREENWOOD 2 (OT)
Talk about rising to the occasion.
Sophia Cozza has made a habit out of doing just that. For the second time in as many games, the senior captain delivered the overtime winner, connecting on a corner shot to bring a dramatic end to Tuesday’s state opener. One week earlier, the Stevens Institute of Technology commit scored the game-winner – also on a corner shot in overtime – in the Lions’ 2-1 win over Dock Mennonite in
the District 1 1A title game.
Making this win especially sweet was the fact that the Lions rallied from an early 2-0 deficit to eke out the thrilling win.
“Oh my gosh, it was exciting,” New Hope-Solebury coach Gwen Smith said. “This was not an easy win by any stretch of the imagination. This was a battle. Everyone who was at this game was like – what an exciting game. The whole team left their hearts out there. I’m so proud of them.”
Things didn’t look all that promising when Greenwood put a pair of goals on the board in the final three minutes of the opening quarter.
“First round of states, you’re seeing teams you haven’t seen, and it’s been a tendency of our team to start slow,” Smith said. “You have to get used to the new speed, all that kind of stuff, so I think we started a little bit slower than we wanted to obviously.
“We had a hard time generating offense in the first quarter. They were putting on some good pressure. Defense did a really nice job of holding off, but we got caught a couple of times watching instead of marking, and they capitalized on those.”
That early 2-0 Greenwood lead could have marked the beginning of the end for the Lions, but it didn’t.
“We really started generating offense in the second quarter – I think it caught them off guard,” Smith said.
Two minutes into the second quarter, Mia Patino scored on a rebound of a shot off the goalie’s pads. Three minutes later, the Lions connected on a corner with Ava Cozza turning a pass from Olivia Conte into the equalizer.
“Ava had a great shot on goal, and that was literally like the Dock game,” Smith said. “Ava took a shot from the top, it went off one of their defensive sticks, and it popped way up in the air and in the cage.”
The two teams went into halftime deadlocked 2-2, a tie that held up until the end of regulation.
“The third quarter and fourth quarter it was just back and forth,” Smith said. “Their team was able to generate a little better offensive momentum than us at times.”
The Lions had several corner opportunities in overtime and eventually capitalized on one with Cozza delivering the game-winner with 3:36 remaining in OT.
“Soph played out of her mind and was amazing – she was everywhere,” Smith said.
Tuesday’s game – according to Smith – was reminiscent of another come-from-behind win.
“I told the girls – in the very beginning stages of my coaching New Hope, it took us a while to beat Dock,” the Lions’ coach said. “I remember the first time – we went down 2-0, and I said, ‘No big deal,’ and we came right back.
“Honestly, Greenwood is a very good team, they’re a very skilled team, they did some beautiful passing connections, and my defense
just did a nice job. Even in the overtime, one of our offensive corners broke down, we missed it on the top, and they had three against one, and Lauren Trenti disrupted the play. That was huge.”
It took big plays for the Lions to earn this win, and the Lions’ coach had plenty of praise to go around.
“Olivia Conte had an amazing game – on one of their corners, she lays out to deflect a ball out, she literally dives. She was amazing,” Smith said of her left back. “Caroline Berman, my goalie, had an amazing game. Lauren (Trenti) who broke up this complete 3-on-1 breakaway.
“Greenwood is a very seasoned field hockey team, and I think we were intimidated by that in the beginning, but I’m so proud. They were like, ‘Okay, let’s go, keep battling,’ and they did.”
New Hope-Solebury (20-2, 14-2 SOL) will face District 4 runner-up Central Columbia in a state quarterfinal game Saturday. Central Columbia notched a 5-0 win over District 11 runner-up Wilson in another opening round game.
Greenwood 2-0-0-0-0 2
New Hope-Solebury 0-2-0-0-1 3
Class 3A
#3-1 LOWER DAUPHIN 3, #1-6 CENTRAL BUCKS WEST 1
Not a whole lot separated West from the District 3 champions in an evenly-matched state opener, but the Falcons capitalized on two more opportunities than the Bucks.
“This evening was a fantastic, well attended, balanced match that showcased some very good field hockey from both programs,” West coach David DeAngelis said. “Our student-athletes were poised and well-prepared heading into our first PIAA match in years, whereas Lower Dauphin has continually been an elite state qualifying program for quite some time.”
The Falcons took a 1-0 lead late in the opening quarter on a goal by Katelyn Strawser, but the Bucks evened the score four minutes into the second quarter when junior Lily Cosner scored during corner play, finding the cage on a reverse chip.
Lower Dauphin’s Avery Pollock scored with 4:13 remaining in the second quarter, and the Falcons took that 2-1 lead into halftime. With 3:35 remaining in the third quarter, Dani Murphy found the cage for the 3-1 final.
“We continue to be proud of our student-athletes regarding their grit, speed and tenacity that they play with every time they step onto the pitch,” DeAngelis said. “They train and play hard for each other day after day. You saw an example of this as we increased our intensity in the second half when – somehow – we ended up being down two players.
“Tonight, was no exception. We created opportunity but were unsuccessful in being able to finish. Huge credit to Lower Dauphin, they took advantage of a few of our miscues that led directly to each of their goals.”
Lower Dauphin held an edge in shots (10-8) and corners (8-6).
“Every match is a learning opportunity – this one is no different,” DeAngelis said. “This will sting for a bit (and perhaps fuel us for next year) – since our season has ended. You review the items you can control and make adjustments; and, for the items you cannot control – you move on.”
“This was truly a fun group to coach and watch play field hockey. Their future is bright!
Central Bucks West (14-1-1 SOL) closed out its successful season with an 18-4-1 record.
Central Bucks West 0-1-0-0 1
Lower Dauphin 1-1-1-0 3
#1-7 SOUDERTON 1, #1-1 DOWNINGTOWN WEST 0
For the second time in 12 days, the Indians traveled to Downingtown West for a battle with the Whippets. West won the initial meeting in the District 1 3A quarterfinals 2-0. The Whippets went on to win the district title while the Indians finished seventh and earned the final state berth.
In Tuesday’s rematch, the Whippets once again came out on top, this time by a one-goal advantage.
“We definitely played better than the last time we played them, and I feel as though they played better today – I think we forced them to play better,” Souderton coach Sue Casciato said. “Our biggest problem was – we could not generate any offense.
“The last time we played them we had quite a few corners, we had quite a few shots. Obviously, their defense is very good, but tonight we were just completely out of sync offensively. I do think they looked past us the last time we played them. We were hoping that would happen again today. They were coming off a huge win over Conestoga, they had already beaten us last week, but they were just to sound.”
The Whippets Ciara Margetich scored the game’s only goal with 3:18 remaining in the second quarter.
“I have to give a shoutout to my goalie,” Casciato said of junior Meredith DeMarzio. “She turned away a lot of tough shots.
“The thing that was a bummer was that everybody in the stadium – the fans, the players, their team – know that their goal was kicked in. That’s not taking anything away from them. They had way more scoring opportunities than we did, so if that one didn’t go in, another would have. It’s just a shame that was the one that went in.”
Casciato also acknowledged the play of senior Ang Borisow.
“I’ve been coaching Ang for six years – I coached her in club even before she got to high school,” the Indians’ coach said. “She’s just a fixture for me. Even if she’s not having a good game, there’s no one competing as hard as she is, and that’s what makes her great.
“Obviously, she’s very skilled, she’s passionate, but she’s competing. My husband asked me what position Ang played, and I said – pretty much all of them, whatever we need her to do.”
The Indians coach acknowledged that she liked her team’s chances in Tuesday’s rematch after scouting the Whippets in their 3-2 win over top-seeded Conestoga in the district title game.
“We went to the district final, and every one of us thought Conestoga was a better team than D-West, so we were kind of excited – hey, we have a shot,” Casciato said. “In hockey, anything could happen.
“All in all, I was glad we rallied the troops and had that big win over Garnet Valley the other day (in the seventh place game. You don’t want to end the season losing three games in a row.
“I told them when we got back to school and got off the bus – I said, ‘Hey, it’s disappointing, but you lost to the district champion 1-0.’ They were strong at every position. I didn’t feel like anybody stood out more than anybody else on their team, but their basic skills are very strong. They’re just very sound. They were the better team.”
Souderton closed out its season with an 18-5 record overall, and the Indians were 15-1 in SOL play, capturing the SOL Colonial Division title.
Souderton 0-0-0-0 0
Downingtown West 0-1-0-0 1
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