North Penn picked up an important come-from-behind win over Owen J Roberts in non-league action Saturday.
NORTH PENN 3, OWEN J ROBERTS 2
The visiting Knights scored a pair of goals in the final 1:52 of regulation to stun the Wildcats in a non-league game on Saturday morning.
“It was amazing,” coach Shannon McCracken said.
The win should boost the Knights in the district power rankings. Last week, they were 14th while Owen J Roberts was ninth.
“I really try not to talk to the kids too much about that beforehand,” McCracken said. “My girls do follow the rankings – they get into it, but we didn’t talk anything about that before the game.
“I said, ‘This is a great team. We’re a good team. I think it’s going to be a great matchup. We have to play our game, play hard,’ but this (win) really helped.”
Emily Crawford put the Knights on the scoreboard when she scored with 11 seconds remaining in the first half.
“We had seven corners in the first half, and we really controlled play in the first half,” McCracken said. “It was like a scurry in front of the goal, and the ball was about to go out of bounds over the end line, and Emily was able to reach it. She just put a little lift on the ball, and it went in.
“That was big going into halftime with a one-goal lead because I really felt we were controlling play in the first half.”
Momentum swung in the Wildcats’ favor in the second half. Maddi Korey scored the tying goal at the 21:36 mark, and three minutes later, Natalie Fuertsh found the cage to put OJR on top 2-1.
“They came out strong in the second half, and we sat back on our heels a little bit,” McCracken said. “They had five corners in the second half and scored on one of them, but my defense came up with some big stops in the last 10 minutes of the game.”
Mikayla Barrow scored the equalizer with 1:52 remaining.
“Mikayla got a ball in the left corner, and she dribbled it in beyond the defender, made a move or two and put one in the left corner of the goal to tie the game, which was awesome,” McCracken said. “That just lit a fire, and they just kept up the pressure. We had control of the ball in our attack end.”
With 44 seconds remaining, senior Amanda Backshear turned a pass from Lauryn Fahey into the game winner.
“Lauryn Fahey had the ball at the top of the circle and saw Amber to the left open,” McCracken said. “Amber dribbled to her left and took a reverse shot and put it in the right corner.
“They just persevered, and they fight. They’ve got gut my kids. They really battled. It was exciting.”
The Knights’ coach lauded the strong play of her defense.
“I thought Erica Kelly had a great game in the backfield,” McCracken said. “She plays center back for us, and I thought she made a lot of great stops in the backfield.
“I thought our defense played really well. I think their strength is their attackers, and our defense – Erica Kelly, Jenna Whitman, Alli Dickinson – made some great stops.”
Goalie Brynne Schoppe recorded five saves in the win.
“They were good, solid saves,” McCracken said. “She did what she needed to do.
“I thought my defense played really well. They weren’t able to get a lot of shots off. Their strength is their forward line, and we denied them opportunities today.”
The Knights held an advantage in shots (13-8) and corners (10-8).
North Penn (10-6, 8-3 SOL) will travel to Pennridge on Tuesday.
North Penn 1-2 3
Owen J Roberts 0-2 2
Friday, Oct. 15
GWYNEDD MERCY 3, SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP 0
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