Check the recaps for SOL field hockey teams in action Thursday. Souderton clinched its first title in more than a decade (Check back for features about the three remaining teams to win at least a share of a conference crown.)
Indians win share of first title since 2004
Winning a league title was on the wish list Courtney Kenah and Anna Gwiazdzinski entering their final high school season. Just how realistic that goal might be – the senior co-captains weren’t quite sure.
“Coming into this season, we lost 10 seniors, so we thought it was going to be kind of a rebuilding year,” Gwiazdzinski said.
The Indians rebuilt quicker than they might have imagined, and thanks to Thursday’s 2-1 win over a pesky Pennridge squad, they captured a share of the SOL Continental title. It is the program’s first since 2004, and they share this one with a Central Bucks East squad that has won at least a share of four straight conference crowns.
“Our freshmen, sophomores and juniors really stepped up to help create this team that we could win a title with,” said Gwiazdzinski, an Indiana University commit.
“This was definitely our main goal,” Kenah said. “Beating East was one of our main goals – that was our toughest team last year.
“Obviously, if we beat East, we felt we had a chance at the title. This is what I wanted to do before I left high school, and I’m just glad we got it done.”
When Kenah – a University of Pennsylvania commit – joined the squad as a freshman, talk of a title would have seemed like little more than a pipe dream for an Indian squad that was just three years removed from a one-win season and finished fourth in conference play with a 5-6-1 record.
“It was a brand new coach, and I feel like by that time, most of the seniors were done,” Kenah said. “Nothing against them, but they had their four years, and even at the playoff game, I felt like everyone wasn’t all in it.
“(Talking about winning a title) would have been like saying, ‘Oh, that would be really cool to do,’ but I don’t think it would have been ‘We could do that.’”
Gwiazdzinski transferred to Souderton from Dock Mennonite Academy as a sophomore and was an impact player immediately, but the Indians finished fifth in the conference with a 4-8 record.
“Sophomore year we’d lose games by one goal – we weren’t a second-half team, and we’d lose it in the second half,” Kenah said. “We were still good, but there were dots we had to connect, and we just couldn’t get it done those years.”
Then came last year’s remarkable turnaround. The Indians – 17-5 overall – were 10-2 in conference play with their only losses at the hands of East.
“Last year, my sister (Lauren Kenah) moved up to the high school,” Kenah said. “She’s good in the center, and she can distribute it well, and we played together nicely.”
With the graduation of a strong senior class – including six key starters and the entire defensive backfield, duplicating last year’s success, much less improving on that finish, seemed unlikely, but the revamped Indians did just that, clinching a share of the crown in their final regular season game.
“On paper, you would have thought last year was the year, but this turned out to be the better year,” Kenah said. “So many of our players this year had never played varsity. I couldn’t imagine telling them, ‘Okay guys, we have to beat all these really good teams so we can win a title.’
“They never had set foot on a varsity field. It seemed like a big reach, but everyone worked so well together, and it’s really neat to see how we came together this year and got it done.”
Souderton (11-1 SOL) split its season series with East, winning the first 1-0 in overtime and falling in the second meeting 2-0. The season was not without adversity. Junior goalie Jordan Michalak was sidelined four games with concussion symptoms, but sophomore Teagan Farina stepped in, and the Indians did not miss a beat.
Also key was the move of Gwiazdzinski – a dangerous forward – to sweeper to provide stability to the young defensive backfield. Losing to East in the second meeting made every game a must-win if the Indians entertained any thoughts of winning a share of the crown.
“Sometimes you have to switch up positions to make things work,” Gwiazdzinski said. “People have to have an open mind to playing a new position and playing with new people.
“Coming out here (today) and definitely having the pressure of – if we win this, it’s big. If we lose it, the whole season is kind of gone. Pennridge definitely came to play, and it took us until the second half to push ourselves.”
“Even though we’ve had so many changes, I feel as though everyone can step up to their position wherever coach puts us and plays it well,” Kenah said. “That helps a lot that everyone has been able to move around.”
Kenah and Gwiazdzinski – in addition to providing a major portion of the team’s goals – have been key in pulling this young and inexperienced team together.
“They’ve both been super unselfish this year,” coach Sue Casciato said. “We’ve been telling them for several weeks that this team is so much more cohesive than last year’s team. They have each other’s back, they have a better work ethic. It’s been a pleasure to be part of it.
“Based on the fact that we lost six starters, I do feel like we’ve been pretty successful. We lost our entire defense, and they were probably the strongest part of our team last year.”
Kylie Norbeck, the team’s third senior starter, has quietly played an important role in the team’s success.
“She’s been all over the place too,” Casciato said. “She’s been a left mid, and the last couple of games she’s been the defensive center mid. She’s a great athlete, and she had a great game today.
“In all honesty, we’re still tweaking our lineup.”
The Indians’ second season begins on Wednesday when they will host the winner of the Downingtown East/Kennett contest in a second round game.
SOL Continental Conference
SOUDERTON 2, PENNRIDGE 1
The visiting Rams took a 1-0 lead into halftime, and the Indians appeared to be in jeopardy of letting a share of the program’s first title in 15 years slip away. A second-half team all season, they came to life after the intermission, drawing 11 corners and connecting on a pair of goals to capture a share of the conference crown along with CB East.
“We were really energized,” senior co-captain Courtney Kenah said. “I just felt like we were timid in the first half. In the second half, we all seemed a little more comfortable and did things more aggressively instead of safely, which didn’t help us in the first half. We were playing not to lose, and in the second half, we played to win.”
Macy Price spotted the Rams a 1-0 lead when she banged home the rebound of a goalie save with 2:18 remaining in the first half. The Rams – who fell to the Indians 3-1 earlier this season – had served notice that they were not going to go down quietly.
“We started off really strong,” Pennridge coach Becky Spahr said. “Our whole game plan is speed up front, and we did a really good job with that. Our middies and backs did a good job of finding the holes and hitting it up to our forwards.
“Souderton has very good and talented scorers, and I thought we did a really good job of controlling them most of the game.”
It was Kenah scoring on a difficult shot across goal from the end line, knotting the score 10 minutes into the second half. The Indians drew six consecutive corners in the next eight minutes but came up empty. On their eighth corner of the half, Riley Knize scored on the follow-up shot after Pennridge goalie Maia Machado came up with a stop on Kenah’s shot from the top of the circle.
“On a corner, it’s so hard to defend when they have that many good goal scorers,” Spahr said. “We’re playing good hockey, and that’s what I keep telling them. We’re in every game.’
That 2-1 lead held until the final whistle.
“We’ve been struggling a bit the past couple of games,” senior co-captain Anna Gwiazdzinski said. “I don’t know if it’s just one game after the other and finishing the regular season play knowing we had to win every single game from here on out and the pressure kind of building.
“Part of the reason why we really came out in the second half was we put people back to where they played in the beginning of the season. It gave us more confidence, but we were still comfortable with our defense.”
A key to the Indians’ second half turnaround was moving Gwiazdzinski from defensive sweeper to the forward line.
“I would definitely agree – I like Anna on offense with me,” Kenah said. “If I’m closed down, Anna is the one open, and we work off each other, and that’s when we get stuff done.”
The Indians held a 15-1 advantage in corners but didn’t generate a whole lot of offense.
“We really struggle on our own field – it’s kind of slow,” coach Sue Casciato said of the Indians’ new turf field. “I told them – at some point, we’re going to have to learn to play on it because other teams come in and manage.
“I thought in the second half our passing was a lot better. We got stuck in the middle too many times with the ball in the first half. In the second half, we used the right side of the field so much better. We know we’re a second-half team. That’s why we wanted to run into the wind the first half.”
Spahr lauded the efforts of several players.
“We use Macy Price to mark in the circle, and she also scored – she does a good job of getting up offensively,” the Rams’ coach said. “I also thought our side mids – Maddie Bross, Emily Miller, Kenzie Herbst – did a really good job of causing turnovers.
“We have young forwards who are doing a really good job. Brynn (Wenger), who was our low center today, does a really good job of stepping to the ball and not allowing their centers – who are their skilled players – to get the ball. Brynn and Macy do a good job of that.”
Souderton (16-2, 11-1 SOL), the sixth seed in the District One 3A Tournament, will face the winner of the No. 22 Downingtown East at #11 Kennett contest in a second round game Wednesday.
Pennridge (8-9-1, 5-7 SOL), the 20th seed, will travel to No. 13 Methacton for an opening round game Monday.
Pennridge 1-0 1
Souderton 0-2 2
Non-league
COUNCIL ROCK SOUTH 3, WISSAHICKON 1
Katelyn Cocco scored two goals and assisted on another to lead the Golden Hawks to their sixth straight win to close out the regular season.
“Wiss is always a good team – we always play them non-league, and going into the game, we knew it was important for the rankings,” said coach Lisa Belz, whose team won 11 of 12 games to close out the season. “Two weeks into the season, we were 2-4. We had a good stretch of wins.
“We played Neshaminy a few weeks ago, and that’s been our only loss. I have been talking to the girls about how important the last two weeks were for the rankings. I think they are serious about it, and after a few years of this ranking thing, I think this class gets it.
“I don’t think this was our best game. They have some good players, and we had a hard time connecting at the beginning of the game, but we found the back of the cage.”
Cocco scored just over 10 minutes into the game during corner play, and the senior standout scored again – this time on a breakaway – with six minutes remaining in the half to send the Hawks into halftime with a 2-0 lead.
Six minutes into the second half, Brigid Morgan found the cage, using a Cocco assist. With just under 10 minutes remaining in regulation, Kate Lovensheimer (Lauren Donofrio assist) put the Trojans on the scoreboard.
The Golden Hawks held a 14-6 advantage in shots. Rock South goalie Karlie McCloskey was credited with five saves.
“I was happy to finish strong in regular season play,” Belz said. “We’re looking forward to the playoffs.”
Council Rock South (13-5, 10-2 SOL) is the 10th seed in the District One 3A Tournament. The Golden Hawks will host conference foe William Tennent, the 23rd seed, in Monday’s opening round. Wissahickon (13-4-1, 12-2 SOL), the sixth seed in Class 2A, will host 11th-seeded Harriton in Tuesday’s opening round.
Council Rock South 2-1 3
Wissahickon 0-1 1
PLYMOUTH WHITEMARSH 8, NORTH PENN 2
The Colonials blew open a close game in the second half, breaking a 2-2 tie with 18:37 remaining when Alexis Minor (Hailey Copestick assist) found the cage. That goal opened the floodgates as the Colonials closed out the game with a 6-0 tear to earn their 17th win of yet another superb season.
“The score doesn’t tell the whole story of the game,” North Penn coach Shannon McCracken said. “(We) held off a very skilled, fast and talented PW team until late in the second half.”
Junior Ava Borkowski – who has been a goal-scoring machine for the Colonials – reached the 100-goal mark for her career with her first of four goals just over 12 minutes into the contest.
“Ava scored her 100th career goal on a beautiful reverse shot,” coach Charise Halteman said.
The Colonials led 2-0 after Molly Lynch connected on a hard shot from the right side of the circle. The Knights cut that lead in half when Katie Blanch turned an Erin O’Donnell pass into a goal to make it a 2-1 game at the intermission.
Megan Albert (O’Donnell assist) knotted the score with a goal during corner play eight minutes into the second half.
“North Penn had momentum in the beginning of the second half and scored on a lifted corner shot,” Halteman said.
Then came Minor’s goal that ignited the Colonials. Borkowski connected on an unassisted goal seven minutes later, and then it was Kayla Link finding the cage. Borkowski and Kaleigh Missimer scored back-to-back goals late to close out the scoring.
“(We) ran out of gas and had difficulty holding them off,” McCracken said. “Maddie Waldspurger had a great game, making big stops and distributing the ball well.”
Copestick had a pair of assists while Missimer and Autumn Luptak each had one.
PW goalie Sarah Trask had five saves in the win. North Penn’s Mallory Stowell recorded seven saves. Albert also was credited with a defensive save.
Plymouth Whitemarsh (17-1, 14-0 SOL) is the second seed in the District One 3A Tournament and has an opening round bye. The Colonials will host the winner of Monday’s opening round game pitting No. 19 Council Rock North at No. 15 Lower Merion in a second round game on Wednesday.
North Penn (8-9-1, 6-6) is the 19th seed in the upcoming District One 3A Tournament. The Knights will travel to 14th-seeded Spring-Ford for an opening round game on Monday.
Plymouth Whitemarsh 2-6 8
North Penn 1-1 2
CHELTENHAM 3, LANSDALE CATHOLIC 1
It was a long season for a shorthanded Cheltenham squad, but the Lady Panthers closed it out on a high note, notching their first win over the visiting Crusaders.
“It was good. It was a feeling of – it’s about time,” coach Tabatha Gilbert said. “It wasn’t their best game.
“Tuesday was their best game against Abington (a 3-0 loss) for their Senior Night. Our improvement definitely is not reflected in our record this year. ”
The Lady Panthers have been playing the better part of the season without a goalie.
“It’s just been random people in goal,” said Gilbert, who lost one goalie to an injury and another was academically ineligible. “Literally, I have been putting a different person in goal every game, both varsity and jayvee. I put out a request and see what my options are. They try their best, and that’s all I can ask of them.
“In all aspects otherwise, I think we did well. We were 0-0 with Springfield for half of a game with a goalie of the day. Hatboro-Horsham it was 1-0 the entire game until the last minute, and we missed our chances to score. The same with our game against Abington on Tuesday – we missed the cage about six times.”
In Thursday’s win, senior Sammi Boyd put the Lady Panthers on the scoreboard at the 14:44 mark of the opening half when she scored her first goal of the season.
“She was assisted beautifully by Riley Walker,” Gilbert said. “We did a lot of good passing today.”
Elsa Nguyen (Emma Farrell assist) found the cage to make it a 2-0 game, a score that stood until halftime. Nguyen (Bailey Messa assist) scored again in the second half to put the Panthers on top 3-0. Lansdale Catholic’s Bridget Reope scored during corner play for the 3-1 final.
“It was very nice for them to win,” Gilbert said. “I’m grateful that we get to play Lansdale Catholic even though they’re not in our league.”
Cheltenham goalie Dylan Miller – just back from an injury that sidelined her since Sept. 20 – stopped seven of eight shots.
Lansdale Catholic 0-1 1
Cheltenham 2-1 3
CENTRAL BUCKS WEST 6, VILLA JOSEPH MARIE 1
The Bucks won’t be playing in the postseason. As a matter of fact, they won just four games, but if they’re looking to set the tone for the future, they did an impressive job, winning their last three games and putting an exclamation point on their strong finish with a no-doubt-about-it win over the visiting Jems.
“The Bucks ended the 2019 season on a high note,” coach Ginny Moore said.
West came up empty on some early shots, and the Jems scored on a breakaway to take an early 1-0 lead. Julia Bunch and Grayce Reimel took care of that little matter with Bunch twice turning Reimel passes into goals.
“Julia Bunch got us to 2-1 by halftime on two beautiful corners,” Moore said. “We found our groove in the second half.”
The Bucks received second-half goals from Em Erickson (Julia Laurie assist), Bryn Spoerl (Erickson assist), Spoerl again (Reimel assist) and Caroline Crecca (Sara Lelii assist).
“The victory was a total team effort,” Moore said. “It couldn’t have happened without players supporting each other and connecting all over the field.
“The coaches laud the immense improvement, endless hustle and passionate grit from the Bucks this season.”
The Bucks’ coach went on to credit the efforts of her players.
“Forwards Bella Aulisio, Em Erickson, Bryn Spoerl, Caroline Crecca, Emily Hohenleitner, and Carley Briece did a wonderful job persisting and executing in the circle,” Moore said. “Mids Julia Bunch, JL, Kendall Siegle, Claire Engebreth, and Grayce Reimel did a fantastic job making plays, gaining possession, and creating offensive opportunities
Defenders Sara Lelii, Maggie Whalen, Claire Natoli, and Ella Casale did a great job stepping up to the ball and shutting down attack. Sadie Furgiuele and Brooke Golbeski played incredible in net all season, facing a lot of tough shots and strong offensive teams.”
The Bucks, who collected 11 penalty corners, had seven different players contribute either a goal or assist.
“The coaches are so proud of this team’s tenacity and hustle all season,” Moore said.
Central Bucks West closed out its season with a 4-14 record (3-9 SOL).`
Villa Joseph Marie 1-0 1
Central Bucks West 2-4 6
NEW HOPE-SOLEBURY 5, PENNSBURY 0
The Lions looked every bit the part of their 18-0 record, rolling the shutout win to close out their regular season.
“The Falcons turned the final page of their book today,” coach Traci Curtis said. “An extremely talented New Hope team scored two unanswered goals in the first half, making it 2-0 before the break. The Falcons worked hard to create offense, but it was tough against New Hope’s strong sticks and dominating coverage all over the field.
“The second half brought much of the same as Pennsbury fought, but barely made it into the offensive circle. The Lions tallied up three more goals before the buzzer, shutting out the Falcons and keeping a clean slate in their goals against column.”
Despite the outcome, Curtis was pleased with her team’s improvement over the course of the season.
“We have had an amazing season of growth and that is the victory we are most proud of – we have all come out better versions of ourselves in many ways than when we started and that was our ultimate goal,” the Falcons’ coach said. “We wish the very best to our seniors, Casey Glynn, Sammie Tosh, Keira Korzeb, Nicole Joniak, Julianna Martin, Cindy Budzinski, and Celia Dolan. Best of luck to all playoff teams in their post season journeys.”
Pennsbury closed out its season with a 6-12 record (5-7 SOL).
Pennsbury 0-0 0
New Hope-Solebury 2-3 5
METHACTON 4, COUNCIL ROCK NORTH 1
Council Rock North (10-8, 7-5 SOL) is the 19th seed in the District One 3A tournament. The Indians will travel to 15th-seeded Lower Merion for an opening round game on Monday.
BRISTOL 6, HARRY S TRUMAN 1
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