Council Rock South won its division battle with Neshaminy in a key SOL contest on Saturday. Neshaminy/CR South photos courtesy of John Gleeson. Check back for a gallery.
SOL Patriot
COUNCIL ROCK SOUTH 1, NESHAMINY 0
The Golden Hawks were less than 24 hours removed from a 4-1 loss to Central Bucks East, but displaying absolutely no ill effects from that loss, they traveled to Neshaminy for a key division battle and – thanks to a Megan Rafter goal in the second quarter – eked out a win.
“Yesterday was our first crossover game with CB East, and that was definitely a challenge and not the outcome we would have wanted,” Rock South coach Colette Paprocki said. “We really had to turn this around in less than 24 hours for a morning game, so we were just trying to get ourselves up for a huge game.
“It’s always a good rivalry with Neshaminy. They’re an amazing team, it was their homecoming and on their grass field. It was amazing to get that win.”
The day started out on a bit of a shaky note.
“We had a bus issue – our bus didn’t show up for us this morning,” Paprocki said. “I was trying to keep them calm and not rattled and told them to put the circumstances that were against us aside and just go out, play our game and play with heart. They did, and luckily, that came out as a win for them.”
With 8:31 remaining in the second quarter, Rafter scored off a corner with an assist from Amanda Green. That 1-0 lead stood the rest of the way.
“Both teams had a lot of opportunities,” Paprocki said. “It was fairly evenly matched in terms of shots and corners. We did weather a lot of corners. One of them went in, but it got called back. There were a lot of really close calls and opportunities in our end defensively holding them off, so I was really proud how our defense (Rafter, Clare Neville, Kasey Knapp and Grace Franchini) played. Our goalie (Peyton Wright) came up big again today too.
“Every single girl on the field really played their hearts out today. They really came together and jelled together. Coming off of yesterday, we were just really happy to see them come together because yesterday was a rough one. It was amazing for them to come together under the circumstances.”
The Golden Hawks’ coach lauded the play of a pair of players.
“Megan Rafter plays her heart out every single game, and she really does an excellent job and had some excellent stops and clears on defense,” Paprocki said, going on to laud the play of senior Kerry Kaufman as well. “She always does an excellent job in the midfield, just trying to get things going and moving things up to the forwards.”
There’s a long way to go in a season that includes crossover games with the six teams in the SOL Colonial that are added to each team’s division record, but there’s no mistaking the significance of the Golden Hawks’ win, their second of the season over the defending Patriot Division champions.
Council Rock South (6-2, 6-1 SOL) will host Haverford on Monday in a non-league contest, and Neshaminy (5-2) will travel to Lawrenceville School for a non-league game Monday.
Council Rock South 0-1-0-0 1
Neshaminy 0-0-0-0 0
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