CB South & Neshaminy picked up wins in SOL field hockey action. Neshaminy/Truman photos courtesy of John Gleeson. Check back for a gallery of photos: https://solsports.zenfolio.com/f435525856
SOL Colonial Division
CENTRAL BUCKS SOUTH 2, CENTRAL BUCKS WEST 1 (OT)
This was a stunner.
Made even more stunning by the fact that the Titans won it while down a player in overtime due to a yellow card.
Kaeli VanDerSluis – who scored the dramatic game-winner on a breakaway – describes the highlight reel finish with 4:28 remaining in overtime.
“Sam Thomas sent me a pass – it was a beautiful pass, and it got by their one defender,” the sophomore forward said. “I sprinted up, and I had a 1v1 with the goalie and shot on her.
“As soon as the goal went in, me and my one friend looked at each other, and we were in disbelief – no way that just happened. It was so exciting.”
The Titans, according to Emma Kraft, had modest goals.
“We went into this game trying to keep it as low-scoring as possible and play defense,” the Titans’ senior goalie said. “The fact that we won is absolutely crazy. I don’t think any of us can even believe it. It’s crazy.”
All but lost in the shuffle of the electrifying finish was a key play in the opening quarter when the Bucks were awarded a penalty stroke that was turned away by Kraft.
“My heart stopped – there’s no breathing, it’s nothing. It’s like time is standing still,” said Kraft of her emotions when the stroke was called.
“I try to not make eye contact with them and only look at the ball – no contact. She hit it on my right middle side, and I tapped it down with my stick.”
There was no mistaking the lift that gave the visiting Titans.
“That was really big,” Kraft said. “I think that gave everyone a boost of confidence. We were all like – ‘We can win this, this is winnable.’ That was early in the game, and that set the tone for the rest of the game.”
It certainly set the tone for a standout defensive effort by the Titans, who limited a Bucks’ squad that averaged close to seven goals a game through nine games to a season low one goal.
“We’ve just been working on our defense,” South coach Kelli Chioffe said. “My assistant, Steph Bardell was like – ‘Look, you’ve got to have a rotation of marking. When one girl’s open, the other one has to cover,’ and they just were working the circle ‘D.’ They kept getting the ball out, throwing it out the sidelines.
“Yes, they were knocking on our door quite a bit. They had 14 penalty corners and we had four. All we needed was that one breakaway, and I knew we could get it down there.”
Comprising the Titans’ stingy defense – in addition to Kraft- were senior captain Sam Thomas (center back), Kelly Hemsley (right back), Peyton Ostroff (left back) and Kaitlin Sullivan.
“Ella Haag is our center mid, and even before the game, we said, ‘You’re going to be more defensive this game. You’re in the circle ‘D’ – we need you,” Chioffe said. “We played it that way where everybody was just back.”
Chioffe jokingly said that she considered having her team simply filling the goal cage and standing in front of it to slow down the Bucks’ dangerous attack.
“But we didn’t have to do that,” the Titans’ coach said. “We just held our own and just kept trying to mess them up.
“They’re a fantastic team. We just caught them off guard.”
Chioffe credited Haag, Avery Tyler, Kate Porter and Carrie Williams for playing strong in the midfield.
“Forwards Amy Hazell, Tessa Walls, Kaeli VanDerSluis and Erin Kelly worked so hard to get the ball in the offensive circle and were able to make things happen,” the Titans’ coach said. “I’m so proud of our girls today.
“(We) came out to play some field hockey today. We never gave up fighting, and the entire Titan team deserves this win. We were fired up and never let down. Even when CB West scored on us in the third quarter, we never let up.”
The Bucks broke a scoreless with with 6:21 remaining in the third quarter after a Kraft save of an Aide Ierubino lift, and Mimi Duffy was there for the tip into the cage.
Trailing by one, Chioffe called a timeout late in the fourth quarter that proved to be crucial.
“We got a sideline hit by our offensive circle, and I called a timeout,” the Titans’ coach said. “I’m like, ‘Let’s settle down, let’s talk about what we’re going to do to get it in the goal. What can we do?’
“We said ‘Avery (Tyler), dribble baseline, so Avery dribbled it in, she got a corner, and we were able to get the score. I don’t know. I don’t think they knew what was coming.”
The Titans’ goal was set up with a passing sequence from Amy Hazell to Avery Tyler to VanderSluis, who found the cage with the equalizer.
“We went crazy – we all started jumping up down, and we were screaming,” VanDerSluis said. “We were like – ‘We could actually go into overtime with West.’ From then on, that was our goal – just to go into overtime.
“When we were going into overtime, we said, ‘We just need to keep them off for 10 minutes. We can do it.’ Before overtime, we were just so happy. We all just felt so much energy.”
During overtime, the Titans suffered a setback when one of their players received a yellow card and was sidelined for five minutes.
“We were like, ‘Okay, get back on ‘D’’ and Sam Thomas played great defense – she’s amazing at just getting the ball away from people, and she sent the ball up to Kaeli, who was able to do a breakaway 1v1 with the goalie again,” Chioffe said. “This is the fourth time she’s been given the chance, and she makes it happen.”
The win knocked the Bucks from the ranks of the undefeated. It was their first loss in 10 games.
“It was so exciting – I did not think we could do it,” VanDerSluis said. “This is definitely a confidence boost. We were shocked.
For her part, VanDerSluis has been scoring goals with regularity for the Titans this season.
“I’ve just been going to a lot of clinics in the summer this year, and I just wanted to know I could score for my team because last year I didn’t have a lot of goals,” she said. “I was like – ‘I need to score this year and rack up as many goals and assists as I can.
“Today I feel like our transition passes and our defense just worked so well with our forwards. I feel like we were all really hungry and just wanted to get to get the goal. We were going back and forth with them a lot, and we just tried to keep our patience and stay composed.”
Central Bucks South (6-3, 6-3 SOL) will travel to Harry S Truman on Thursday, and Central Bucks West (9-1, 8-1) will travel to Pennsbury Thursday for a 5:30 p.m. contest.
Central Bucks South 0-0-0-1-1 2
Central Bucks West 0-0-1-0-0 1
SOL Patriot Division
NESHAMINY 8, HARRY S TRUMAN 0
Nine different players contributed to the scoring and seven different players scored goals in the Redskins convincing win over the visiting Tigers.
Hannah Stanton scored less than two minutes into the game, using a Molly Courtney assist. Kasey Rieger’s unassisted goal gave the Redskins a 2-0 lead after one quarter.
In the second quarter, Mia Brooks and Annie Quinn each scored an unassisted goal, and a goal by Paige Comer (Quinn assist) sent the Redskins into halftime with a 5-0 lead.
That score stood until the fourth quarter when the Redskins received goals from Quinn – her second, Reese Merrill and Morgan Shaltens (Nora Saloky assist).
Neshaminy (8-3, 7-2 SOL) will travel to Central Bucks East on Thursday, and Harry S Truman (0-11, 0-9) will host Central Bucks South on Thursday.
Harry S Truman 0-0-0-0 0
Neshaminy 2-3-0-3 8
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