Check out the recaps for Wednesday’s SOL field hockey openers.
National Conference
ABINGTON 1, COUNCIL ROCK SOUTH 0
The Ghosts rode the dazzling 22-save effort of senior goalie Mackenzie Greiner and an inspired defensive effort to pull off the stunning upset of the defending conference champion Golden Hawks.
“We just played unbelievable,” coach Katie Small said. “Don’t get me wrong, Council Rock South was amazing. They definitely dominated in their offensive end, but our defense just held it together with Mackenzie in the goal.
“I’ve never seen anyone play as well as Mackenzie did today. Every inch of her body stopped a ball, including every inch of her stick, every inch of her padding. She had a one-on-one breakaway, and she stopped it. It’s something we’ve been working on with her. Everything we worked on with the team all came together, and it was such a relief to see it.”
Small, who came to Abington from Jenkintown this fall, admits she didn’t realize the significance of the win.
“To be honest, I didn’t know how big it was until I got home,” the Ghosts’ first-year coach said. “I know some of the teams in the SOL, and people warn you about certain teams.
“I just thought, ‘Okay, I’m playing somebody who’s obviously been better than Abington in the past,’ but I didn’t realize they were 12-0 last year until I got home. My heart started racing – my gosh, this is a huge win for the program because we were 6-12 last year. To come out 3-0 and beat the defending the National Conference champs, I’m speechless.”
Senior Natalie McNamara – a transfer from Mount St. Joseph – scored the game’s only goal midway through the first half.
“I was kind of a 4v3 – Natalie probably got it around the 25-yard line, dribbled into the circle and, with a defender on her, just drove it straight at the cage and it went right in the back of the cage,” Small said. “It was like, ‘Oh my goodness, we just scored’ because then it went right down to the other end.
“That’s when the back line of Olivia Geissler, Alayna Swift and Evyn Stewart just took over and started marking well, channeling everything that we’ve been working on. Aileen Hughes from our midfield came out of nowhere today and was just a beast out there. She played so well.
“Part of the time, we kept saying, ‘When do we go defensive-minded, drop more people back.’ I said, ‘You know what, we can’t. The way they’re playing – they’re just clicking. We can’t change anything,’ and it worked. I’m so proud of them.”
The Ghosts’ coach also lauded the strong efforts of McNamara and Grace Terrizzi on the offensive end.
Abington (3-0, 1-0 SOL) will be on the road at Pennsbury on Friday and then will host Neshaminy on Monday.
“To win this is great going in,” Small said. “We had Cheltenham and Lansdale Catholic to start off, and they’re both grass games. We didn’t see what we were wanting to see from them on a consistent basis.
“To come out and get back up on turf and to see this – ‘They are getting it.’ It’s a totally different system.”
Council Rock South (1-2, 0-1) will host Council Rock North at Walt Snyder Stadium on Friday.
Abington 1-0 1
Council Rock South 0-0 0
COUNCIL ROCK NORTH 6, HARRY S TRUMAN 0
Six different players scored goals in the Indians’ season opener Wednesday. Rebecca Ripans had a hand in three goals, finishing with one goal and two assists. Bridget Thompson had a goal and an assist while Celie Burke, Sabrina Green, Hannah Barsky and Sarah Scott each had one goal for the Indians, who led 2-0 at halftime.
Council Rock North (1-0 SOL) will be the visiting team when the Indians face Council Rock South at Walt Snyder Stadium on Friday. Harry S Truman (0-1) will host William Tennent in a non-league game Thursday.
Harry S Truman 0-0 0
Council Rock North 2-4 6
PENNSBURY 8, BENSALEM 0
(Submitted article)
Olivia Mauro and Kate Chesney scored three goals each to lead Pennsbury to an 8-0 win over Bensalem in its Suburban One League opener.
After Mauro started the scoring by redirecting a pass from Samie Hackman, Chesney scored three straight times for the Falcons, making it a 4-0 game after 10 minutes.
Mauro's second goal made it 5-0 late in the first half, and Bev Bozarth scored her first career goal to make it a 6-0 game at the break. Mauro and Maya Geller scored after intermission.
Selena Lee kept the Owls in the game with a strong 16-save performance in goal in a game played in light rain pretty much throughout.
"I'm glad we were able to play," said Pennsbury coach Jamie Parell. "I'd like to thank the Bensalem facilities people for having the field in such good shape with all the rain. We wanted to get back out on the field after our first game. It was good to see the offense click today. We're looking forward to getting into the heart of our schedule."
Pennsbury (1-1, 1-0 SOL) hosts Abington Friday, and Bensalem (1-1, 0-1) will be on the road at Neshaminy Friday.
Pennsbury 6-2 8
Bensalem 0-0 0
Continental Conference
CENTRAL BUCKS SOUTH 2, SOUDERTON 1
Kasey Dietzel is the key to the Titans’ transition in the midfield.
Megan Gillard helps to anchor the Titans’ defense.
Both scored goals in Wednesday’s conference opener. Both goals came on corners.
“I don’t belong up there,” Gillard said of scoring. “It’s the forward’s job, but it’s so fun.”
Dietzel made sure the Titans had a whole lot of fun at the Indians’ expense when – from the left post – she deflected a ball from teammate Megan Weeks into the cage for what turned out to be the game winner with 1:36 remaining in regulation.
“We practice our corners so much, and our corners are very dangerous,” Dietzel said. “The fact that we executed our corners just shows the hard work we put in during practice and in the offseason.”
The Titans drew just three corners but hit paydirt on two of them.
“Our goal is to try and get as many corners as possible,” South coach Pat Toner said. “We work on corners a long time, and our goal for that would be to have other teams not want to give up a corner to us. We are going to keep working on them until they’re second nature to us. That’s something I’ve always felt strongly about.”
Gillard’s goal during corner play (Mel Dunton assist) less than three minutes into the first half spotted the Titans an early 1-0 lead. It took the Indians just over eight minutes to get that goal back. If style points were awarded in field hockey, they would have attained a near perfect score on a goal that featured a highlight reel passing sequence the length of the field. The scoring drive was capped with Courtney Kenah dishing the ball to Randi Hess on the opposite side of the cage, and the junior forward finished off the play with a shot that found the right corner.
“This is a fast team – they’re so fast,” Gillard said. “They had a good breakaway, and they had great passes, good combinations.
“After that (goal), we realized we really had to keep our feet moving to keep up with their speed.”
The Indians never really seriously threatened again, and in a game of limited opportunities for both sides, Dietzel cashed in on the Titans’ third and final corner with time winding down.
“This (win) was very important,” Dietzel said. “We just came back from a 0-1 loss to Episcopal, and this was our first league game.”
Each team managed just five shots, and take away the Indians’ breakaway in the first half, and a revamped South defense was all but impenetrable.
“There are things we have to connect with our strengths,” Souderton coach Nicole Bauer said. “Definitely our footwork is something we need to work on, so that we can use our speed.
“Our corners are usually our strength, but we just weren’t connecting. We scored in our Quakertown game (a 9-0 win) on probably five of our corners. (The Titans) were stacked in the circle, and they have strong defender positioning within the circle. I think it got in our heads a little bit. Our passing and the things we’re working on throughout the week were there. Now there are just other things we have to work on. This was one of our first challenges as a team, so there are hurdles we have to get over.”
Central Bucks South (1-1, 1-0 SOL) will be on the road at Pennridge on Friday, and Souderton (1-1, 0-1) will travel to Central Bucks East.
Souderton 1-0 1
Central Bucks South 1-1 2
CENTRAL BUCKS EAST 4, NORTH PENN 2
Sparked by a pair of goals by Riley Donnelly, the Patriots opened up a 4-0 lead before the Knights got on the board with a pair of goals in the final eight minutes. The Knights, according to East coach Michelle Finegan, took the first shot of the game, but the Patriots’ defense and goalie Emily Bullard set the early tone.
“Emily Bullard was up for the challenge and made a couple of nice saves early in the half,” the Patriots’ coach said.
Midway through the half, the Patriots broke a scoreless tie when Mackenzie Boyle found the cage with an Allie Gallant assist during corner play. Donnelly banged one home from the top of the circle to send the Patriots into halftime with a 2-0 lead.
Donnelly’s reverse stick goal nine minutes into the second half gave the Patriots a three-goal lead, and Cailey Lever’s goal off the goalie pads made it a 4-0 game with 12:23 remaining. Brianna O’Donnell put the Knights on the board when she scored on a shot from the top of the circle, and a minute later, Emily Crawford scored on a shot across goal for the 4-2 final.
Shots (13-12) and corners (9-7) were fairly even with East holding a slight edge in both.
Central Bucks East (3-0, 1-0 SOL) will host Souderton on Friday, and North Penn (0-2, 0-1) will host Central Bucks West.
North Penn 0-2 2
Central Bucks East 2-2 4
CENTRAL BUCKS WEST 5, WILLIAM TENNENT 0
The Bucks controlled play from the opening whistle in Wednesday’s league opener against the visiting Panthers. Taylor Mason got the ball rolling with an unassisted goal seven minutes into the game to give the Bucks a lead they would not lose. With 9:10 remaining in the half, Dani Dundas turned the rebound of a goalie save into a goal to send the Bucks into halftime with a 2-0 lead.
Eva Altadonna scored early in the second half with some nifty moves from the top of the circle. With 8:45 remaining, Caitlin Mulligan deflected a Mason shot during corner play into the cage, and Casey Reichwein put the finishing touches on the no-doubt-about-it win when she scored on a direct shot on a corner, using a Anya DeAngelis assist.
The Bucks held a decisive advantage in shots (27-0) and corners (15-0).
Central Bucks West (2-0, 1-0 SOL) will travel to North Penn on Friday, and William Tennent (0-2, 0-1) will travel to Harry S Truman for a non-league game Thursday.
William Tennent 0-0 0
Central Bucks West 2-3 5
American Conference
SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP 3, HATBORO-HORSHAM 0
Anya Kochanowicz scored a goal and assisted on another to lead the Spartans. Kochanowicz found the cage with a goal that turned out to be the game winner with 21:36 remaining in the first half, using an assist from Ella Marino. Brigid Boyd (Ellie Hamilton assist) found the cage at the 7:52 mark of the opening half to send the Spartans into the intermission with a 2-0 lead. A goal by Hannah Grothusen with a Kochanowicz assist with 3:28 remaining gave the Spartans their final margin of victory.
Spartan goalie Emily Henry was forced to make just one save in the shutout while Hatboro-Horsham’s Liz Wilburn recorded 10 saves in another strong outing.
Springfield Township (1-0 SOL) will host Cheltenham Friday, and Hatboro-Horsham (0-2, 0-1) will be on the road at Upper Moreland.
Springfield Township 2-1 3
Hatboro-Horsham 0-0 0
PLYMOUTH WHITEMARSH 5, UPPER MORELAND 0
The Colonials raced out of the gate to a 4-0 halftime lead on their way to the decisive win.
“(We) played strong against Upper Moreland to open the season,” PW coach Charise Halteman said. “It was a total team effort as we were able to control the ball in our attacking end.”
Underscoring the Colonials’ dominance was the fact that they had 29 shots and 12 corners.
Freshman Kaleigh Missimer scored the first goal off a cross from Kennedy Reardon. Then it was Reardon – who led the Colonials with two goals and an assist – scoring on a corner with a Jess Dixon assist and following that by converting a penalty stroke to put the Colonials on top 3-0. Freshman Ava Borkowski closed out the scoring with a pair of goals.
Halteman lauded the performance of senior Sophie Kolkka.
“(She) played a strong game to anchor the defense,” the PW coach said.
PW goalie Katherine Houghton recorded two saves in the shutout while UM goalie Cassidy Murphy was credited with 18 saves in a strong showing.
Plymouth Whitemarsh (1-0 SOL) will travel to Wissahickon on Friday, and Upper Moreland (0-2, 0-1) will be on the road at Hatboro-Horsham.
Upper Moreland 0-0 0
Plymouth Whitemarsh 4-1 5
WISSAHICKON 4, QUAKERTOWN 0
Sparked by a pair of goals from senior captain Emily Purnell, the Trojans opened up a 3-0 halftime lead on their way to the shutout win. Both goals came with assists from senior captain Sammi Pak, who scored a goal of her own with an assist from sophomore Grace Ball. In the second half, senior captain Julianna Sutow turned a Pak assist into the game’s final goal.
Pak, who had a hand in all four goals, led the Trojans with a goal and three assists.
Wissahickon (1-0 SOL) will host Plymouth Whitemarsh on Friday, and Quakertown (0-2, 0-1) will be on the road at Upper Dublin Friday.
Wissahickon 3-1 4
Quakertown 0-0 0
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