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Souderton 14, Central Bucks South 6
Lindsay Walbrandt – one of just a handful of players still on the field - allowed herself a smile.
The Souderton captain and her teammates were understandably pleased with their strong showing in Tuesday night’s big win over a Titan squad that had split its two games with the Indians last season.
“We knew coming in it was going to be a hard game,” Walbrandt said. “We wanted to start our league season on the right note, so I think we were all ready this game more than anything – we were fired up and ready to go.
“They’re a very strong team. We knew what we needed to do against them, and I thought we executed it very well.”
In no phase of the game was the Indians’ execution more apparent than on the defensive side of the ball.
“Sherry Russell, one of our assistant coaches, was keeping track of double teams, and she said we had more than 30 double teams tonight, and that’s awesome, that’s amazing,” said Walbrandt, who contributed three goals and one assist. “That’s what we have been working on all season - double teams in our set defense and sliding. I think we did that better than we did in any of our previous games.
“Also, we had double teams in the midfield, which really worked tonight to our advantage. We’ve been working on that, and tonight we really executed it. Again, they still had six goals, but I think every single one of those they really had to work for, and that feels good.”
Perhaps no sequence more effectively underscored the Indians’ defensive effort than a telling stretch after a goal by Kirstin Russell put the Indians on top 11-3 early in the second half.
It began with a takeaway on the defensive end by Souderton’s Melinda Wojt, and after the Indians came up empty on a free position, the Titans regained possession.
But not for long.
This time it was Kirstin Russell gaining possession after a double team. The Titans got the ball back yet again, but almost immediately found themselves the victim of another Indian double team.
Again, the Titans regained possession, and moments later, Casey Haegele found her way through the defense for the score, but it hadn’t been easy.
That sequence was the norm on a night that saw the Indians turn up the defensive pressure for the entire 50 minutes.
“They did a phenomenal job on the double teams in the midfield,” South coach Janique Craig said. “They beat us in the midfield. Everywhere you looked there were Souderton shirts.
“They did a phenomenal job. They played great. Hands down, Souderton deserved this win.”
The two teams were deadlocked 1-1 early on, but the Indians outscored the Titans 8-2 the rest of the way to go into halftime with a 9-3 lead. Sophomore Liz Mower led the charge with four goals and one assist.
“Starting the defense in the offensive end is what we’ve been working on – just making sure we’re double teaming the ball and putting pressure on and marking up the rest of the midfield instead of ball watching,” Souderton coach Nicole Bauer said. “Today everything just clicked.”
Any thoughts of a Titan comeback were put to rest when Walbrandt carried the ball the length of the field and scored on a powerful bounce shot less than a minute into the second half. Fifty-seven seconds later, Russell scored to put the Indians on top 11-3.
The two teams played to a draw the rest of the way.
“We could have capitalized on a lot of opportunities, but again, we just made some bad decisions, and that comes with experience,” Craig said. “I have this whole team pretty much back next year.
“They’re going to learn when to pass and when not to, when to go in and when not to and make smart decisions.”
The Indians improved to 4-1 overall (1-1 in the SOL).
“I think hopefully this will make a statement,” Bauer said. “I don’t want everyone to come out to get us, but it’s nice to start out strong in the league.”
In addition to Walbrandt and Mower, the Indians received contributions from Russell (two goals, two assists), Danielle Notvest (two goals), Caitlin Shinners (one goal), Carly Kendall (one goal, one assist), and Sydney Niles (one goal).
South received a pair of goals from Taylor Michener as well as single goals from Kelly Hamilton, Kristin Lawlor, Casey Haegele and Maddie Dibrino.
Central Bucks East 19, Neshaminy 2
Twenty-four hours after their dramatic overtime win over Villa Joseph Marie, the Patriots rolled to a big win over the Redskins in their SOL opener.
Sophomore Sam Axenroth stole the spotlight with a seven-goal effort. She also had one assist.
“She really stepped it up today with her shot placement,” coach Megan Macauley said.
Axenroth had plenty of help. Meredith Lavin contributed four goals and three assists, Carly Bitzer added the hat trick while Carolyn Remmey scored two goals and had an assist. Lauren Wick added a single goal. Tessa Roedel handed out four assists.
“Our communication defensively was good,” Macauley said. “One of our goals this week was for them to work on their draw control and also work on their shot placement.
“I thought that was improvement for us, but we still have a lot to work on in terms of getting ready for our game against Pennsbury on Friday.”
Cori Ducco and Caitlyn Carrezzola each scored a goal for Neshaminy.
The Patriots held a 32-7 advantage in shots on goal. East goalie Madi Steuber had four saves.
Pennridge 17, Central Bucks West 6
The Rams opened SOL play with a 17-6 win over Central Bucks West on Tuesday night. The Rams took a 12-2 lead into halftime and never looked back. The convincing win came on the heels of a 16-5 loss to Council Rock North.
“The biggest thing in our losses was the unforced turnovers,” Pennridge coach Liz Wallace said. “What happened was – a lot of the newer positions we have on varsity are inexperienced players at this level, and I don’t think any of us understood their level of inexperience.
“We tried to dive in and play the way we did last year without really getting those people up to speed. What we’re working on now is just getting the inexperienced newer players more up to speed because last year I was spoiled with nine returning starters. We had to kind of step back and learn to play towards our strengths.”
Emily Maher led the Rams with five goals. Julie Colyar added three goals and three assists, and Nikki Beck also contributed the hat trick. Jen Moyer had two goals and one assist, and Sam Myers had one goal. Lauren Abruzzo had one goal and one assist, and Taylor Dachowski added a single goal.
“Today we made a complete 180, and we put all the pieces together,” Wallace said. “They know the league games are the core of the season, and this was a nice start for the league games.
“We had seven different goal scorers – everyone on offense scored. Something clicked today, and hopefully, it will continue.”
The Rams’ big win came without senior Jess Roy, who suffered a concussion in Monday night’s game against Rock North.
Wallace lauded the efforts of midfielders Maher and Moyer and defensive stalwart Dayna Erdman.
“They just really ran the field, causing turnovers,” Wallace said. “Emily did a good job on the draws.”
The Bucks received single goals from Tori Ueland, Steph Cooper, Tara Shugars, Kelly McDevitt, Amanda Parker and Julie Kopperman. Shugars, Ueland and Jane Savard each contributed an assist.
Abington 19, Pennsbury 9
The Ghosts (3-2) opened SOL play with a big win over the Falcons. Carli Fitzgerald scored a career-high seven goals and also contributed two assists, three ground balls and four caused turnovers. Molly Seefried and Courtney Cox each scored five goals with Seefried also handing out five assists while Cox had one.
Courtney Enderle and Liz Wilson each scored a goal, but more importantly, Enderle had six ground balls and four caused turnovers while Wilson had four draw controls, five ground balls and three caused turnovers.
Emily Towey had nine saves in goal.
The Ghosts will host Council Rock North in a key SOL showdown on Monday night at 7:30 p.m.
Central Bucks East 10, Villa Joseph Marie 9 (OT) (Monday, April 12)
Showing a flare for the dramatic, Jamie Burns scored with eight seconds remaining, using an assist from Sam Axenroth, to propel the Patriots to the heartstopping win.
“It shouldn’t have come down to that,” coach Megan Macauley said. “We had simple errors, simple mistakes like offsides and three seconds, and we wanted to clean that up.
“It was the most intense game. It was back and forth. It was wild, but I was extremely pleased. We needed this as a confidence booster.”
Carly Bitzer, a captain and the team’s leading scorer, led the Patriots with four goals and one assist and also controlled the offense. Macauley also lauded the effort of midfielder Dana Thomas.
“She doesn’t score too much, but she’s like our unsung hero,” the Patriots’ coach said. “She’s key in our transition from defense to midfield.
“Defensively – she’s our go-to girl for ground balls and being aggressive off the draw. Every game we’ve played she’s always a key player.”
Council Rock North 16, Pennridge 5 (Monday, April 12)
The Indians made a statement in Monday’s impressive win over the Rams, jumping out to a 9-4 lead and then outscoring their hosts 7-1 in the second half.
Hannah Plappert led the Indians with seven goals and three assists while Kara Magley and Elly Plappert both added the hat trick. Lindsay Rheiner had two goals. Bridget Doyle added a goal and an assist.
Nikki Beck had the hat trick to lead the Rams while Emily Maher added a goal and an assist and Jess Roy had one goal. Dayna Erdman contributed an assist.
Pennridge goalie Jenna Esposito turned away 11 shots while Rock North’s Sarah Kiely had six saves.
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