Check out the recaps for SOL girls’ soccer teams in action in the District One 4A Tournament Thursday. CB East/CB West photos courtesy of Tracy Valko. Check back for a gallery of photos. Wissahickon/Hatboro-Horsham photos courtesy of Josh Stelzer, and Pennridge/
CLASS 4A
No. 5 Central Bucks East 0 (8), No. 12 Central Bucks West 0 (7)
Nobody was leaving the field without settling things.
Even as darkness was rapidly setting in after 110 minutes of compelling soccer, nobody from CB West or CB East was remotely interested in picking up and coming back on Friday. Too much had been invested and left on the field already.
A game that all parties felt should have come a few rounds later than it did will still be one that gets talked about for a long, long time.
“I feel like every time we walk into an East-West game, we always end up saying that was the best and obviously, there’s a little bit of perspective but this was just such a fun game to be a part of,” East coach Jake Nesteruk said. “It’s a shame one of us had to end our season but looking back on it, for either team, you couldn’t be prouder just to be a part of that game.”
What made Thursday’s result all the more compelling was the fact it was the first postseason contest for Nesteruk and all of the players on the Patriots roster. West has been in the playoffs the last four years and had the benefit of playing Tuesday but for East, it was a trial by the toughest jury available in their archrivals.
The teams played two stellar games in the regular season, with each side winning on its home field so a draw seemed like a fair final outcome on their ledger for 2021. Unfortunately, in the postseason, someone has to advance and even with sunlight all but gone, it came down to kicks from the spot.
““That was the best high school soccer game I’ve ever witnessed. With about seven minutes left in the second overtime, the East athletic director came up to me and Jake and asked us – because it was dark – should we continue this tomorrow. I told Jake – ‘This is your home game. I’m good with whatever you want to do.’ And he was like, ‘Listen, we have to finish this,’ and I said, ‘I agree 100 percent,’” West coach Mike Moyer said. “There was no way we could come back the next day and have all the blood, sweat and tears that went into that game – and it was an epic performance.”
It’s easy to look at a scoreless 110 minutes and think little happened, but nothing was further from the truth on Thursday. Both defenses starred, as they have most of the season and they had to with a pair of offenses starving to put that one chance away that would have changed everything.
For West, it came down to keeping Elise Duffy and Eliot Forney under wraps but while neither scored, the two seniors just poured all their energy into turning any sliver into a scoring chance.
On the East side, even with West’s Taylor Moyer again sidelined with an injury, it was all hands on deck in the back against the Bucks other relentless competitors.
“Shea Lubin was a pain and very, very good and tough to deal with. She did a lot of work for them,” Nesteruk said. “For us, our main goal was if we could keep the ball in their half, we were going to be in good shape. So that meant press up, as high as possible, win the ball in the midfield and establish possession so we don’t get stretched out.
“They’re great off the counter and putting pressure.”
Nesteruk lauded the play of sophomore Sofia Mignon, a center midfielder who did not sub off the field at all Thursday and put away a PK in the shootout and winger Cam Williams, who stepped up with the Bucks focused on stopping some of her teammates. Behind Mignon, the center back duo of Liv Kallelis and Courtney Curry held their ground and senior keeper Skyler Gash kept everyone organized.
Mike Moyer also cited the play of Lubin, a senior co-captain who only just returned from injury herself and poured her heart into the game trying to fill in some of Taylor Moyer’s role. West’s defense of Kate Weyer, Courtney Moylan, Ava Longo and Mariella Neri plus keeper Jules Broskey had their eighth clean sheet in nine games prior to the shootout.
“The biggest thing I push is mental toughness. When I look at my team and see the injuries we had, I’m only subbing two or three girls in the entire game when most of them are playing injured and I see the fight that they had. They were warriors tonight,” Mike Moyer said. “I know they’re extremely upset, and it was a really tough bus ride home, but I couldn’t be any more proud of my girls tonight. I don’t want to lose, but if we were going to lose – I can be okay losing a game like this.”
The physical and emotional toll of the day had already taken a lot out of both teams, and asking the players to leave and sit on it for a day didn’t sit well with either side.
“Mike and I looked at each other and we knew we had to finish it out. There was too much magic in this game to just call it now and replay it tomorrow with whatever time was left,” Nesteruk said. “It’s the beauty of being at CB East, you’re sitting there playing in the dark, but it was such an unbelievable environment to be in.
“The stands were packed, and it meant a lot for us to get the game in and play it through. It gets to PKs, it’s out of your hands and as you’re polling kids to see who wants a piece of the moment, it’s anybody’s game.”
Naturally, after not scoring at all in regulation or either of the overtimes – which expand from 10 to 15 minutes in the postseason – neither side could stop once they went to kicks. The Bucks and Patriots traded seven consecutive makes from the spot before the decisive final round.
“This group that we have creates more chances than any East team I’ve seen in a long time and today was no different. We had a number of really good chances and could not hit the back of the net and for some reason, as soon as it starts to get dark out, we start to find the back of the net,” Nesteruk said. “Every team rehearses it and practices, with our depth, we’re lucky to be able to pull from everywhere and have girls who even don’t get a lot of time that were comfortable stepping up and taking one.”
Nesteruk described a sense of relief from his players when it was all over. There was also yet another example of the respect between the two programs. After the final round of penalty kicks, East players consoled West players, the coaches shook hands and there was a lot of shared amazement of what had just transpired on the field between them.
“Our first reaction as a group was ‘really, we’re going to do this again?’ but the more we sat on it, the mindset changed to if there was anyone we were going to play in the playoffs that would prepare us for a long run, why not have it be the team we have a ton of respect for but also gives us as competitive of a game as we’re going to get,” Nesteruk said. “To play an East-West game with that high of stakes, it was a special thing.”
Nobody wanted to end the game early and nobody wanted to shy away from the moment either. Nesteruk said that Forney, a senior midfielder, offered to take all five kicks in the initial lineup if she could have and he had freshmen from the JV squad who hadn’t played a minute offering their services as well. Brooke Roumy ended up with the winning kick, following a line of Duffy, Chloe Strawn, Forney, Mignon, Curry, Meredith Black and Kallelis.
West’s final kick hit the post and deflected out, a cruel ending to a superb season for the Bucks.
“I want to applaud Nesty and his team. I’m going to be rooting for them to go all the way now. That game had the atmosphere of a district final, and here we were in a knockout game with two of the best teams in District One playing in the dark, through two overtimes and it came down to the eighth PK,” Moyer said.
East’s 14 seniors gave their all to experience their first postseason win. Nesteruk said senior Issie Reid, a key player off the bench, picked up a leg injury that will likely leave her out the rest of the way, but the game meant so much to her, she was willing to play with that kind of effort.
“We always say a great team – it’s the players at the wheel and these kids have taken the keys and ran with it,” Nesteruk said. “We walk away so beyond relieved and excited. It shows how much we care about this rivalry and how much we care about our sister school, but this senior group is also beyond deserving.”
East (16-3, 13-3 SOL) will be back on the field Saturday when it travels to No. 4 Downingtown East in the quarterfinals. A win gets the Patriots into states, but they also earned a second chance if needed by virtue of Thursday’s result.
“I think West looked at it with the same approach, if you can get over this hurdle, you can take a little bit of a breather,” Nesteruk said. “We want to show up well for Downingtown East, but it’s a little easier for us to now game plan and play the way we want knowing if the result doesn’t come our way, we still have a chance.”
Central Bucks West closed out its season with a 15-5 record (12-4 SOL).
CENTRAL BUCKS EAST 0 0 0 0 – 0 (8)
CENTRAL BUCKS WEST 0 0 0 0 – 0 (7)
No. 22 Hatboro-Horsham 3, No. 6 Wissahickon 2
Whatever pride Kelsey Daley felt on a personal level Thursday night, she had droves more of it watching her players sprint onto the field after another postseason win.
The Hatters’ coach, a former player and Hatboro-Horsham alum, took over a program that had struggled with wins and consistency and led it to a conference title two years ago and a playoff win last fall. Her heart still pounding after a riveting finish to an outstanding match, Daley made history Thursday by leading the team to its first district quarterfinal appearance.
But this win was about her players and the incredible effort they put forth to get there.
“My anxiety was running high, start to finish and still is right now, but I’m so proud of this team,” Daley said. “We had a rocky season, we had ups and downs, injuries here and there but so far in the playoffs, this team has left everything on the field and they’re not done yet.”
The Hatters have run a gauntlet of familiar foes this week, getting a measure of revenge on Upper Dublin in the first round before making the drive over to Wissahickon for a rubber match after splitting the season series with the Trojans.
This miracle postseason run and the two upsets – at least according to seeding – that have come with it almost wasn’t. The Hatters lost three in a row to end the regular season, and Daley noted there was some apprehension at the end of last week whether they would even get in.
Suffice to say, they’ve taken their new lease on life to the max so far.
“A lot of people thought we were done,” midfielder Emma Levin said. “We kept getting beaten and people started to think we weren’t going to make the playoffs, so we decided this was our time and we had to give it our all.”
The unfortunate part of the second round is the losing team has to go home for the season. For Wissahickon, that meant an early end to a great campaign that included an outright SOL Liberty title, the program’s first conference championship since 2012.
It was also a case of extremely poor luck on the Trojans’ behalf with three promising scoring opportunities in the second half all clanging off the crossbar instead of going in. Whether it was Natalie Ryan’s howitzer free kick ringing the bar, Anna May’s long strike being pushed up and off the woodwork by Hatters keeper Sam Hollish or perhaps most agonizing, Margaret Wilde’s header hitting the bar, bouncing back to Kylie Freidman for a second and having it saved by Hollish, the chances were there.
“We were three, four inches away on numerous occasions from that scoreline being the other way, but soccer can be cruel like that and they created enough chances and put three away in the back of the net,” McDaniels said. “We chased all we could, created chances pretty regularly but 
it goes back to being three or four inches away.”
Wissahickon’s senior class had a unique dynamic, from four-year stalwarts May and Ryan who were with McDaniels through every step of the building process, to the players who were on the team as a second sport or didn’t see much time but willingly put the same time and effort in to someone like Wilde, who made the most of her one season on the field after three years marred by knee injuries.
It was Wilde who had the equalizing goal in the first half, fighting through a thicket of Hatters to poke home a corner kick from May.
“Anna May and Natalie brough such an enthusiastic joy for the game every single game, they just like being here,” McDaniels said. “The girls who didn’t play very much, they chased in practice, they were willing to play in those drills and do a little bit extra running to force the sharpness of our other girls.
“Margaret in one year, 16 goals and 10 assists in 16 games. It’ll be sad to see them go but seeing what they helped establish will be really big for us next year.”
All three of the Hatters’ goals were well-taken. Mia Malofiy opened things up when she ripped one from distance that powered through the keeper’s hands and in to give her three goals in two playoff games.
The speedy sophomore played helper on the second goal, hitting a perfect pass to Levin in stride, with the center mid carrying the ball and taking a left-footed hit for a 2-1 lead at the break.
Sabrina Ibrahim made it 3-1 early in the second half, running in behind the Wiss defense and striking the ball into the back of the net.
“We gained a lot of confidence from our last game and I think it’s helped a lot of people,” Levin said. “Mia is having some really good games, she’s shooting a lot and a lot of other people are playing more confidently.
“It was really big, we couldn’t put our heads down and we just kept on playing.”
Friedman converted a penalty kick with 20 minutes left to make it 3-2 and the Hatters defense, which was strong all night, knew it had to step up. Marissa Rapino, Gracynne Smith, Abby Waeltz, Bridget McFadden and Natalie Tocci put in a resolute effort.
“I was really freaking out a little bit after that PK but everyone else told me to just keep calm, do what I do best and defend the way I can,” Waeltz said. “I had to stay in my head and that’s what pulled it together and I think it was the same for the rest of us.”
It was the players who got the job done on the field, but there was credit for the win that belonged to the sideline too. With all the Hatters went through in the regular season, their coach was there every day to make adjustments, change lineups and keep pushing them forward.
From here out, it’s history.
“It’s an unbelievable feeling. Being an alumni, I know the emotions and grit and hard work, the blood, sweat and tears every day so for them to trust me and listen to me, I tell them how to fix a mistake one time and the next time, it’s fixed,” Daley said. “Especially being a younger coach, I think sometimes they look at me as a friend and they know they can lean on me that way as well.”
The Hatters (12-7-1, 10-5-1 SOL) travel to No. 3 Conestoga on Saturday for the quarterfinals. Wissahickon closed out its season with a 14-4-1 record. They were 13-2-1 and the SOL Liberty Division champions.
HATBORO-HORSHAM 2 1 – 3
WISSAHICKON 1 1 – 2
Goals: HH – Mia Malofiy, Emma Levin, Sabrina Ibrahim; W – Margaret Wilde, Kylie Friedman (PK)
No. 16 Neshaminy 1, No. 1 Lower Merion 0
It was an environment unlike any Neshaminy had seen this season.
After a long drive down to Lower Merion for an unusual 1 p.m. start, the Redskins walked into a stadium packed with students from the school, all out to cheer against them.
“It was almost like a set-up,” Neshaminy coach Renny Papendick said. “It was very interesting.”
What the Aces, and their legion of fans, soon found out is that maneuvers of that nature only tend to make the Redskins more eager to step on the field and win. Lower Merion may have had the top seed in the rankings, but the visitors weren’t intimidated.
“I’ll put up our Suburban One conference against anybody,” Papendick said. “We have to go through both Council Rocks, Pennsbury and Bensalem, we fight tooth and nail every game and every game is a local rivalry. We weren’t nervous. We weren’t scared, we wanted to play our game.”
For the second straight playoff game, Neshaminy also had to deal with a physical opponent. Where Methacton in the first round tried to set a tone, Lower Merion tried to slow the game down, especially on its grass field and narrower confines.
“We were ready for the physicality,” Papendick said. “To their credit, they have some really good players to. The one girl up top is dynamic, their outside left back got forward like crazy. They were very talented and no joke but for us, it was a big team effort.”
Neshaminy got the only goal it would need midway through the first half. Senior captain Kira Bradley played in a free kick that outside mid Paige Borkowski came in with a well-timed run to flick the ball in off her head.
Once again, the Redskins defense came ready to play as well. Bradley, senior captain Jordyn Fregia, Alexis Ocasio and keeper Hannah Labadie were all solid as usual, but it was the youngest member of the defense who really shined.
“Player of the game was Taylor Maxwell, she’s a freshman playing outside back and she shut down their senior up top, who to me is a clear D-I player and just gave her no space,” Papendick said. “Taylor was just dynamic today.”
Neshaminy will travel to No. 9 Pennridge on Saturday for the quarterfinals. While the teams met in the regular season, they’ve both changed since then.
“We have a motto, coming from our captains Kira, Jordyn, Mercedez Paino and Carly Fox, ‘if she believes she can, so she did,'” Papendick said. “The girls all quote that, and I think we’re going to be a tough out for people.”
NESHAMINY 1 0 – 1
LOWER MERION 0 0 – 0
Goals: N – Paige Borkowski
No. 9 Pennridge 2, No. 8 West Chester Henderson 0
There’s one thing that really matters this time of year.
“Our preparation leading up to the game was good,” Rams coach Audrey Anderson said. “I felt it really showed in the way we played.”
Making the long trek out to West Chester, the Rams didn’t have their usual settling in period and instead came out looking to do damage early. Anderson said it looked like a different Rams team but also one that wasn’t panicking or playing into what Henderson wanted it to do.
“Right off the whistle, we were pretty much what we want to be like in the postseason,” Anderson said.
The Rams coach gave props to her midfield, especially Hannah Primwhere who put together another impressive showing at holding center mid. A sophomore, the midfielder was an impact player aerially and covered a lot of ground on a grass surface that was a little slick in the early going.
Every player filled their given role well, and for senior Emily Kriney, it was to continue putting goals away. The senior notched both goals on Thursday, giving her three so far this postseason, and her play again reflected that notion of it being a final playoff push.
“The first goal wasn’t pretty, but she did what she needed to do to put the ball in the back of the net,” Anderson said. “She slid into the goal, finishing the ball and that again is a different mindset. I don’t think anyone on our team has done anything like that all season so to see Kriney sliding to finish that ball, it showed she wanted to win this game.”
Kriney scored on each side of the half, getting assists from Leah Malone and Tori Angelo.
Anderson also felt all the team’s forwards – Kriney, Malone, Angelo and Joey Tomlinson, worked well together and adapted to Henderson’s defense.
The same applied to the Rams’ defense, which put forth another lockdown effort to pick up its 15th shutout of the season.
“They played like it meant something to them,” Anderson said of her team. “We wonder what we’re going to do in the postseason because they’ve done everything you can do as a high school team, so it was great to see them go out and play like it truly meant something to them.”
Pennridge (17-3, 13-3 SOL) hosts No. 16 Neshaminy on Saturday in the quarterfinals.
PENNRIDGE 1 1 – 2
WC HENDERSON 0 0 – 0
Goals: P – Emily Kriney 2
No. 4 Downingtown East 1, No. 13 Abington 0
The Ghosts had a quick turnaround after Wednesday’s win, but it didn’t detract from their effort on Thursday.
Ultimately, it wasn’t their day to get a goal and it was enough to bring a good season to a close.
“We played pretty well, we just didn’t finish,” Abington coach Rick Tompkins said. “They owned the first half and we owned the second.”
Cougars coach Jason Luzak and Tompkins are good friends and even the Downingtown East coach admitted the visiting Ghosts all but had his team on the ropes in the second 40 minutes.
“We hit the crossbar on a shot by Mei Mei Cheng, and Caroline Hughes had a header in the final minutes where she got up and beat the defender but just pushed it over the bar,” Tompkins said. “They left it all on the field, I don’t have any argument there at all.
“Downingtown is good, they move the ball well and they’re very organized. I think they’re trouble for anyone that gets them.”
Tompkins gave special note to the play of his two senior keepers, Lannan Lare and Alexis Ditri, who made plenty of saves to keep their team in it.
Cheng, the high-energy senior, moved up top to spark the team and nearly had the tying goal while Kara Slavin was sparkplug off the bench for Abington.
The Ghosts graduate a class of seniors who made some solid contributions to the program in their four years.
“The maturity level they displayed was amazing,” Tompkins said. “The leadership Caroline and Ashley Reilly provide is a hard thing to quantify. They’re better people than they are soccer players and that’s a huge compliment because they’re good soccer players.
“There were a lot of tears at the end of the game, but on the bus, they were all singing like they normally do. They knew they couldn’t change it, so they decided to have some fun.”
Abington closed out its season with a 14-6 record overall (12-4 SOL).
DOWNINGTOWN EAST 1 0 – 1
ABINGTON 0 0 – 0
No. 3 Conestoga 2, No. 14 Council Rock North 0
Nothing came easy for the Indians this fall, with a grueling schedule, a slow start leading into a compact slate of matches in a short window and injuries affecting consistency.
They were shorthanded again on Thursday, and while the final result went against them, they put forth their typical strong effort. Playing on the road against an accomplished program, North held its own but saw the curtains close on a successful fall.
“This is our fifth year as a staff, and with the SOL schedule changes, this has been, by far, our toughest season,” CR North coach Gavin Flannigan said. “The group of seniors we have this year will be missed in many ways, it is very easy to judge their play on the field and the impact they have had, we will miss them on a personal level in that they have helped us push the program forward, their ability to connect with all the girls, their effort and standards of fitness and commitment have been excellent.”
The Pioneers took an early lead off a free kick and capitalized on a slow start by the Indians, but the visitors shook it off. Just as North was settling in, a call for a handball in the box gave Conestoga a penalty kick that extended the lead to 2-0.
North’s defense was the unit left shorthanded on Thursday, but it was another case of the next player in line stepping up to do their part.
“Our effort tonight was superb, there are a number of girls that are playing on fumes, both physically and mentally. On Tuesday we were unfortunate and lost both varsity goalkeepers to concussions,” Flannigan said. “Molly Sheehy stepped up from JV and played incredibly well in her first varsity minutes to keep a clean sheet against Spring-Ford, and then tonight she did a really good job throughout the game dealing with shots and crosses. She was great.”
The Indians lose a strong senior class that meant a lot more to the team than goals, assists or saves.
“Most importantly they have been truly selfless in their desire to succeed. Almost all of our adjustments have affected them, and they have never complained about their position, role or status on team,” Flannigan said. “We managed to win a share of the Patriot division of the SOL this year, this is our first league title, and one that they truly deserve. We are sad to lose them, but we hope that our underclassmen have learned from them along the way.”
Council Rock North closed out its season with a 12-4 record in SOL play. The Indians were 14-6 overall.
CONESTOGA 2 0 – 2
COUNCIL ROCK NORTH 0 0 – 0
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