Neshaminy, Pennridge & CB South will be in action when the PIAA Class 4A Tournament gets underway Tuesday.
Neshaminy entered the season with decidedly modest goals. Capturing the District One 4A title was nowhere to be found on the Redskins’ wish list.
“In the beginning of the season when we vote for captains, we have everybody write down two goals for themselves and two goals for the team,” coach Chelsea Lovelace said. “A lot of girls wrote they wanted to beat Pennsbury or they wanted to win the league or score at least two goals a game.
“I don’t think we had anybody set a goal to win districts. We have a strong senior class, we have strong juniors and sophomores, but no one was sure how the freshman class was going to contribute.”
The freshmen have contributed significantly, and the Redskins find themselves the newly crowned district champions.
Interestingly, senior captain Maggie Daeche, according to Lovelace, may have seen this coming long before anyone else.
“She had said, ‘Next year I have a feeling we’re going to do really well,’ and we’re like ‘Really?’” the Redskins’ coach recalled. “She said, ‘My cousin (Kristin Curley) is coming up and Brooke Mullin’s cousin – Emily Tantala – is coming up. We’re going to have a really good group. I think we could go pretty far.’
“She made that comment, and it’s sticking with me now that we’ve gotten here.”
Daeche’s observation turned out to be prophetic as freshmen Curley, Tantala, Gina Sexton and Kelli Kowalick have all made made important contributions.
“Everyone has done a great job of putting all of our skill sets together, and they all have worked very hard,” Lovelace said. “We’ve come a long way.
“We didn’t know how the season was going to go. We set goals, but it wasn’t anything like win districts, win states. It was just realistic – win more games than we lose.”
The Redskins have won 13 straight since a 0-0 tie with Council Rock South on Sept. 27, and if there was a turning point in the season, it might well have been the team’s 1-0 win over then unbeaten Pennsbury on Oct. 13.
“After we won that game, it was like, ‘We can do this. If we come out for a full 80 minutes and everybody does their job collectively as a team, we can play really good soccer,’” Lovelace said. “Starting off the season, we would have never thought we’d be in this position, but all the credit goes to the girls. They’ve worked so hard.
“They just mesh off the field and on the field, they rely on each other, and they’re confident in each other. I think that’s what helps us get through games.”
Neshaminy opens state play Tuesday with a game against Hempfield, District 3’s third place team, at Council Rock North (7 p.m.).
SOL PIAA CLASS 4A PREVIEW:
Just 16 teams remain playing in the PIAA 4A girls soccer season. Three of them hail from the SOL, with Neshaminy, Pennridge and Central Bucks South all looking to make it four straight years with an SOL team in the state final after Central Bucks East got to Hershey last year. CB East fell to Upper St. Clair (2-1) in the title game on the heels of back-to-back state crowns by Central Bucks West (2014) and Neshaminy (2013).
Some of Neshaminy's seniors were on the varsity roster for the team's 2013 state championship, and Pennridge made the final game of the year in 2011 when now assistant coach Stevi Parker was a senior. CB South was a state qualifier last year too, so there's plenty of Titans who won't be intimidated by the big stage.
None of the three teams will leave Southeastern PA for their first-round game, always a help this time of year.
#1-1 NESHAMINY vs #3-3 HEMPFIELD (at Council Rock North, 7 p.m.)
The District I champions begin the hunt for a state title with a battle against the third seed out of District 3 in Hempfield. Unlike Neshaminy, which held serve as the top seed all the way through, the Black Knights were the eighth seed in the District 3 bracket and had to win their way in with a third-place playback game.
Neshaminy has been on a tear since mid-September, winning 16 of its last 17 matches with a draw the only non-win in that stretch. The team entered districts having yielded just 12 goals all year and enters states with the same number, posting four straight shutouts in the postseason.
It won't be a terribly long trip for Neshaminy, with Tuesday's first round slated for a 7 p.m. start at Council Rock North.
Neshaminy resume:
- District 1 AAAA champion
- 20-1-1 overall record
- SOL National champion
- Notable wins over fellow AAAA state qualifiers Pennridge (2-0), CB South (4-3
- OT), Conestoga (1-0) and Cumberland Valley (2-1)
- Senior Maggie Daeche already owns one state title from the team's 2013 championship and is a newly-crowned two-time district champion. The center back anchors the team's nearly impenetrable defense along with Genna Obringer, Nicole Palmer and Hannah Stonkus.
- Brooke Mullin, Jackie Ziegler and Kristin Curley have been go-to scorers all season. A team with tremendous work rate, Neshaminy has shown an aptitude for grinding out wins all season.
Hempfield resume:
- District 3 AAAA third-place
- 13-7-2 overall record
- Lancaster-Lebanon Section One third place
- Sammy Helgeson, a senior striker, paces the Black Knights on offense. Helgeson is committed to play lacrosse at Penn State next year as well. Alexis Adams, Maddie Schwartz and Lucy McGloshen are other players to account for on the offensive end.
- McKenna Zerbe and Maggie Pohl have shared time in net for the Black Knights, even through the postseason.
#1-2 PENNRIDGE vs #11-2 STROUDSBURG (at Souderton , 7 p.m.)
Pennridge returns to the pitch for the first time since its 19-match winning streak was snapped by Neshaminy in the District I AAAA final. The Rams likely won't have to worry about a post-loss malaise, not with 11 seniors ready for their first experience of the state playoffs. Expect Pennridge to look for a quick goal to get the offense back on track after being shutout by Neshaminy.
The Rams are making their first state appearance since 2011 when they advanced to the state title game. Pennridge will also be playing in familiar territory with a 7pm start at Souderton on Tuesday.
Stroudsburg comes in after falling to Parkland in the District 11 title game. The Mountaineers were the sixth seed in the District 11 playoffs but upset third-seed Easton and second-seed Whitehall en route to the district final. It's the first state playoff appearance for Stroudsburg since 2003.
Pennridge resume:
- District I AAAA runner-up
- 20-2-1 overall record
- SOL Continental champion
- Notable wins over fellow AAAA state qualifiers CB South (2-1) and Downingtown East (1-0), also drew with CB South in District I semifinal (1-1, advanced 7-6 in PKs)
- Senior trio of Erin Stevenson, Katie Fischer and Savanna Harrison anchor a strong two-way midfield that excels at winning the ball on the ground or in the air.
- Seniors Kennedy Peace and Melissa Lyon lead the offense along with sophomores Kouri Peace and Abby Groff.
Stroudsburg resume:
- District 11 AAAA runner-up
- 14-7-3 overall record
- EPC Mountain Division second place
- Senior April Manhart is a rock in goal for the Mountaineers behind defenders Gabbie Weirich, Heather Hogan, Becca Meisse, and Megan Epply.
- Amber Quinn, a senior, is the team's talisman on offense. Despite not leading the team in scoring, she has a knack for providing the biggest goals in biggest moments. Midfielders Emily Banashefski and Becca Meisse provide much of the offense.
#1-4 CENTRAL BUCKS SOUTH vs #12-1 CENTRAL (at Northeast High School, 5 p.m.)
The Titans enter states having lost to Conestoga in the third-place game with that loss coming on the heels of a semifinal draw with Pennridge that ended with the Rams advancing on penalty kicks (7-6). But South is as battle-tested as they come, having faced Pennridge three times and Neshaminy in a nonleague game.
There's also the fact that the Titans are the only SOL girls team in states for the second straight year. The team's vets, like goalkeeper Sophia Boggs, defender Courtney Taylor and forward Corinne McDonald among numerous others, know what it takes to win a state game.
Central comes in having won the Public League and District 12 titles.
The match will take place at Northeast High with a start time of 5 p.m.
Central Bucks South resume:
- District 1 AAAA fourth-place
- 16-5-1 overall record
- SOL Continental second place
- Senior keeper Sophia Boggs has proven herself as one of the best in the state, an athletic and smart player who covers her box exceptionally well. Her defenders, Courtney Taylor, Margot Centofanti, Nicole Wills and Laurel Gogel are excellent as a unit and cover for each other adeptly.
- Corinne McDonald, Brooke Steigerwalt and Aleksa Peev will be looking to restart an offense that's scored just one goal in its last 190 minutes of soccer.
Central resume:
- District 12 AAAA first place
- 12-1-1 overall record
- Public League fourth place regular season, postseason champion
- Djavon Dupree, Ola Owodunni and Taylor Viz are players to watch offensively for Central
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