Check out the recaps for SOL girls’ soccer teams in action Thursday.
SOL Colonial
Pennridge 2, Central Bucks East 1
Hannah Primwhere had no trouble picking the right phrase to describe her game-winning goal Thursday night.
Firstly, it was a big goal that put her team in front for the first time all night. It was also extremely timely, with the weather taking a sharply poor turn soon after. Finally, and probably most importantly, it was who the assist came from that elevated the moment.
Hannah Primwhere’s header off a corner kick by her twin sister Hailey was the difference in a match that started as a good battle between two strong sides and ended in a downpour.
“Hailey, she lofts the ball in there and sometimes they go shorter, so I made a near-post run,” Hannah said. “I just hit it off my head and it happened to go in.”
It’s not really a play the sisters work on, so they were pretty elated it came together in that moment.
“It made me feel proud,” Hannah said. “It’s fun being able to play with Hailey on the same field and it definitely felt good when she assisted my goal.”
The Primwheres don’t have a monopoly on any specific position with Pennridge, but they’re able to fill in any particular need and keep the team’s level of play from dropping off. On Thursday, both twins were needed to pick up some extended time on the field, with Hailey at forward and Hannah in the midfield.
Rams coach Audrey Anderson has pointed to the versatility and the depth on the roster, including Hannah and Hailey Primwhere, that’s done double-duty in keeping some of the starters fresh and preparing everyone else for a moment they’re needed.
When Pennridge lost midfielder Liv Grenda for the second half after a shot to the face and a bloodied nose, it was Hannah Primwhere who jumped right in. When the Patriots were giving the Rams’ back line issues early, it was Hailey Primwhere who came on at forward so Lindsey Balmer could rotate to play fullback.
Gabby Hermann, Kate Brashear, Addy Mills and Caitlyn Peace also helped out the Rams off the bench Thursday.
“Programs are built off of trusting your players and knowing when the time comes for them to go in, they’re going to do what they do in practice every day,” Anderson said. “I’m encouraged by the depth of this team. We’re fast and when we sub, we’re still fast. I think everybody did a nice job.”
East came out extremely fired up and had Pennridge playing on the back foot for most of the first half. The Patriots were quicker to the ball, pressured the ball and forced a lot of errors out of the Rams in the first 10 minutes.
That tide of pressure crested in the 12th minute, when senior Camryn Williams took the ball right at the left side of the defense. Williams cut back to her right foot and slipped an incisive pass into the path of senior Elliot Forney who needed only to settle on her right foot and fire into the back of the net.
“I thought we played super-panicked in the first half,” Anderson said. “Our plan was to play more composed in the second half, nobody knew it was going to be pouring down rain with winds gusting, what 30 miles an hour?”
After East’s goal, the Rams moved a few players around and started to push back. Tori Angelo just missed wide and had another shot well-saved by Aralynn Patterson as Pennridge’s energy started to pick up.
A foul planted the ball about 45 yards out from East’s goal up the right flank, giving Balmer a chance to bomb one in about seven and a half minutes before the half. Balmer played a great ball that sailed to the far post where a wave of players came out to meet it with Casey Malone getting her foot in there first to tie the score.
Coupled with the Primwhere’s corner early in the second half, it was a two-goal night for Pennridge on set pieces.
“We talked at halftime about how lucky we are to have a game like this so late in the season, because they’re the type of team we’re going to see in the postseason – knowing my luck, we’ll somehow play East again – but set pieces win in the postseason,” Anderson said. “I was really happy with us finishing off two set pieces, I’m not sure we’d done that this season.”
Anderson hopes she’s done playing East because she knows how difficult it is to play against them. Williams was her usual whirlwind of activity up top, battling even as the weather got worse in the second half while Forney and Sofia Mignon were forceful in the midfield and fullback Chantal van Dongeren was fantastic battling Angelo on the outside in the second half.
“They’re really good, they can obviously play good soccer and I think both games taught us to work hard and always play together,” Hannah Primwhere said. “Our team has really good chemistry and we work together, that’s how we play good soccer.”
The Rams earned a corner five minutes into the second half, with Hailey serving the ball in and Hannah heading it into the goal. Soon after, the skies opened up into a sustained cold and heavy rain that got blown every which way by swirling winds that altered almost every ball hit into the air.
“It was hard, it’s not fun,” Primwhere said. “The weather makes everything harder. The intensity goes up, but the soccer’s just not as good. You have to play hard and just try to not make any mistakes.”
East (10-6, 8-6 SOL) visits Souderton at 7 on Monday. Pennridge (15-1, 13-1) visits CB West at 7 on Monday.
PENNRIDGE 1 1 – 2
CENTRAL BUCKS EAST 1 0 – 1
Goals: P – Hannah Primwhere, Casey Malone; CBE – Elliot Forney
Central Bucks West @ Central Bucks South – Postponed.
The Bucks and Titans will battle at 7pm on Friday.
CB South visits North Penn at 7 on Monday. Central Bucks West hosts Pennridge at 7 on Monday.
Souderton @ North Penn – Postponed
The Knights and Indians will meet at 3 on Friday.
Souderton hosts CB East at 7 on Monday. North Penn hosts Central Bucks South at 7 on Monday.
SOL Patriot
Council Rock South 0, Council Rock North 0 (2 OT)
The Rock Cup is the biggest game of the season for North and South, and some years, neither team deserves to lose it.
Luckily, soccer allows for draws and that’s what the host Indians and Golden Hawks settled for after 100 minutes on Thursday. While neither team scored, it didn’t mean they lacked opportunity or the match was anything but extremely competitive.
“Another really good North-South game tonight and probably a fair outcome overall. It’s never easy to play South, the rivalry is friendly, but once the game starts the intensity and desire to win is incredibly high,” North coach Gavin Flannigan said. “I think both teams feel like they might’ve won, and both teams would’ve felt a loss was unfair, so in that regard a draw was the right outcome.”
CR South coach Nick Heim, who incidentally teaches at CR North, agreed the outcome was the most fitting for the night.
“North-South. It’s always a battle and always going to be one of the hardest-fought games of the year. Almost makes sense it goes 100 minutes,” Heim said. “I felt we generated quality chances and were dangerous on set pieces, as was North, but both defenses were tough to break down and two really solid goalies picking up anything that gets through.”
An afternoon of rain slowed long enough for the Rock Cup doubleheader – the boys’ game preceding the girls – but didn’t fully stop. The conditions took a bit of a turn after regulation ended but were still something to consider for both teams.
“The conditions weren’t ideal and the fact that it is our Rock Cup game made it hard at times for us to be as composed as we would’ve liked in the first half, we had some good moments, a couple of long shots on target and one narrow miss from Mia Cairone,” Flannigan said. “I thought we did a good job in defending the spaces they were trying to get into as well as disrupting the passes from their midfield.”
Finishing with a draw wasn’t a shocking outcome, but the fact neither team scored was a bit of a surprise. Both North and South boast some excellent scorers, but both teams also have pretty good defenses and some excellent keepers in Danielle Eden for North and Karissa Smedley for South.
“Can’t necessarily point out an individual- it was a complete team effort from those that played 100 minutes down to the team manager and everyone in between,” Heim said. “Slowing down their attack is tough on a back line but I thought Jenna Waterman, Kim Speiser, Emily Davis, Fiona Reckner, and Maggie Kane did a fantastic job.”
The Indians could say the same.
“In the second half we created a few more dangerous moments, their keeper made a solid save from Maya Raghunandanan after a great build up, and we had a goal called back for offside and a couple of near misses,” Flannigan said. “South served some dangerous set pieces into our end, and Danielle Eden had to deal with some longer range efforts but we felt that we restricted them pretty well.”
Tallying up a handful of almost-had it and near-miss moments is a hallmark in almost every draw, and both sides left the field Thursday ruing a few missed opportunities.
“Kathryn O’Kane, Reghan Mudie, and Zoe Brossman were tough and composed in the midfield for 100 minutes which is a tough ask against a team that can move the ball well,” Heim said. “Cam Blatz continued to be dangerous going forward for us, but unfortunately, we weren’t able to connect for a goal.”
South took the first game 2-0 back in early September, so standing on equal footing in the return leg was a definite positive for North.
“As a younger and inexperienced team these games are great for us, we are learning more each time we play, we competed very well tonight in a playoff atmosphere against a dangerous team. While we didn’t win, we are showing good signs of growth compared to the first North-South game and we can take a lot of positives from that,” Flannigan said. “As the playoffs get closer, we need to keep that mentality going.
“I thought our back five were really good tonight, there are not many games where South don’t score, so to keep them to zero over 100 minutes is a real positive for us.”
Both teams will gear up for the stretch run and while North and South are in good standing to qualify for the district playoffs, Thursday’s game always stands on its own in terms of meaning and atmosphere.
“A great matchup and fantastic rivalry. A good crowd with two loud student sections and programs that know each other extremely well,” Heim said. “It’s everything you want high school sports to be about. Overall, really proud of our group.”
CR North (10-4-2, 8-4-2 SOL) visits Neshaminy at 4:45 on Monday. CR South (8-3-3, 8-3-2) visits New Foundations Charter at 4 on Friday.
COUNCIL ROCK SOUTH 0 0 0 0 – 0
COUNCIL ROCK NORTH 0 0 0 0 – 0
Pennsbury 1, Bensalem 0
It could be easy to overlook the Falcons and Owls based solely on record.
In terms of on-field observations, however, it’s pretty evident those standings are deceiving. Pennsbury struck back at Bensalem for the Owls’ win in the first meeting, but it didn’t come easily.
“We were certainly mindful of how the conditions could alter the game, and it was a soggy game from start to finish (for) two teams whose records don’t really reflect the way they’ve been playing all season,” Falcons coach Kaitlyn Battiste said. “Bensalem is organized defensively and we could certainly see how they took Pennridge to overtime. There were no easy opportunities.”
The teams battled across a sometimes-rainy afternoon, with the game going to halftime knotted 0-0. Even then, it took a bulk of the second half before the Falcons were able to find the eventual winner in the 66th minute.
“Corinne Russo was able to get in behind Bensalem’s defense to place a dangerous ball across the goal mouth,” Battiste said. “Bensalem’s GK blocked one or two deflections off the cross, but Jill Haley continued her run and put the rebound away.”
Pennsbury used a gritty effort and solid defending to hold on once it had the lead and despite only scoring once, worked hard to manufacture chances.
“Abby Shumski battled all game, creating opportunities and attacking Bensalem’s defense,” Battiste said. “Malena Russo & Madi Miller combined for the shutout.”
Pennsbury (5-8-2, 5-8-0 SOL) duels Neshaminy at 7 on Saturday at Macclesfield Park. Bensalem (4-11-1, 2-11-1) hosts Harry S Truaman at 3:30 on Monday.
PENNSBURY 0 1 – 1
BENSALEM 0 0 – 0
Goals: P – Jill Haley
Neshaminy 4, Harry S Truman 0
Neshaminy continues to handle business, winning games and holding a spot near the top of the District 1 Class 4A rankings.
The Indians, who went 11 points clear of Council Rock North and Council Rock South in the SOL Patriot table on Thursday, finished the night with the No. 2 spot in the largest classification in the district. It’s been an impressive run for 14-0-1 Neshaminy, who again used its wealth of scoring to get past the Tigers on a rain-soaked afternoon.
Four players scored, and three players assisted on Thursday’s goals. Kylie Maxwell and Angelina Daino paired up on the first, Aidyn Teirney and Alexis Ocasio combined for the second, Bryn Taylor did it herself on the third and Grace Yimyam finished off a pass by Bri Garyah to wrap things up.
Neshaminy (14-0-1, 12-0-1 SOL) faces Pennsbury on Saturday in a 7pm start at Macclesfield Park. Harry S Truman (0-14) visits Bensalem at 3:30 on Monday.
NESHAMINY – 4
HARRY S TRUMAN – 0
Goals: N – Kylie Maxwell, Aidyn Tierney, Bryn Tayor, Grace Yimyam
SOL Freedom
Lower Moreland 1, New Hope-Solebury 0
Lower Moreland played in some poor weather last Monday and clawed out a one-goal win.
So, LM had some experience in the area, but that doesn’t mean too much when the weather is a variable for both teams. What Lower Moreland could control was its play and LM came up strong in the battle of Lions.
“It was a rainy game so that always adds a challenge,” LM coach Todd Hill said. “It isn’t easy to get a shutout in a rainy game with all the added variables, so kudos to goalkeeper Sandra Malave and the defense for doing the hard work. Amelia Brown played aggressive defense today that ended many of the counter attacks.”
New Hope-Solebury also has a wall-like keeper in Margaret Tresler, so the other Lions could feel comfortable that Lower Moreland would have to really earn anything it got.
“NH’s goalie is a strong player so we talked at halftime about following our shots and being ready for rebounds in the wet conditions. Early in the second half that is exactly what Nikki Sahl did,” Hill said. “When the ball bounced out of the hands of the keeper, she was there to knock the ball to Demmi Fox and Demmi once again found the back of the net.”
Fox, who netted five goals in her last game, wouldn’t get near that number. But she had gotten the one that counted on Thursday.
“That is all that NH would give us in spite of hard work by our midfield led by Payton Lennon’s dominant play,” Hill said.
Lower Moreland (8-7, 8-6 SOL) visits Springfield Twp at 7 on Monday. New Hope-Solebur (3-12-1, 2-11-1) hosts William Tennent at 7 on Monday.
LOWER MORELAND – 1
NEW HOPE SOLEBURY – 0
Goals: LM – Demmi Fox
Upper Moreland 3, Springfield Twp 2
Almost in a flash, the Golden Bears found themselves down two goals.
“As you approach the end of the season, the weight of every game is really present in the moment, not to mention when your opponent is a team that always shows up to play,” UM coach Lisa Benvenuto said. “Our matches against Springfield are typically battles and you can see on the field the desire by each team to win. Today was no different. Even with the torrential rain and conditions, neither team let up.”
Alana Decker and Kaleigh Evans have terrorized defenses all fall and the Spartans’ duo was at it again off the tap Thursday. Decker dented the scoreboard just 6:27 into the contest and it only took 40 seconds for Evans to double the lead with her 16th goal of the season.
“We found ourselves in a really tough spot early on, going two down in the first ten minutes of the half. Alana Decker and Kaleigh Evans are really dangerous, and we gave each of them a look at the goal and they capitalized,” Benvenuto said. “We were really pleased with our girls’ response to the goals. They continued to play, they continued to follow our system, and started finding the gaps to attack.”
The Bears have some scorers too, including Willow Taylor. Taylor stepped to the forefront again, leading Upper Moreland on a steady comeback that had the Bears back on even footing by halftime.
“Our first goal started as a throw-in, Skye Kramer hit Kylie Wiest, she was able to turn with the ball and found Willow Taylor on the far side. Willow collected the ball and finished,” Benvenuto said. “We continued to work through the back line and the midfield to find opportunities. We were able to get into our rhythm and created a few more dangerous chances. One equated into a corner, where Maggie Brophy found Willow Taylor’s head for the finish.”
Taylor’s first goal came midway through the half and the forward struck again with five minutes to play before the intermission.
Despite a fresh start in an equal game, the mixture of inclement weather and two hungry, energetic teams meant the second half would be a similar slugfest. Both sides had spells in control and created some chances.
With under five minutes in the match, Gracie Cartin was able to find Maggie Brophy on a cross.
“Maggie took a great first touch toward goal and blasted the ball into the upper corner,” Benvenuto said. “It was a really competitive match. Natalie Walton had a strong showing for us in net today, Eliza Feil, Brooke Lobban, Kyra Favors and Maggie Brophy were solid in the midfield.
“On our defensive end, I refer to our back line as our warriors, and they continued to be that today, Devin Bush standing out the most in today’s match.”
Upper Moreland (7-7-2, 6-7-1 SOL) hosts Cheltenham at 3:30 on Monday. Springfield Twp (5-10, 4-10) hosts Lower Moreland at 7 on Monday.
UPPER MORELAND 2 1 – 3
SPRINGFIELD TWP 2 0 – 2
Goals; UM – Willow Taylor 2, Maggie Brophy; ST – Kaleigh Evans, Alana Decker
William Tennent 8, Cheltenham 0
Tennent’s late-season surge continued, winning its fourth straight to claim the battle of the Panthers.
“The field conditions and the weather certainly played a part in the game. It took us a bit to adapt to the slick conditions,” Tennent coach Elise Jara said. “Once we settled down and played our game we were able to start taking advantage of our opportunities.”
Mikayla Nye and Brielle Langford combined for six of Tennent’s eight scores.
“We are hoping to keep up the momentum of this week going into our last week of play,” Jara said.
Cheltenham has played hard all year and is hoping to see its own surge to the conclusion of the season.
“On a day where weather conditions weren’t great, we came out and worked hard against a skilled William Tennent team,” Cheltenham coach Leah Matusow said. “This week has been tough for various reasons, but we are ready to turn our focus to the last week of the season and finish strong.”
Cheltenham (0-14-1, 0-13-1 SOL) visits Upper Moreland at 3:30 on Monday. Tennent (6-10, 6-7) visits New Hope-Solebury at 7 on Monday.
WILLIAM TENNENT – 8
CHELTENHAM – 0
SOL Liberty
Quakertown 1, Wissahickon 0
Corners and defense.
It’s not a broken record when it comes to the Panthers, it’s their identity. Thursday, on a slick field, it was enough to spoil the Trojans’ senior night thanks to a corner kick goal and some stout play in the back.
“Some of the most important play came from our goalkeeper Darby Vail. With the wet surface, she swallowed everything up and didn’t allow any rebound shots on goal,” Quakertown coach Jon Gingrich said. “What we did well was play great defense, and our striker and wings put constant pressure on their defense.”
Ashlyn Calabria provided the finish and Madison Kalinowski provided the corner kick – Kalinowski notching a corner assist for a second straight game.
As the rain picked up in the second half, the Panthers defense was able to maintain its shutout in front of Vail against a speedy and potent Wissahickon attack.
“Our defenders did not give their attackers a lot of penetration in our third and we kept out a lot of their crosses in the air,” Gingrich said.
Wissahickon (10-5, 9-5 SOL) visits Abington at 7 on Monday. Quakertown (9-6-1, 7-5-0) visits Hatboro-Horsham at 7 on Monday.
QUAKERTOWN – 1
WISSAHICKON – 0
Goals: Q – Ashlyn Calabria
Abington @ Upper Dublin -Postponed
The Ghosts and Cardinals will now meet at 3:30 on Oct. 21.
Upper Dublin hosts Plymouth Whitemarsh at 7 on Monday. Abington hosts Wissahickon at 7 on Monday.
Hatboro-Horsham @ Plymouth Whitemarsh – Postponed
The Hatters and Colonials will play at 3:30 on Friday.
PW visits Upper Dublin at 7 on Monday. Hatboro-Horsham hosts Quakertown at 7 on Monday.
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