Check out the recaps for SOL girls’ soccer teams in action Thursday. (NP/Pennridge photos provided courtesy of Althea Tomlinson/Pennridge soccer)
SOL NATIONAL
Neshaminy 2, Pennsbury 1
Neshaminy is entering the postseason in the sharpest form it has seen all season.
Thursday, coach Renny Papendick felt his team put together its best performance of the season to keep the Falcons from a perfect SOL National record.
“I felt we were the better team in our first game and had it taken away from us,” Papendick said. “Our girls really came together, we had a great week of practice and the seniors came together and really embraced the leadership role.”
Papendick cited Emily Tantala and Gina Sexton as the catalysts both during the week and prior to the start of play on Thursday. The two seniors made sure their teammates knew the importance of the match and all that was at stake.
“Defensively, we were very organized,” Papendick said. “We worked a lot on corners both offensively and defensively and early on, we had a lot of pressure.”
Avery Papendick played the role of set-up ace Thursday, starting with her corner kick that led to the Redskins’ opening tally. Her service found Sexton, who flicked it on to senior Kelli Kowalick for a good finish in front of goal.
Later in the half, Avery Papendick slipped a through ball to Tantala for another quality finish and a 2-0 advantage at the break.
“Pennsbury is a very well-coached team with a lot of talent and there’s a lot of respect for them on our side and they came at us in the second half,” Papendick said. “We weathered their storm, it was multiple corners and multiple opportunities for them, they got one back but our goalie Alexis Krippel played very well and we were able to pull out a win.”
Neshaminy had its conference bye date on Tuesday, so the Redskins used the day for more training.
“I give a lot of credit to Rich Reice, he’s our lead assistant but he’s been a head coach for 30 years,” Papendick said. “I still learn a lot from him and he does a great job of getting these kids prepared, he runs all of our training and puts the plan together. He’s invaluable.”
Neshaminy certainly has had its fair of challenges this season as freshmen have worked into the lineup, players have changed positions and injuries at various times have taken consistency away from the group.
As the postseason looms, the Redskins have gotten healthy, spent their time working as a team and shaped a new formation that puts the right people in the right places.
“It was a good week,” Papendick said. “It was our best game of the season and it’s always great to have that late in the year. The seniors are buying in, the captains are leading. We have Jordyn Fregia in a new position, she’s a sophomore, and she’s killing it.”
Neshaminy (11-5-1, 7-4-1 SOL) ended the night in the No. 18 spot in the District I 4A rankings but has one more game in a Saturday matchup with Pottsgrove, the No. 2 seed in the 3A rankings.
“I think we’re ready to make some noise,” Papendick said. “I’m excited for next week and the playoffs.”
Pennsbury (11-1 SOL) wrapped up its regular season with a 15-2-1 record. The Falcons, who will have an opening round bye, were fifth in the power rankings Thursday night.
NESHAMINY 2 0 – 2
PENNSBURY 0 1 – 1
Goals: N – Kelli Kowalick, Emily Tantala
Council Rock North 1, Council Rock South 0
Council Rock North has put together a terrific wonderful regular season, and the Indians got to end it with the Unity Cup trophy after winning their annual rivalry game Thursday night.
“Tonight was probably our best game of the season,” North coach Gavin Flannigan said. “When you take into consideration the quality of the opponent we were really happy with the performance and result.”
The Golden Hawks had won the first matchup between the teams in late September and that game served as a good lesson for Council Rock North.
“Last time we played South forced us into mistakes and they were the more aggressive team. They fully deserved to win that first matchup,” Flannigan said. “We watched film of that game and tried to make some adjustments on both sides of the ball. Tonight we felt like we were the better team and deserved this victory.”
The Indians came out fast and nearly grabbed a goal in the first minute. Flannigan felt it was not only a good omen, but set the tone for the night.
Set pieces have been good to the Indians this fall, so fittingly they turned another one into a goal on Thursday.
“After some half chances for both teams, we forced a corner kick that Sammy Judge took, the ball ended up back at her feet after a clearance, and she hit a rocket past the keeper,” Flannigan said.
The sides played out the rest of the half without much in terms of scoring threats. At the break, the North coaches stressed matching the energy South was sure to come out with.
“You can never count CRS out, they are a really talented group, and with Sammy Jones up top, it only takes one moment to change the game,” Flannigan said. “To our credit I thought we defended them pretty well, Marlena, Brooke Strobel, Anna Cairone and Brooke Fischer looked very assured tonight, and even when it broke down there was a lot of defensive support to cover.”
Flannigan also cited the work Alyssa Lanigan and Taylor Brennan on the offensive end, noting they connected and linked well to serve as scoring threats.
Both Council Rock schools are lined up for home playoff games even with the loss knocking Council Rock South down to the No. 9 spot after Thursday’s results.
“Although this is a rivalry game and the final game of the season, both teams competed extremely hard but fair,” Flannigan said. “Nick (Heim) and his staff run a really good program at South and we know each other’s players well at this point.”
Thursday’s win was definitely a good way for the Indians – 11th in the power rankings – to head into the postseason, but also meant a lot to the players in the program and particularly the seniors.
“We haven’t beaten South for a few years,” Flannigan said. “They have a trophy for the second matchup each year and it was pretty cool to watch the girls go and get it tonight.”
Rock South (11-4-1) finished second to Pennsbury in the standings with a 9-3 conference mark while Rock North (13-3-2) was 8-3-1 in conference play.
COUNCIL ROCK NORTH 1 0 – 1
COUNCIL ROCK SOUTH 0 0 – 0
Goals: CRN – Sammy Judge
William Tennent 4, Harry S Truman 2
The Panthers finished their season with a win over the Tigers.
Tennent, which will change conferences when the SOL re-aligns next fall, led 3-0 at the half and four different players scored – Danielle Scott, Danielle Moss, Ciara McFeeley and Olivia Miller.
William Tennent (6-10, 4-8 SOL) will travel to Lower Moreland for a non-league game Friday.
WILLIAM TENNENT 3 1 – 4
HARRY S TRUMAN 0 0 – 0
Goals: WT – Danielle Scott, Danielle Moss, Ciara McFeely, Olivia Miller
SOL CONTINENTAL
North Penn 2, Pennridge 1
The Knights may have just earned themselves a home playoff match.
Playing with nothing to lose, North Penn turned an empty but dangerous first half into an aggressive second half as it handed Pennridge its first loss of the season. With the win, North Penn vaulted all the way to No. 13 in the District I 4A rankings.
“We were really confident after the first half,” North Penn co-head coach Mike Rio said. “We had good chances we couldn’t capitalize on, but I was really happy with how we played, so we told them to keep it up and go for it in the second half.”
Wind played a part, but the Knights really wanted to knock off the Rams and they were strong going after it.
Pennridge struck early when Leah Malone knocked home a rebound after a long-range rocket from Maddie Anderson was saved but not contained. The Rams put seven more shots on goal in the half but couldn’t turn any into goals.
North Penn applied pressure in the first half but turned it into results in the second 40 minutes.
“Our first goal was just a great effort by Kloey (Carminati) to finish it,” Rio said. “She hit a great left-footed shot low and to the corner.”
After Carminati tied it in the opening 10 minutes of the half, North Penn continued to work for another goal, testing the Rams defense with its pace up top and from set pieces. In senior Grace Sacchetti, the Knights have one of the best set piece servers in the area, and she came through again with 25 minutes left.
Sacchetti’s corner kick went right to the middle of the box, where fellow senior co-captain Emily Schurr went up unguarded and headed it in.
“Grace has been playing great balls for us all year on free kicks or corner kicks and for Emily to just rise up and get a real solid header on it, that’s the difference,” Rio said. “We know when you play a team as good as Pennridge is, you have to capitalize on those set pieces. They don’t give you a lot of chances in the open run of play so we were able to do that today.”
Sacchetti has willingly accepted a role as center back while Schurr has taken to the role of defensive midfielder alongside Becca Richardson and it’s greatly improved the Knights’ form.
“When we put Grace back there, we instantly saw an improvement with our back line,” Rio said. “The way she reads and sees the game, she’s the best on our team at seeing the game and anticipating what’s happening and it’s given us so much more stability to allow Casey (Cavanaugh) to do what she can do and our outside backs Landry Holt and Reagan Ertel to get more involved.”
Pennridge (15-1-1, 10-1-1 SOL), which dropped to the No. 2 spot in the district rankings, hosts Hatboro-Horsham on Friday.
North Penn (9-7-2, 6-4-2 SOL) will await its final district seeding.
NORTH PENN 0 2 – 2
PENNRIDGE 1 0 – 1
Goals: NP – Kloey Carminati, Emily Schurr; P – Leah Malone
Central Bucks South 5, Central Bucks West 0
The Titans are playing for their playoff lives and wasted little time getting after it on Thursday
“(We) came out strong offensively,” South coach Betsy Bullock said.
South needed just six minutes to score when Aly Cutter served a corner that Bridget Curtis buried on a shot from distance. Cutter continued the production when she slotted a ball to Ksenia Semenovykh for a one-touch finish into the back of the net.
Cutter then got in on the scoring when she turned a pass from defender Kari Jim, pushed up in the attack, into a third goal. Grace Tecce provided a great assist to Janessa Watson for a fourth goal in the first half.
“We played the ball wide to create space in front of the goal,” Bullock said.
West, which is dealing with some injury issues, celebrated its eight senior players on Thursday.
Tori Albrecht, twins Erin Fitzsimmons and Ryan Fitzsimmons, Allie Evan, Becca Hauser, Alexa Vail, Sydney Lubin and Gracie Miller have been an integral part of the Bucks’ success the last two seasons and will try to keep it going next week in the postseason.
“The wind was really tough tonight. We wanted to come out of the game without any more injuries,” West coach Mike Moyer said. “We have a couple days now until we play our first district game on Tuesday. I’m hoping we have our full squad by then. Looking forward to the district seeding and starting the postseason.”
CB West did make a strong push to start the second half, but was quelled by South’s defense.
“We had freshman goalkeeper Kristen Conway start and play the whole game. She made seven saves to keep the shutout,” Bullock said. “The two center backs – Bridget Curtis and senior captain Lauren Ewell – worked hard to keep their shape and clog up the middle denying shots.”
South added a goal in the second half to secure the needed win.
“The final goal was a beautiful outside shot by Carly Needham with an assist by Julia Howse,” Bullock said. “Lauren Farrell and Janessa Watson helped control the middle of the field.”
CB South (6-9-2, 5-7 SOL), which finished the day in the No. 25 spot, hosts District I 3A No. 1 Villa Joseph Marie on Friday to wrap up the regular season. Central Bucks West – 15th in the power rankings after Thursday’s game – closed its regular season with a 10-5-3 record (5-4-3 SOL).
CENTRAL BUCKS SOUTH 4 1 – 5
CENTRAL BUCKS WEST 0 0 – 0
Goals: CBS – Aly Cutter, Carly Needham, Janessa Watson, Bridget Curtis, Ksenia Semenovykh
Quakertown 0, Souderton 0
The Panthers settled for a draw on Thursday night and will now await their postseason fate.
“It was a game of the wind, whoever had the wind was on the attack,” Quakertown coach Mike Koch said. “Even though it was a 0-0 game, there were a lot of chances and both keepers played really well. Morgan Sipprell for us had a really good game.”
Souderton now also falls into a waiting game as the Indians closed the night in the No.17 spot for the 4A rankings, just outside of a home playoff match.
“Despite putting together a strong performance for their senior class, the Indians couldn’t find the finishing touch to close out their regular season with a win. Nonetheless the players put up a performance they could be proud of,” Souderton assistant Ian Smith said. “Two Souderton seniors logged their first minutes of the season; Rachel Croll and Brianna King took the tap for the Indians, after missing out on their senior seasons due to injuries in years prior.”
Souderton (10-6-2, 5-5-2 SOL) carried the attack in the first half, trying to capitalize off the Senior Night energy.
“With 21 minutes left in the half, Hannah Alderfer let the first real warning shot go as she hit the crossbar with power from distance. Shortly after, Taylor Yoder let loose a shot of her own that was saved well by Quakertown’s goalkeeper,” Smith said. “Souderton continued to generate chances, as Averie Doughty struck the crossbar again, and Avery Nogmai’s follow-up header was saved off the goal line.”
Yoder, Doughty and Alderfer all had looks in the second half as well. Quakertown controlled the first overtime, calling Indians keeper Morgan Molyneaux into action.
“Their greatest opportunity came from a ball over the top in behind Souderton’s defense,” Smith said. “Souderton keeper Morgan Molyneaux came up huge with a 1v1 save to keep the Indians from heartbreak.”
Quakertown (6-9-3, 2-7-3 SOL) finished holding the No. 24 spot in the district rankings but has concluded its regular season slate.
“We’ll have practice tomorrow and that’s exactly it, we’ll just see how it plays out,” Koch said.
Koch cited the play of Melina Jagiello, Sammy Barkholz, Maddie Drennan, Cori Pursel and Haley Hangey.
“Drennan had a really good game,” Koch said. “She’s a senior outside back who’s had a really good year. She didn’t start until this year but she’s had a good season and really had a good night.”
QUAKERTOWN 0 0 0 0 – 0
SOUDERTON 0 0 0 0 – 0
SOL AMERICAN
Hatboro-Horsham 2, Plymouth Whitemarsh 1
The SOL American conference title game sure had its share of dramatics.
Hatters forward Maggie O’Neill broke the Colonials’ nine-match shutout streak with a goal in the ninth minute of play, but PW would answer in the match’s final seconds to force extra time.
In preseason, the Hatters made it their goal to win a conference title, and senior Gabby Liott delivered it in overtime.
“For the first time in 24 years the Lady Hatters soccer team won the American league title,” Hatboro-Horsham coach Kelsey Daley said. “It was a very exciting game with a first half goal by Maggie O’Neill. Both teams battled very hard and PW scored with less than 30 seconds left.”
After O’Neill put the hosts up, the Hatters controlled most of the match but couldn’t find anything else against PW’s resolute defense. That defensive group had allowed PW to rapidly scale the District I power rankings, and the Colonials (14-4, 11-3 SOL) are still in line to host a first round game next Tuesday.
Finally, with time winding down and players pushed up, the Colonials got a chance. Natalie Lannie broke free and turned a pass from Bella McNew into the equalizer inside the final half-minute.
“Going into OT I told the girls ‘This is our game and we need to come out strong and score quick,’” Daley said. “We get a corner kick in the first minute and Gabby Liott scored the game-winner off a corner from Cam Ryan.”
Ryan actually had two corner kicks in the sequence, her first going a little long but knocked out off a PW player to set up the second. The senior midfielder hit the second low and hard into the box where Liott, also a senior, poked it home to hand her squad the conference crown.
“It was a great game and the Hatters never gave up,” Daley said “They gave it all they had and I am so proud of every single player on this team. We are league champs.”
The Hatters (15-1-1, 12-1-1 SOL), who currently hold the No.7 spot in the District I 4A rankings, will visit Pennridge to conclude the regular season on Friday.
HATBORO-HORSHAM 1 0 1 – 2
PLYMOUTH WHITEMARSH 0 1 0 – 1
Goals: HH – Maggie O’Neill, Gabby Liott; PW – Natalie Lannie
Wissahickon 3, Upper Moreland 2
The Trojans had to find a way to win their regular season finale as they look to secure a district playoff spot.
Luckily, they still have Carly Amato on the roster and the senior captain came up with a pair of goals, including the game winner. Amato converted a penalty kick in the 63rd minute to hand the Trojans (11-7, 10-4 SOL) a pivotal victory as they closed the night in the No. 23 spot in 4A.
The fact that they needed that goal was a credit to a Golden Bears team that went all-out on its Senior Night.
“It was an absolute battle out there tonight, and going down two goals in the first 12 minutes of the game is a tough way to start,” UM coach Lisa Benvenuto said. “During our halftime talk, we spoke of a few things that we needed to improve upon, and how we needed to attack and recover. We spoke about leaving it all out on the field, and that is what the girls did.”
Amato had a first-minute strike, and a tally from Sophia Chiodo-Ortiz staked Wissahickon to a quick 2-0 lead, which the Trojans carried to the break.
Upper Moreland scored four minutes apart in the second half to level the game. Kaiya Herb got UM on the board off a corner from Madison Zachwieja, and a Grace Burns goal from an Emma Meakim assist tied it up.
“I am unbelievably proud of my girls for the way they came back tonight,” Benvenuto said. “Under strong senior leadership, hey worked as a team, and they gave everything they had up to the last seconds of the game, you can’t ask for much more as a coach.”
Jaclyn Martino had six saves for the Bears.
Wissahickon keepers Quinn Klessel and Caroline Hassall split time in goal, with Klessel recording four saves and Hassall six.
“Hassal with a great stop on a PKhat would have tied the match late in second half,” Wissahickon coach Chris McDaniels said.
Upper Moreland closed out the season with a 6-12 record (4-10 SOL).
WISSAHICKON 2 1 – 3
UPPER MORELAND 0 2 – 2
Goals: W – Carly Amato 2, Sophia Chiodo-Ortiz; UM – Grace Burns, Kaiya Herb
Upper Dublin 3, Springfield Twp 1
The Cardinals closed out their home slate with a night victory on Thursday.
Senior Laura Pendleton, who’s played defender, midfielder and forward during a very strong career at UD, scored in the 38th minute to give her team a 1-0 lead at the break. Freshman Alex Devers delivered the eventual winner during a second half brace, scoring in the 55th and 78th minutes.
UD (7-9-1, 7-6-1 SOL) will end its season with a road game at CB East on Friday. The Spartans (2-15-1, 1-13) will gear up for the District I 2A playoffs.
UPPER DUBLIN 1 2 – 3
SPRINGFIELD TWP 0 1 – 1
Goals: UD – Laura Pendleton, Alex Devers 2
Abington 6, Cheltenham 0
Lesha Karaba had a hat-trick to lead the Ghosts as they finished their season with a 9-9 record (9-5 SOL).
Junior Casey Touey and freshman Maura Day each added a goal and an assist for Abington, which also got a tally from freshman Lily Gray.
The Ghosts shared a shutout between Olivia Oliphant and Alexis Ditri.
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