Check out the results for SOL girls’ soccer teams in action Thursday. Neshaminy/CR South photo provided courtesy of Darryl Rule of J&D Photography. Check back for a gallery of action photos.
SOL NATIONAL
PENNSBURY 9, HARRY S TRUMAN 0
Three years ago, Pennsbury coach Kaitlyn Battiste made it a goal, along with then sophomores Meredith Webber and Rachel Beri, to win the school's first league title in girls soccer.
It didn't have to be that year, just some time in their tenure as Falcons. Thursday night, Webber and Beri were league champions, for the third year in a row.
"It all starts with leadership. We told them we thought it could happen during their time here," Battiste said. "Three years later and three league titles – incredible.
"Three seasons of competitive league soccer and only two league losses during that time. These seniors have created a winning culture because they've made it a habit to work hard and play each game with pride."
Webber led the charge with a pair of goals on Thursday while Dani Cady, Maddie Annan, Bri McDonald, Laurel Perkins, Kari Brown, Caroline Marr and Rosie Bostian also scored for Pennsbury. Perkins had a pair of assists with helpers also coming from Cady, Brown, Kelsey Butler and Jenna Peters.
The district champions in 2014, the Falcons again have their eyes on that goal and will likely receive a top-three seed in the Class AAAA bracket to be put together Sunday. The first thing on Pennsbury's agenda though, was keeping its perch atop a loaded conference.
"The seniors are responsible for setting the expectations as high as they are, but they haven't been afraid of the pressure or challenge that comes with that," Battiste said.
The mark of a quality soccer team is the ability to identify and solve puzzles on the field and to do it with the 11 players on the field doing the work to reach the answer. The challenges have been numerous and frequent, but Pennsbury has shown an ability to outwit them.
"Even beyond the seniors, this is a team that has so many of the intangibles," Battiste said. "They appreciate the little things of the game and being part of a team. I think my favorite part of this team is how creative they are. You can see them working through problems both on and off the field and it's rarely the same solution twice.
"There's always a new twist, and I think that keeps the game exciting and challenging for them."
Pennsbury (14-1, 11-1 SOL) will host Conestoga in a non-league contest on Friday at 3:45 p.m. Harry S Truman closed out its season with a 1-16 mark (0-12).
Goals: P – Meredith Webber (2), Dani Cady, Maddie Annan, Bri McDonald, Laurel Perkins, Kari Brown, Caroline Marr, Rosie Bostian. Assists: P – Perkins (2), Jenna Peters, Cady, Kelsey Butler, Brown.
COUNCIL ROCK NORTH 2, MOUNT SAINT JOSEPH 0
Amazingly, the Indians have not yet fielded the starting XI they had projected at the start of the season.
The injury bug has been a frequent pest around North, with players missing short spells with all sorts of ailments, and whenever one or two would come back, another would go down. Yet, North finds itself almost assured of a playoff spot and pretty confident going in.
Thursday, in a makeup nonleague game, it was two of the team's most consistent presences that made the difference. On offense, it was forward Kayla Robinson scoring twice in the first half and defensively, Carly Riggs posting her 11th shutout win of the season in goal.
"Kayla is a streaky player in that when she has confidence, she scores a ton of goals," North coach Wendell Beres said. "When she doesn't, there's nobody harder on Kayla than Kayla. She and I had a conversation this week and I said 'I've never, in the three years we've been together, asked you to score a goal. I've simply asked you to give it your all every time.' When she thought about it, I think she realized that was the case. Today, she was relaxed and she worked hard."
In the case of Riggs, the first-year starter in net faced a daunting role at the start of the season. Replacing two year first-team all-league pick Jeri Belardo was already a huge task, but then to do it as injuries kept changing the defenders in front of her, Riggs easily could have wilted.
Instead, she endured and never let teammates down.
"Carly had some big shoes to fill, and we have yet to start all four backs we expected to start," Beres said. "We'd be nowhere without Carly Riggs. She's done a great job in the goal, she took a beating today physically and she just keeps getting up. All you have to do is look at the fact we've won 11 games and she has 11 shutouts. She's just so technically solid and makes every save she's supposed to make."
Robinson can't do it all herself, and Beres said that was the problem the last two weeks with some of the injuries. Teams were able to load up on the forward, who now has 16 goals. Thursday, Mount couldn't do that.
"Becca Margolis was all over the place, grinding out some 50/50 balls and really helping us attack," Beres said. "Meredith Hill played a great game at left back, Sydney Allen played her best game in the three years I've known her today. Everyone kind of put it together today and that's really good to see this time of year."
The Indians have six losses. Four of them are to Pennsbury and Neshaminy, twice to each, two teams likely to be top-three seeds in the district tournament.
North still isn't at 100 percent, but Beres is hopeful his team will be by the first round on Tuesday. No matchups are set yet, but the Indians are certainly a lower seed that many teams will not want to see opposite them in the bracket.
"We're really excited about where we are, what our chances are and we're really looking forward to seeing the draw on Sunday," Beres said.
Council Rock North closed out its regular season with an 11-6 record (6-6 SOL).
MOUNT SAINT JOSEPH 0 0 – 0
COUNCIL ROCK NORTH 2 0 – 2
Goals: CRN – Kayla Robinson (2)
NESHAMINY 3, COUNCIL ROCK SOUTH 0
Neshaminy sent its seniors into their final postseason with a victory Thursday night.
The current top seed in the District I power rankings, Neshaminy is also the only team to have beaten National Conference champion Pennsbury this season. There was no star on Thursday, just a class of really good players making the most of their night.
"All of our seniors did a solid job tonight to solidify the win," Neshaminy coach Chelsea Lovelace said. "Maggie Daeche, Alyssa Tobin, Riley Nyhus, Cali Tomko, Lauren Morris, Emily Tomlinson and Amyanne Murray all played well."
Nyhus scored the game's first goal and assisted its last, which was scored by Nicole Palmer. In the middle, Alysaa Tobin put away a penalty kick.
The Neshaminy backline of Daeche, Genna Obringer, Hannah Stonkus and Palmer was stout as usual, allowing just three shots.
Neshaminy closed out the regular season with a 16-1-1 mark (10-1-1 SOL) while Council Rock South was 11-6-1 overall (7-4-1 SOL).
COUNCIL ROCK SOUTH 0 0 – 0
NESHAMINY 1 2 – 3
Goals: N – Riley Nyhus (Brooke Mullin) 34:52, Alyssa Tobin (PK) 51:22, Nicole Palmer (Nyhus) 64:02
SOL CONTINENTAL
PENNRIDGE 2, NORTH PENN 1
The Rams are back atop the Continental after gutting out a win against a very tough North Penn team Thursday night.
Pennridge also held its annual Pink Out/Community Night game under the lights at Helman Field. Courtney Supp and Caroline Thomson provided the scoring for the Rams in the first half while senior midfielders Erin Stevenson, Savanna Harrison and Katie Fischer all played well.
North Penn cut the lead in half on Anna Pedicone's penalty kick in the second half. Amelia Eshraghi, Emma Dickson, Grace Sacchetti, Liv Jerome, Kat Stevenson, Alexis Henderson, Casey Cavanaugh, Riley Houlihan, Cat Myers, Ashley Schmidt and Lauren Donnelly also played well for the Knights according to coach Jim Dehner.
The Knights were on the outside looking in at the district playoff field starting the week and will need quite a bit of help to slide them into the field.
Pennridge did not need to win on Thursday, just a draw would have been enough, but the Rams left no doubt in taking the conference crown. Up next will be the district tournament, with a first round bye almost a guarantee.
Pennridge closed out conference play with a 10-1-1 record (16-1-1 overall) while North Penn is 7-11 overall (4-8 SOL).
NORTH PENN 0 1 – 1
PENNRIDGE 2 0 – 2
Goals: NP – Anna Pedicone (PK), P – Courtney Supp, Caroline Thomson.
CENTRAL BUCKS EAST 1, CENTRAL BUCKS SOUTH 1 (2OT)
A late goal by Courtney Taylor salvaged a hard-fought draw for the Titans, Thursday.
East took the lead in the 36th minute when Izzy Hunter policed up a rebound and put away the second effort. Kiernan Hutchinson started the sequence with a shot that was saved, but not covered, by South keeper Sophia Boggs.
"Kiernan beat a defender to the ball going toward the goal, got behind the defender and took an angle to goal," East coach Paul Eisold said. "Sophia Boggs got her hand on the shot and rebounded to Izzy, who was following the play."
South managed to get to the half without further incident, then picked up its intensity after the break.
"It is always a competitive game with out sister schools," South coach Betsy Bullock said. "South came out flat in the first half and East had the better of play."
A foul in the 66th minute set up Taylor about 25 yard out from the goal.
"It was a bullet of a finish from 25 yards out in the side panel of the net," Eisold said. "Maddie Nesteruk (East's goalkeeper) got a hand on it, but it was a brilliant finish by Courtney."
South could not capitalize any further on the momentum as East buckled down and the teams settled for the draw.
"East put in 100 solid minutes playing as a unit and continuously working for the ball," Eisold said. "Maddie did a nice job in goal and the defense locked out the very good forwards from South. This was a total team effort tonight and something to build on moving forward."
South now awaits its playoff seeding with the hopes of staying in the top eight spots, which grant a first-round bye.
East (8-6-3, 6-4-2 SOL) travels down to Upper Dublin for a nonleague matchup Friday at 3:45 to close out the regular season. Both East and UD are in line for playoff spots and will be looking for a solid victory to head into the postseason.
"We are looking forward to playing a very good team with a very good coach in John Topper. We have to continue moving forward and taking care of business, continue being positive and finish out the regular season strong," Eisold said. "After a difficult overtime game against a high-quality team in South, we will rely on the reserves to see it through. Upper Dublin has speedy forwards and have proven to be prepared and improved throughout the season."
Central Bucks South closed out its regular season with a 14-3-1 record overall (9-2-1 SOL).
CENTRAL BUCKS EAST 1 0 0 0 – 1
CENTRAL BUCKS SOUTH 0 1 0 0 – 1
Goals: CBE – Izzy Hunter (Kiernan Hutchinson) 36', CBS – Courtney Taylor 66'
SOUDERTON 2, WILLIAM TENNENT 1
Trailing at the half, Souderton rallied back for its sixth straight win to close out the regular season.
Hannah Croll put her team back on level footing in the 45th minute with a 25-yard rocket over the keeper's head after a great set-up pass by Taylor Moritz. The Indians took the lead with a shade less than six minutes left when senior co-captain Ellie Andrade crossed to Campbell Power at the far post and Power flicked it in for the winner.
"It was a good game tonight. Tennant came out really strong and scored a nice goal but we played a good team game," Souderton coach Chris Felber said. "We stayed patient and kept plugging away to score a couple of goals. Ellie Andrade had a good match tonight, she was creative and assisted the winning goal with a nice cross to the far post."
Souderton is safely in the playoff field and also on course to host a home playoff game. A good defense has been bolstered by a surge in offense the last six contests.
"Absolutely (we feel confident), we are scoring lots of goals and quite simply, goals win games," Felber said. "We feel we can go into the playoffs and win a few games."
Souderton closed out the regular season with an 8-2-2 record in conference play (10-4-3 overall) while Tennent was 2-10 in league play (5-12 overall).
WILLIAM TENNENT 1 0 – 1
SOUDERTON 0 2 – 2
SOL AMERICAN
UPPER DUBLIN 3, UPPER MORELAND 2
The Golden Bears got a dream start on their Senior Night, but couldn't hold off the Cardinals in the second half.
Upper Dublin, trailing 2-0 just 25 minutes into the game, scored once before the break to cut the lead in half, then got two goals after halftime to pick up the win. Upper Moreland's first goal came just 1:15 into the match from Brianna Byard.
"The atmosphere at Upper Moreland was charged for senior night," Bears coach Lisa Benvenuto said. "We honored our 13 seniors tonight, and they played their hearts out. We started out quickly scoring off of a set corner by Sam Cancel that found Madison Pisut, and Brianna Byard was able to finish. Eleven minutes later, Samantha Cancel found Christina Kane off of a direct kick. Sam placed the ball with precision and Kane was able to beat Upper Dublin's Devon Jones."
Lexi Schreiber and Tori Hoffner connected twice to get the Cardinals back in the game. Hoffner assisted each of Schreiber's goals, the first coming at the 26:40 mark of the first half. The duo hit it off again at the 44:05 mark to tie the game.
It stayed that way, thanks in large part to UM senior keeper Kim Benge, who made 10 saves, until the 73:13 mark. UD senior Paige Lawton broke the 2-2 tie with an unassisted goal.
"We are so proud of our seniors and our team tonight," Benvenuto said. "It was a competitive match, that could have gone either way, and we left it all on the field."
Upper Dublin (12-4-1, 10-3-1 SOL) wraps up its regular season with a home nonleague game against CB East. Upper Moreland closed out the regular season with a 5-11-2 record (4-9-1 SOL).
UPPER DUBLIN 1 2 – 3
UPPER MORELAND 2 0 – 2
Goals: UD – Lexi Schreiber (Tori Hoffner) 26:40, Schreiber (Hoffner) 44:05, Paige Lawton 73:13; UM – Brianna Byard (Madison Pisut, Sam Cancel) 1:15, Christian Kane (Cancel) 12:01
HATBORO-HORSHAM 4, CHELTENHAM 0
The Hatters closed out the regular season with a win and now await their playoff fate.
Hatboro-Horsham was the 25th team in the district power rankings, with the top 24 teams moving on.
Erica Paluszek provided assists on the first two Hatter goals, both corner kicks going to the head of Emma Roesing. Ali Hontz added the team's third goal with the final strike coming off the foot of senior Miranda Royds, the standout goalkeeper, who was playing as a field player in her last regular season game.
Hatboro-Horsham closed out conference play with a 6-4-3 record (7-7-3 overall).
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