Check out the recaps for SOL girls’ soccer teams in action Tuesday. CR South/CR North photos provided courtesy of John Gleeson. CB West/Pennridge photos courtesy of Tracy Valko. Check back for galleries of both games.
SOL PATRIOT
Council Rock South 3, Council Rock North 2
No matter the year, the Unity Cup is always a special night.
But when both teams are good, like they are this year, it helps elevate the game to an event. With plenty riding on the outcome for the Indians and the Golden Hawks, it wasn’t surprising an excellent contest came of it.
“It was easily one of the top North-South games in my 10 seasons on staff,” Golden Hawks coach Nick Heim said. “I’m really excited for the senior group. To start the season 0-1-1 in league play and put themselves in a position to get a share of a title tonight was special.”
The Hawks, who picked up a crucial win for their playoff hopes against William Tennent in nonleague play Monday, needed a win Tuesday to earn a share of the Patriot title with Neshaminy. It is CR South’s first league title since 2017, when the Hawks shared SOL National honors with Pennsbury.
“Coming into the year with how different it is, we relied heavily on our strong senior class to all be leaders and they have been phenomenal,” Heim said. “For it to be the first group I’ve had four years with since taking over, it’s extra special. I’m really proud of them.”
The match ended a taxing stretch for the Indians, who had their season stopped for two weeks then had to come back and play four league matches in a row.
“Very proud of our girls this evening. We practiced once in two weeks and then played four straight league games in a row including our senior night,” Indians coach Gavin Flannigan said. “We’ve had zero preparation for these last four games, but not once did any of our players complain about the situation, they embraced it and gave everything in the last six days. Having to face South after playing Neshaminy yesterday is a hard task.”
The result knocked the Indians from a playoff spot as they flip-flopped with Pennsbury, dropping to the No. 17 spot while the Falcons moved up to No. 16.
“North is really good. It’s criminal that they may not get a chance to represent our league in districts. Gavin runs a great program and there is a ton of respect between the two of us. After a loss they had, we were going to play after them on our senior night and Gavin came over and asked if he could speak to my seniors to congratulate them on a great career,” Heim said. “Gavin and his assistant Jorge Rodriguez have coached many of my girls in club. I have North captains in my class. Our girls are lifelong friends with kids on the opposite team but just battle for those 80 minutes. It’s everything a high school rivalry should be and it makes for a fantastic atmosphere.”
Heim noted no matter the talent disparity in a given year, it’s always a tight game between North and South. Given that not much separated the squads this fall and both brimming with skilled players, that’s just what happened.
In the first meeting, a 1-0 North win back on Sept. 24, Heim felt his team didn’t make the most of its chances. Tuesday, they were able to capitalize on just enough of them.
The Hawks coach thought his team had grabbed an early goal, but the shot only clipped the netting and never crossed the line. That was only the start of a wild, back-and-forth game.
“Carly Irvin was able to find Aubrey Hondros for a goal on the half-volley to give us a lead. We got fortunate a few minutes later when Aubrey played a dangerous ball that clipped a North defender and went in,” Heim said. “North answered with an own goal from us to make it 2-1. Shortly after, Aubrey found Skyler Scarborough in the box to give us a 3-1 lead at half.”
Morgan McCaffery hit the corner kick for North that resulted in the own goal from the Golden Hawks.
“I thought tonight was a great game of high school soccer, the intensity and desire from both teams was off the charts and the quality of play at times was excellent,” Flannigan said. “Both keepers made some excellent saves, and both teams created a bunch of chances. Ultimately, South took theirs and we couldn’t quite take ours.”
Up two goals, the Hawks spent the second half trying to fend off their archrivals.
“We talked at half about them pushing numbers forward and I said – we will see this out if we stay emotionally level,” Heim said. “Taylor Brennen scores one of the best high school goals I’ve ever seen to bring it to 3-2 with about eight minutes left. To the credit of the girls, we didn’t make any changes, they stayed the course and we stayed emotionally level to see out the final eight of a frantic finish.”
Brennan’s volley came via a cross from Brooke Fischer that gave the Indians a spark but CR South was able to extinguish it before it got going.
“Again, a lot of credit to North. They had to play four league games in four days and made us earn every inch tonight,” Heim said. “I think having a core group of seniors really helped us navigate the entire season, but especially tonight’s game.”
With Wednesday’s results counting toward the district power rankings, the Indians will have to wait and see if something goes their way and allows their season to continue.
“If this is our last game of the season then so be it, it’s tough to go out like that, but it wasn’t through lack of effort and desire,” Flannigan said.
Heim said his entire team played a role in the outcome, regardless of how much time they got on the field.
“Our goalie Sydney Mandel was terrific and our backs of Kim Speiser, Karly Wunder, Emily Davis, Kennedy Keuchler and Kate Hanlon were fantastic at slowing down a potent North attack,” Heim said. “Everyone may not have gotten on the field but every girl on our roster has been a major contributor for us this year. We can’t do it with just 11 but luckily we have a strong 22.”
South (8-2-1, 5-2-1 SOL) sat in the No. 6 spot in the 4A rankings at the end of the night and will await its final seeding and first round opponent. Council Rock North closed out its regular season with a 5-5 overall record (4-4 SOL).
COUNCIL ROCK SOUTH 3 0 – 3
COUNCIL ROCK NORTH 1 1 -2
Goals: CRS – Aubrey Hondros 2, Skyler Scarborough; CRN – Morgan McCaffery, Taylor Brennan
SOL COLONIAL
Pennridge 1, Central Bucks West 0
The playoffs got a six-day head start for the Rams and Bucks.
While Pennridge’s spot in the final 16 was all but secure, the Rams wanted to try and secure a home field advantage for as 
long as possible. For West, their position was anything but secure and a second win over the Rams this fall would go a long way to changing that.
Thanks to a good header from Anna Croyle, the Rams avenged their lone loss of the season and set themselves up well for the coming postseason.
“Bad luck was our friend tonight I guess, we hit a crossbar, two posts, a couple near misses,” Pennridge coach Audrey Anderson said. “I was happy with the amount of shots we had but we’ll have to work on putting them in because come Monday, scoring one goal isn’t going to be enough.”
Pennridge brought plenty of energy to the field, but it took a while for either team to channel their energy into chances. Once they started coming, they didn’t slow down, and with about 12 minutes left in the opening half, the Rams would cash in on one.
Freshman Tori Angelo showed plenty of hustle, pursuing the ball out of the Rams’ attacking third and forcing a mis-hit back pass that she was able to win a corner off. Riley Hepler’s service was right on the money to the backside of a crowd, where Croyle jumped up and hammered in the header to the back corner.
“I’m smiling under my mask because of the fact she’s a freshman,” Anderson said. “We have her another three years after this and that kid is outstanding, she’s coachable and has a great attitude towards everything. She doesn’t try to do too much, she does what she’s supposed to do.”
Up 1-0 at half and knowing the Bucks would go all out to try and get a winning result, the Pennridge coaches turned to playoff prep.
“We talked at halftime about using the second half to prepare for Monday because with the amount of new players on the field, they needed to experience as close as possible to a real playoff game,” Anderson said. “We knew we were not going to get anything less from West. It was a good game for both teams to play and it was great for us that our second half meant that much.”
Bucks goalkeeper Jenna Abaza played a brilliant game with seven saves, including a diving denial of a Hepler shot almost on the goal line in the second half. Defenders Keely McGlone, Courtney Moylan, Bella Centenera and Katie Weyer were solid in the back as Pennridge tried to move the ball and attack up the middle and off the wings.
The Rams were a bit unlucky not to score a second as Liv Grenda hit the post, another shot rang the bar and attempts from Hepler, Leah Malone and Lindsey DeHaven all went just wide.
West (6-3-1 SOL) fell to No. 15 in the District I 4A power rankings and will await Wednesday’s results to see if it will hold on to a postseason bid.
The win helped vault the Rams (10-1, 9-1) to No. 3 in the rankings. Instead of worrying about matchups, they’ll be hitting the practice field to close the week and work on improving what they didn’t do well on Tuesday.
“We said let’s not focus on what ifs and let’s focus on what we need to do in order to get better,” Anderson said. “I’ve learned over the past couple years to not plan on playing anybody because so much changes. We’ll prepare for whoever and focus on finishing our goals, working on our corners and trying to get our passing accuracy a little bit better.”
PENNRIDGE 1 0 – 1
CENTRAL BUCKS WEST 0 0 – 0
Goals: P – Anna Croyle
Non-league
Quakertown 1, Calvary Christian Academy 0
There’s nothing Morgan Sipprell can’t do on a soccer pitch.
After spending the season as a stonewall goalkeeper for the Panthers, Sipprell returned to her natural territory as a field player. Mike Koch wanted to give the senior a reward for her hard work and Sipprell responded with the game-winning goal.
“She is a really good field player we made into a goalkeeper but with these last few games, I figured she deserved to get some field time,” Koch said.
Sipprell’s goal came with about 18 minutes to play as the Panthers picked up a win over a Calvary Christian team aiming for a spot in the District I A bracket.
“She almost had a couple other goals,” Koch said. “Paige Russell crossed the ball in, and Calvary’s goalkeeper is really good but Morgan has that soccer sense to her. She hit the ball low and hard, a ground-skipper into the corner to get the goal from about 14 yards out.”
With the playoffs out of the picture, the Panthers are taking advantage of the opportunity to schedule additional games. Tuesday was the first of three extra games Koch has added with Quakertown also set to face Boyertown and Archbishop Carroll in the coming weeks.
“I have a great group of kids who just love to play,” Koch said.
Koch felt his team played at its best pace of the season, which was needed to break down a stout Calvary Christian defense.
“With a team built like that, they’re going to expose any mistakes so we had to play mistake-free in order to get a result against them,” Koch said. “I think we got pretty darn close to that. That was a big piece to it, they’re a good team and I think they’ll do well in their playoffs.”
Koch credited the play of Kyla Frederick, Callie Abel and Mackenna Calabria on Tuesday.
With Sipprell out of goal, sophomore Darby Vail got her first start of the season. The backup keeper, Vail had gotten some minutes throughout the season but Tuesday was her first chance to own the spot.
“She did a great job,” Koch said. “She had never played a situation where it was 0-0 when she went in and while she didn’t have to make any spectacular saves, she handled everything she needed to handle. She was calm and composed and made those plays.”
Quakertown (5-7-1, 3-6-1 SOL) will travel to Boyertown on Tuesday for a 7 p.m. contest.
QUAKERTOWN 0 1 – 1
CALVARY CHRISTIAN 0 0 – 0
Goals: Q – Morgan Sipprell
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