Check out the Recaps for SOL girls’ soccer teams in action Monday. Wissahickon/William Tennent photos courtesy of Michael Rice Photography. Check back for a gallery of photos.
Non-league
North Penn 3, Lansdale Catholic 2
Last year, the Knights didn’t really find their footing until the second half of the season, but they did parlay into a valuable experience of making the District 1 4A playoffs. With 15 players back from last year’s roster, many of them still underclassmen, North Penn had incentive and motivation to play for more this fall. While they had a tough loss in their opener, they’d done some good things and needed to repeat that – plus a little more – after trailing at the half Monday night.
Maddy Murphy’s made a name for herself as one of the SOL’s top forwards the past few years. The University of Buffalo recruit is a returning first team selection in the Colonial Division and a four-year fixture on varsity. With a strong effort behind her, the Knights’ centerpiece forward scored a hat trick to lead North Penn to its first win of the season.
Murphy gave the hosts an early 1-0 lead, crushing a header off a pinpoint corner kick service by Lily McGee, but Lansdale Catholic came back with a pair of goals off corners to take a 2-1 lead to the half. The forward scored twice after the break to turn the tide, the first coming on a quick turn and hard shot to the low corner to knot the score.
The game-winner was pure determination on Murphy’s part. After breaking into the box, a challenge by a defender left her and Murphy laid out on the turf and the ball still in play, so Murphy just got up and went after it.
After getting the ball back in her possession, the senior used a couple tight, well-controlled touches inside the six to bury the go-ahead tally.
“I know I’m not always going to get calls but what I can control in the game is how hard I work and how physical I am,” Murphy said. “I try to go out and be as hard-working as I can with every opportunity.
“I knew we needed one and I wanted to make sure we got the win. They needed me in that moment to be composed and keep working hard.”
Scoring Summary
NP – Maddy Murphy (Lily McKee) 27:16 1st half
LC – Danielle Steinberg (Mattie Williams) 22:48 1st half
LC – Margaret Brennan 12:32 1st half
NP – Murphy 30:08 2nd half
NP – Murphy 27:12 2nd half
North Penn coach Mike Rio on Murphy’s performance: “She’s phenomenal, really, what can you say? It’s really just a pleasure to watch her play soccer because there’s not many like her, and she has the ability to just create something out of nothing and take over a game.”
–On the opening goal: “The moment and opportunity is never too big for her. She always steps up when the team needs her, and she knows what we need to do. That gives confidence to everyone else around her to do the same.”
–The team’s response to trailing: “The way we rebounded all around the field, I thought in the second half we really came out strong and had great energy all over just getting the ball forward, finding each other’s feet, getting into gaps. Maddy put the balls in the back of the net for us, but it was a team effort behind her.”
–Building off last season: “The confidence is there, last year we went through some growing pains to get to where we were at the end of the season and felt good about it, knowing we’d bring back a lot of returners from the previous season. We played a tough team on Saturday, a strong program and they were a team that beat us 3-0 last year, so being able to compete better with them and then come into tonight against an LC team that’s strong and well-coached then go up, go down and show that resiliency to bounce back I think showed a lot about the confidence in the team to know just because the scoreline says something, we’re not out of it.”
North Penn senior Maddy Murphy on her team’s play: “We talked about needing to put together a full game, that’s what our goal was coming into this one. Going down, we talked about how we’ve been down before and now we had to find a way to come back, so that’s what we did.”
–Combining with Lily McGee: “Lily has been playing great corners every practice and every game we’ve played, so it was only a matter of time before we got on the end of one. We knew we had to put one away and that was just the time we chose to do it.”
–On the support of her teammates: “I was getting played some really great balls. Having support with the really talented players around me, it lets people know ‘she can play any of these players and they can take a shot on goal,’ it really opens things up.”
–On the team’s growth since last season: “Last year we had a really young team, I think we had around 10 freshmen, and within the last year, they’ve grown so much. Having a young team that is as talented as what we have here only helps us going forward. They have a lot to keep improving on, as all of us do, and they’ve done a great job of really rising to the occasion.”
Up next: North Penn (1-1) hosts Spring-Ford at 7pm on Wednesday.
NORTH PENN 1 2 – 3
LANSDALE CATHOLIC 2 0 – 2
Neshaminy 4, Hatboro-Horsham 1
Last season, Neshaminy was one of the SOL’s best teams at turning set pieces into goals.
With senior twins Kylie and Taylor Maxwell back on the pitch representing their high school this fall, there will be plenty of opportunities from the run of play to come this season. But an ability to score on a restart is always an asset, especially late in the season, so Neshaminy didn’t want to take that out of its arsenal either.
Thanks to another senior, midfielder Abby Collins, Neshaminy got its first goal off a set piece to kick off a solid win over the visiting Hatters on Monday.
Scoring summary
N — Abby Collins header on corner served by Taylor Maxwell, 30:53 1st half
N – Kylie Maxwell PK 20:08 1st half
N – Aislyn Fitzgerald hit a one-time ball from Taylor Maxwell with a drop pass 17:15 1st half
N – Allie Ortman rebound off a hard shot by Kylie Maxwell 16:24 1st half
HH -Cara Neeld served a long ball into the box and Marisa Bennett scored 9:11 2nd half
Neshaminy coach Josh Van Reed on getting a set piece goal: “I was very happy with many aspects of the game. Last season we scored a lot of goals from free kicks and corners, and today Abby showed that the trend will hopefully continue this year with a great headball.”
–Offensive surge: “It was just a lot of shots. Kylie is able to get in behind defenses and create along with scoring goals. Hatboro-Horsham’s keeper did a great job making saves on some good shots. When Kylie was taken down for the PK, it is nice to have someone very confident in those situations.”
–Underclassmen stepping up: “I have been impressed with our underclassman as well. Our defenders – Natalie Weidle, Cassidy Tweedie and Emerson Rooney – put in a solid performance and were very composed on the ball and able to pass very well under pressure, while junior Aislyn Fitzgerald had a great goal from top of the 18.”
–Senior stalwart: “Abby Collins certainly stood out today in the midfield. With her breaking up plays and controlling the flow, it kinda set the tempo for us and helped to maintain possession and continue to attack.”
Hatboro-Horsham coach Chris Artman on the game: “The nerves were evident in the first half for our young HH team in their season opener. Down 4-0 at the half they shook off the nerves and played much more confidently in the second half, scoring the only goal in the half. Junior Cara Neeld served a long ball into the box and fellow junior Marisa Bennett took a great first touch and slid the ball into the far corner to beat the Neshaminy keeper.
“Senior center back Jordyn Harris and junior center back Cara Neeld played outstanding. They did a great job of defending Neshaminy standout twins Taylor and Kyle Maxwell.
“Senior keeper Molly Donaldson was solid in net making athletic saves keeping us in the game.
“The team looks forward fixing their mistakes and building off the positives Friday at Harry S. Truman.”
Up next: Neshaminy visits Villa Joseph Marie at 4pm on Thursday. Hatboro-Horsham visits Harry S Truman at 11am on Friday.
NESHAMINY 4 0 – 4
HATBORO-HORSHAM 0 1 – 1
Wissahickon 1, William Tennent 0
Last year, a roughly 15-minute spell decided the outcome between the Trojans and the Panthers as Tennent sprang three goals with a key Wiss defender sidelined.
Monday, Elle Stein didn’t have to step off the field, and it showed in the final scoreline as Wissahickon’s defensive unit put up a wall around the box. A clean sheet is always a welcome outcome, and with goalkeeper
Olivia Lore backing up the defense, Wiss had a solid foundation to start its season.
Offensively, a crafty goal by Emma Greenberg was enough to get the job done thanks to the defense quieting a Panthers offense that had shown plenty of potency with five goals in its first outing.
Scoring summary
W – Emma Greenberg
Wissahickon coach Chris McDaniels on the win: “Last year, they scored three on us in a hurry. They were fast, on the outside specifically, and when our centerback went down, we had to pull her out for about 15 minutes and they made us pay almost immediately. They looked the same this year, but we were healthy this year and I think a little bit more ready for it. We had Elle Stein there in the middle doing the defending, and that helped out enormously.”
–Defense limiting looks: “We gave up shots, but we limited them to mainly shots from distance. That’s something we did really well, and our back line got beat maybe once or twice in behind but for the most part, they were playing in front of us.”
Standout goalkeeping: “Our keeper Olivia Lore is fantastic, it’s going to take something special to beat Liv from anything past 20 yards. They seemed to be settling for shots from 20-25 out, I’d say they had close to 10 shots, and she not only handled them but she caught every single one of them, clean hands and no rebounds, so it was a showcase of her ability as a shot-stopper.”
Finding a goal: “The goal was actually off a punt that Emma Greenberg flicked to herself. Emma’s a big, strong type of player, so Liv punted then Emma got up and flicked it beyond the center back. The center back had a bit of a head start in chasing it down but Em peeled around, gave chase
and with some good, industrious kind of center forward play, she chased it down, and as the keeper and defender came, she got a toe between the two and poked it right by for the finish.”
Standout on defense: “Julia Lentz, she’s playing beside Elle Stein as a 10th grader, when I watched her last year on JV a couple times, I envisioned her as a player ready to take that next step. She’s been fantastic, I told her at the start of the preseason that one of the things I really liked about her was that I felt like I could communicate honestly with her. I can critique her when she makes mistakes, and she handles it with a mindset that I can deliver a criticism and she usually greets it with two or three follow-up questions wanting to do more.”
–On the team’s collective effort: “We’re still working on connecting passes, still trying to find the shape that allows us to move the ball but I felt the work rate was fantastic today. With these games early in the season, that’s as important as anything as you’re trying to figure out how you’re most effective.”
William Tennent coach Elise Jara on her team’s efforts: “It’s always difficult going into crossover play as we don’t have the knowledge of our opponent as we do in divisional play. Sofia Jakimoski had a strong game in the midfield as did striker Grace Bochnak. Aubrie Maldonado made a key save at the end of the first half to keep the score at 1-0. Unfortunately, we were not able to get the equalizer although we did have a strong push for the last 15 minutes with several shots on goal. Credit to Wissahickon’s keeper as she also made several key saves.”
Up Next: Wissahickon visits Springfield Twp at 3:30 on Wednesday.
William Tennent visits Council Rock South at 3:30 on Thursday.
WISSAHICKON 1 0 – 1
WILLIAM TENENNT 0 0 – 0
Pennridge 3, Owen J Roberts 1
The very new-look Rams made their 2024 debut on the road against a usually formidable Wildcats team with a very similar result. Last year’s PIAA and District 1 4A champions graduated an incomparable senior class, several of them already starting as freshmen on their college teams, but it’s not like they left the cupboard bare.
Kaylie Thran staked the visiting Rams to a 1-0 halftime lead while a brace from Caitlyn Peace in the second half helped shore up the win. OJR got a late goal to pull within 2-1, but the Rams responded in a matter of minutes as Peace got the insurance tally.
Scoring summary
First half
P – Kaylie Thran
Second half
P – Caitlyn Peace (Riley Williams)
OJR
P – Peace (Erin Corbett)
Pennridge coach Audrey Anderson on the win: “It was good enough. We definitely have some growth that will be happening over the next couple weeks and games, but it was good enough to get us a win. It was good for the girls to have some adversity this early on in the season with it being the first game, and I think they handled themselves really well. The good thing about our program is the girls have been around it. They may not have had the minutes they wanted last year or the year before but they were able to see what goes into it, and I think that’s really important because all the girls who are playing right now had some kind of hand in the season last year.”
–Defensive standouts: “Avery Runk played outside back for us ,and she just covered so much ground tonight. Addy Mills and Gabby Hermann did a great job in the back, they’re both new to playing with each other so it’s going to be a matter of getting comfortable playing together in a new role and it will come.”
–Shuffling pieces: “I moved Grace Natitus into the midfield because again, we’re trying to figure things out still, so we put her in the midfield, and she worked really well with Jessie Moylan. We’re excited about things like that, and having two different goalscorers – our forwards were really dangerous. Riley Williams I thought was great on the ball, very composed.”
–Team’s response after conceding: “Those are things as a coach where you want to be able to see it, and that’s what we talked about before the game: what is going to be the story of this team? Are we going to face adversity and run the other way or are we going to face it and fight? If we get behind, are we going to be able to fight our way out or if we have a lead, are we going to be able to hold it, and I think the girls were able to get a look at some of that adversity in their first game and come out of it with a win. They’ll grow from it and learn from it.”
Up next: Pennridge hosts Council Rock North at 3:30pm on Thursday.
PENNRIDGE 1 2 – 3
OWEN J ROBERTS 0 1 – 1
Abington 8, Cheltenham 0
The Ghosts opened their season with a bang offensively against their backyard rivals. Seven different players found the back of the net for a new-look Abington offense that had to replace last year’s top scorers. Addison Hayden posted the shutout in goal.
Scoring Summary:
First half
A – Hannah Gilchrist
A – Addison Doyle
A – Kiera Clemson
A – Gilchrist
A – Marissa Hellyer
A – Nola McMakin
A – Alexis Whaaley
Second half
A – Mia Sarrro
Up next: Abington will visit CB West at 7pm on Tuesday. Cheltenham visits Souderton at 5pm on Tuesday.
ABINGTON 7 1 – 8
CHELTENHAM 0 0 – 0
Central Bucks East 6, Archbishop Ryan 0
The Patriots opened up their season on the road under the lights in Northeast Philadelphia, which is not always an easy place to play, let alone win. East’s offensive group showed it was ready for the challenge, with sophomore Mia Forney netting a quick hat trick. Sophomore Kiera Sleicher added a goal and senior Jessie Bernabe, a University of Buffalo recruit, split a brace on each side of the halftime break.
Scoring Summary
CBE – Mia Forney
CBE – Forney
CBE – Forney
CBE – Kiera Sleicher
CBE – Jessie Bernabe
CBE – Bernabe
CB East coach Jake Nesteruk on the win: “It was a strong start for us and proud of the effort put in. Massive credit to Keira Sleicher for her link-up play and work-rate off the ball. Mia was lights-out ,and Jessie influenced the game from a number of spots.”
Standouts behind the ball: “Great game from Ava Mignon and Stella Genin in the center of the park, and our backline did a great job in the build-up.”
Up next: CB East (1-0) hosts Abington at 5pm on Friday.
CENTRAL BUCKS EAST 5 1 – 6
ARCHBISHOP RYAN 0 0 – 0
Strath Haven 2, Upper Dublin 0
The Flying Cardinals were stonewalled on the road Monday against a Strath Haven team that was the District 1 3A runner-up last season.
Up next: Upper Dublin visits Gwynedd Mercy Academy at 4pm on Thursday.
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