Check out the recaps for SOL girls’ teams in action Friday. Neshaminy/CR South photos provided courtesy of John Gleeson. Check back for a gallery of photos.
SOL NATIONAL
Neshaminy 2, Council Rock South 1
Neshaminy coach Renny Papendick comes from a background of working with high-level club teams and college soccer players.
Two games into his first go-round with the SOL National, he's found the intensity and level of the competition is right up there with any other he's been around. Neshaminy emerged from an intense match Friday to pick up its first conference win of the season.
"It was very intense, it was like a heavyweight fight – we were back and forth, there were some controversial calls and just a very exciting game," Papendick said. "We're in the best league in the state for a reason. There's a ton of talent in Bucks, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties. Everybody has been up for us so far and it's been pretty exciting."
Friday's contest featured five yellow cards and a red card to CR South's bench after a controversial call late in the second half.
Neshaminy took the first lead on Friday when Gina Sexton put away a pass from Kristin Curley. CR South would tie the game 1-1, but Deanna Lebotesis came back to find the winner for Neshaminy.
Earlier in the week, Neshaminy was shocked by Bensalem in a 1-0 loss, a game Papendick took responsibilty for while also crediting the Owls.
"That team is very talented and very well coached and they wanted it," Papendick said. "We had to reorganize our group, we were believing some press clippings from last year and this is a different team. This is not last year, we put the work in but we had to re-evaluate as a group."
Papendick credited Sexton's finish for putting his team "in the right spot," but also credited South's effort throughout.
Coming over from a club background to the PIAA, which uses a two-man referee system in the regular season, Papendick noted there have been some challenges.
"I think they've done a good job so far, it's a tough job and I'm not going to bash guys. The PIAA referee situation – I'm a club guy, so the three-man system makes sense to me," Papendick said. "The two-man system, we can't change it so we have to adapt to it. The more communication from the PIAA and the referees today on how they're going to call things, the better, but we had a blatant call today where the one ref called one thing, the other disagreed, but the first ref won because it was his side of the field. That's a challenge for coaches."
In a game that got very physical and intense in the final stages of play, Papendick pointed to his senior group for keeping Neshaminy composed and able to get to the final whistle with a lead.
"I can't say enough about them, the entire group is outstanding," Papendick said. "Our center mids, Deanna Lebostis and Michaela Boyd, have been just rocks for us, they're really, really good. Hannah Stonkus – we moved her from outside back to center back and she's been tremendous. It all starts at the back with Riley Spingler in goal.
"We get consistent effort from the girls and it's a good problem to have. We have 13-15 deep on the bench and girls who come in and just lead."
Papendick felt like his side had a chance to extend its lead, but credited CR South keeper Emily Helmich for a couple of tremendous saves to deny Neshaminy.
Aside from the seniors, Papendick credited the play of sophomores Carly Gross and Nina Mason for bringing a spark to the match, and left midfielder Emily Tantala was a second half difference maker.
"We knew what we were getting into and we had a little chip on our shoulder from the Bensalem game, so we were coming to play today," Papendick said. "They had a controversial chance late that went in and was called back and for the last 15 minutes or so, it was a crazy, crazy soccer match. There was screaming and yelling, cards left and right, a coach thrown out. It just shows the level and intensity of Suburban One. It's the best league in the area.
"These girls care. They really come to play and the passion is incredible, they really work hard and it's really fun to watch."
Neshaminy (3-1, 1-1 SOL) will be on the road at Harry S Truman Wednesday, and Council Rock South (2-1, 1-1) will travel to Bensalem next Friday.
NESHAMINY – 2
COUNCIL ROCK SOUTH – 1
Goals: N – Gina Sexton, Deanna Lebotesis
William Tennent 5, Bensalem 1
After a loss in their season opener, the Panthers have come back strong on the offensive end.
For the second straight game, Tennent scored five goals, this time picking up their first SOL National win against an Owls’ side coming off its own big victory. Olivia Miller had a second half hat-trick while Caroline Weir bracketed a brace around the halftime break for the Panthers' scoring.
"They're doing well playing together with their minutes together, and it's allowing them to be creative with each other," Tennent coach Bill Hontz said.
The Panthers had just one goal at half thanks to Weir's 21st minute tally. Her second goal came 15 minutes into the second half followed by a natural hat trick from Miller with goals in the 60th, 65th and 70th minutes.
After a rough start to the season, Tennent is hoping his squad has its found its stride going into the second full week of play.
"It took a couple games and more minutes together to organize the team after a tough loss to one of our better defenders in Danielle Scott," Hontz said. "She was a great catalyst in the back and now I think the team is stepping up and playing more as a group now. Everyone knows their role and is doing their job."
William Tennent (2-1, 1-1 SOL) will travel to Strath Haven for a non-league game Tuesday, and Bensalem (1-2, 1-1) will be on the road at Pennsbury Wednesday.
WILLIAM TENNENT 1 4 – 5
BENSALEM 0 1 – 1
Goals: WT – Olivia Miller 3, Caroline Weir 2
Council Rock North 5, Harry S Truman 1
The Indians used a strong first half to pick up a win Friday afternoon.
Freshman Taylor Brennan's brace led a five-goal half for CR North with Paige Addis, Mia Tomlinson and Brooke Strobel also scoring.
Indians coach Gavin Flannigan was also pleased with the play of his defense.
"Anna Cairone did a nice job in the back and middle today – she was composed," Flannigan said. "Hannah Thomson played well and freshman Kyra Del Signore had a good impact in the second half at outside back."
Grace Needham made three saves in goal for CR North.
Flannigan also credited the fight Truman played with all game, which included drawing and converting a second half penalty kick.
Council Rock North (2-2, 1-1 SOL) will travel to William Tennent on Wednesday, and Harry S Truman (0-3, 0-2) will host Neshaminy on Wednesday.
COUNCIL ROCK NORTH 5 0 – 5
HARRY S TRUMAN 0 1 -1
Goals: CRN – Taylor Brennan 2, Paige Addis, Mia Tomlinson, Brooke Strobel
SOL CONTINENTAL
Central Bucks South 3, Central Bucks East 2
Any time two of the Central Bucks schools face each other, a close result is expected.
Friday, CB South had just a little bit more than East in another typical SOL Continental clash between two teams with a lot of quality. A strong finish to the first half by CB East was negated by a furious finish by the Titans, led by a sterling effort from Sophia Kane and Brooke Steigerwalt.
"We pulled Sophia Kane back to midfield from her forward position and she was able to help control the middle with Brooke Steigerwalt," South coach Betsy Bullock said. "I can't say enough about Brooke. She's one of our senior captains and had two goals and an assist. She is a tremendous player and really leads the team.
"They played well defensively working off the other person and closing the passing lanes."
Steigerwalt, who's been an integral part of the South lineup for years and one of the few remaining holdovers from the state runner-up team two years ago, put the Titans on the board first with a goal in the 13th minute. She then scored the equalizing goal off a corner from Chelsea Nicholls in the second half before Grace Tecce converted a breakaway for the winner.
"I think it is because this is her senior year and she is one of the captains," Bullock said of Steigerwalt. "She knows what it feels like to play in Hershey. She really demonstrates her leadership through her quality of play and commitment to the team."
The Patriots found their groove after withstanding the initial domination from the Titans.
"They were running the midfield and keeping us away from their net," East coach Paul Eisold said. "At 27 minutes in, Gabby Learn received a pass from Emma Martin and put in a 25-yard shot to beat the South keeper."
Olivia Portner put the Patriots up 2-1 in the 34th minute after she picked up a deep ball played into the right corner by Olivia Black.
"We continued to possess the ball having the wind at our back but gave away a goal at about the 20-minute mark," Eisold said. "South dominated play the rest of the game, winning most of the challenges. South was very effective creating chances and possessing the ball. We certainly had our moments but gave up too many mistakes to play a complete game. I credit South for their continued desire and ball movement."
The Titans have played three close games so far and even after replacing some key players from last year's team, have found a good formula so far.
"I like the team chemistry, they are already coming together as a cohesive unit," Bullock said. "It was a very competitive game and always a challenging game when we play sister school East who always has very solid coaching."
Central Bucks South (2-0-1, 1-0-1 SOL) will travel to Souderton Wednesday, and Central Bucks East (1-1 SOL) will travel to West Chester Henderson for a non-league contest on Saturday at noon.
CENTRAL BUCKS SOUTH 1 2 – 3
CENTRAL BUCKS EAST 2 0 – 2
Goals: CBS – Brooke Steigerwalt 2, Grace Tecce; CBE – Gabby Learn, Olivia Portner
Souderton 3, Central Bucks West 0
Finally taking the field for the first time this season, Souderton withstood a barrage of CB West chances to earn its first win.
"Our defense shined tonight, working relentlessly against a speedy West offense, matching their aggression and forcing the ball wide," Souderton coach Lindsy Jones said. "Senior goalkeeper Lindsey Pazdziorko was on the top of her game with 14 saves, including two breakaway saves."
Souderton took a 2-0 lead at the half with diagonal and through balls finding space behind the Bucks' back line.
"I'm really proud of the offense's effort to capitalize on the space behind West's defense," Jones said. "Sophomore midfielder Hannah Alderfer proved to be a threat tonight, finishing our first goal on a through ball by senior midfielder Sara Readinger and then assisting our third goal scored by senior midfielder Kristin Loh."
Averie Doughty scored the Indians' second goal after Campbell Power won the ball in the midfield and slotted in a pass that Doughty dribbled in for the finish.
"In a game where we didn't possess as much as we would have liked to we were able to capitalize on the chances we had," Souderton assistant coach Ian Smith said. "Our midfield put in a great shift, working defensively and getting the ball upfield to our strikers when we needed to. It was nice to finally get our season started off on the right foot."
The Bucks were again frustrated offensively, despite controlling time of possession and shots on goal.
"It was a very frustrating game offensively again for us. We missed three early breakaways and just couldn’t score. We outshot Souderton 23-4," Bucks coach Mike Moyer said. "We played a 3-3-4 in the second half and were in their half for 38 of the 40 minutes. They caught us on a counter and converted to make it 0-3. These last two games have been frustrating, but once we find the net we will be just fine."
West certainly has the players to score goals and just over a week into the season, Moyer isn't overly worried.
"I thought our team played very well today. We’re just frustrated right now with our past two results with the lack of finishing," the Bucks’ coach said. "It’s a long season and we will fix it and hopefully be ready for Spring-Ford Saturday night."
Sophomore Morgan Molyneaux contributed a number of big stops as well for Souderton before leaving the game with an injury after "a brave save to close out the game."
Pazdziorko, a senior committed to Towson, proved invaluable backing up her defenders.
"She is not afraid to step off her line and cut off the long balls played in," Jones said. "She battled in the box and came out successful because she is aggressive and not afraid to use her voice with her defenders."
Souderton (1-0 SOL) will host North Penn on Monday, and Central Bucks West (2-2, 0-2) will host Spring-Ford in a non-league game Saturday at 6 p.m.
SOUDERTON 2 1 – 3
CB WEST 0 0 – 0
Goals: S – Hannah Alderfer, Kristin Loh, Averie Doughty
Pennridge 4, Quakertown 1
The Rams have gotten a lot of players involved offensively and received some solid play in the back so far this season.
"I thought we connected really well and used our outside backs to join in the attack," Pennridge coach Audrey Anderson said. "I like that we have a lot of different girls scoring, and our backs were organized and played extremely well today."
Friday's game was the first meeting between the two sides since Quakertown knocked off Pennridge in the District I playoffs a year ago. With the Panthers back in the Continental this year, they will meet again, but it was a game the Rams were ready for.
"I think they were fired up because it was our first conference game," Anderson said. "But, I'm sure some of the girls wanted to prove to themselves we could put that game behind us."
Chance Hendricks set up Abby Groff for the game's opening goal, then Meghan Kriney scored the first of her two goals to give Pennridge a 2-0 lead. Quakertown cut the lead to 2-1 at the half on a PK by Haley Pursel.
Maddie Anderson scored unassisted to restore the two-goal lead, then outside defender Holly Harbeck assisted Kriney's second for the final margin.
Mary Kate Levush made two saves for the Rams while Quakertown got another strong performance by keeper Morgan Sipprell, who made 18 saves.
The Panthers don't lack for quality attackers and Anderson felt her defenders rose to the task of keeping them in check.
"I played five different defenders today – Sarah Williams, Molly Groff, Holly Harbeck, Madison Angelo and Lauren McIntyre – and I thought they all played amazing," Anderson said. "We knew we had to account for their forwards' speed and no-quit attitude."
Pennridge (3-0, 1-0 SOL) will be on the road at Central Bucks West on Wednesday, and Quakertown (0-2-1, 0-1-1) will host North Penn next Friday.
PENNRIDGE 2 2 – 4
QUAKERTOWN 1 0 – 1
Goals: P – Meghan Kriney 2, Abby Groff, Maddie Anderson; Q – Haley Pursel
SOL AMERICAN
Plymouth Whitemarsh 3, Springfield Township 1
The Colonials played a strong second half to pick up their first SOL win of the season against a tough Spartans side on Friday.
"Leah Kaye and Anni Shula both recorded their second goals of the season and Josee Tassoni scored her first varsity goal," PW coach Ryan Zehren said. "That's been an ongoing theme as today we started six sophomores and a freshman. We are young but skilled.
"The league looks like it could be really tight with these early results and we expect to be in the thick of things."
After a what he felt was a second half the team would like back in a loss Wednesday, Zehren was very happy with how his team held up against a late surge by Springfield Twp.
"Credit to their keeper for making four amazing saves in the second half to keep the game close. Springfield scored with about 15 minutes left and had us on our heels for about 10 minutes, but our girls battled through the humidity to preserve the win," Zehren said. "We only scored once in the second half but I thought it was our best half of the season so far. We were creating multiple opportunities and playing into the system we want to see."
Zehren noted that at 2-1 and 1-1 in the SOL American, there are worse places to be and there's a lot of soccer left to be played.
With so many underclassmen in the starting XI, Zehren knows they aren't going to figure everything out overnight.
"They've already showed ability to adapt," the PW coach said. "We made some slight adjustments just before warm-ups and I couldn't have asked for a better response getting out to a 2-0 early lead."
Plymouth Whitemarsh will be on the road at Cheltenham Wednesday, and Springfield Township (0-3, 0-2 SOL) will travel to Wissahickon on Wednesday.
Hatboro-Horsham 3, Wissahickon 2 OT
Maggie O'Neil was the extra time hero for the Hatters, who improved to 3-0 on the season with their win Friday.
The Hatters used an opening goal from Emily Thomas, who also assisted the winner, and the first of O'Neil's two tallies, to take a 2-0 lead at halftime over the visiting Trojans. Mads Falcione provided an assist on O'Neil's goal.
Wissahickon came back with a pair of set piece goals after halftime, scoring on a corner and a direct kick, to level the score and force overtime.
"Hatboro-Horsham received standout performances from sophomore defender Izzy de la Torre, junior midfielder and captain Cam Ryan and freshman defender Sophia Liott," Hatters coach Kesley Daley said.
After a slow start, Wissahickon came to life with about 30 minutes remaining. Lieke Black scored on a volley off of a Lindsey Schmidt corner kick. Later in the half, Anna May scored her first goal of the season on a free kick that was played in beautifully by Sam Cominitski. Despite having momentum heading into OT, the Hatters countered early in the first period and scored on a nice far post finish for the win.
Hatboro-Horsham (3-0, 2-0 SOL) will travel to Upper Moreland on Wednesday, and Wissahickon (1-2, 1-1) will host Springfield Township on Wednesday.
HATBORO-HORSHAM 2 0 1 – 3
WISSAHICKON 0 2 0 – 2
Goals: HH – Maggie O'Neil 2, Emily Thomas
Abington 9, Upper Moreland 1
Camryn Lexow led a high-powered Ghost offense with a hat trick on Friday.
Casey Touey added a brace for Abington, which also got goals from Kayla Taylor, Kailey Horton, Elizabeth Tracy and Emily Quinn.
Upper Moreland's goal came from Grace Burns on an assist by Mattea Taylor.
Abington (3-0, 2-0 SOL) will be on the road at Upper Dublin on Wednesday, and Upper Moreland (2-1, 1-1) will host Hatboro-Horsham on Wednesday.
ABINGTON 6 3 – 9
UPPER MORELAND 1 0 – 1
Goals: A – Camryn Lexow 3, Casey Touey 2, Kayla Taylor, Kailey Horton, Elizabeth Tracy, Emily Quinn; UM – Grace Burns
Upper Dublin 6, Cheltenham 0
The Flying Cardinals used a first-half brace from Tina Haig and a second-half brace by Karolina Bocul to pick up their first win of the season.
Maddie Sanders and Ella Eustace scored in the first half for UD. Bocul had a goal off a set piece while her second was assisted by Priya Kaneria.
Upper Dublin (1-2, 1-1 SOL) will host Abington on Wednesday, and Cheltenham (0-2) will host Plymouth Whitemarsh Wednesday.
UPPER DUBLIN 4 2 – 6
CHELTENHAM 0 0 – 0
Goals: UD – Tina Haig 2, Karolina Bocul 2, Maddie Sanders, Ella Eustace
Non-league
North Penn 5, Lansdale Catholic 4
Things couldn't have started much worse for the Knights.
They couldn't have ended much better.
"We were down 3-nil in the first 20 minutes," North Penn coach Steve Whitby said. "A less than stellar training session in the heat yesterday carried over. We regained some control in the last 20 minutes of the first half after making some changes."
Down 3-0 at the break, the Knights responded with a stellar second half, scoring all five of their goals in the final 40 minutes to emerge with the win. While North Penn didn't score in the first half, Whitby said his team had a couple of near-miss warning shots.
"The second half looked a ton different with us getting much better ball movement and possession," Whitby said. "This led to better chances."
Whitby also credited the return of goalkeeper and captain Ashley Schmidt from an injury late in the first half for helping to calm his team down. It was the first game action of the fall for Schmidt, who missed preseason and the team's first game with injury.
Sophia Broadhurst, Tia Sheehy, Alexa Sparango, Liv Urban and Emily Varilla all scored for North Penn in the second half.
"There was better movement off the ball, communication and getting a peak at the field before the ball arrived," Whitby said. "Overall, a much better commitment to getting the ball in and back out within two seconds."
North Penn (2-1, 0-0) will travel to Souderton Monday for its SOL opener.
NORTH PENN 0 5 – 5
LANSDALE CATHOLIC 3 1 – 4
Goals: NP – Sophia Broadhurst, Tia Sheehy, Alexa Sparango, Liv Urban, Emily Varilla; LC – Kellie Gillan 2, Emily Schall, Taylor Connelly
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