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By Alex Frazier
Samantha Fox had been there before.
Last year in the second round of the District One Class AAA playoffs, the William Tennent senior drilled a penalty kick to give the Panthers a win over Central Bucks East.
Fast forward a year.
Tuesday night, the No. 8- seeded Panthers found themselves in another shootout after they played No. 9 North Penn to a 2-2 deadlock after regulation and two 15-minute overtimes.
William Tennent shooters faced an exceptional goalie in Gabby Pakhtigian.
“I can’t take anything away from their goalie,” said Fox. “She was great from the beginning; she knew how to get down. She was a very good goalie.”
But they were sharpshooters on Tuesday night.
First Meghan Zimmerman, then Sarah Tomlinson, then Becky Allen, and then Chelsea Pritchett found the back of the net.
After missing their first shot, the Maidens reeled off three straight before Fox stepped to the mark. If she made hers, it was all over.
Fox lined the ball up, stepped back and fired it low into the left side.
Game over.
“I listened to my teammates cheering me on from the back,” the Bloomsburg-bound senior said. “I just closed my eyes for a second and then did exactly what I’ve been practicing. I always go bottom left, and I thought I could do it.
“It’s something you can’t do without all the girls standing behind you and cheering you on from the sidelines.”
The Panthers advance to play No. 1-ranked Central Bucks South, a 4-1 winner over Quakertown, Thursday at a site and time to be determined.
“We’re going to go there and put on as much pressure as possible,” said Tennent coach James Barry. “The pressure is on them as the No. 1 seed and also they haven’t been where they wanted to be in districts the past couple of years, so it’s a real high pressure game for C.B. South. We’re going to go and play hard and cause as much trouble as we can.”
Judging by the first half, it appeared as though Tennent would roll over the Maidens.
The Panthers dominated play with sharp passing and a physical style, which produced the first goal. Taylor Gerstenfield sent a long pass from near midfield up to Laura Carroll on the right flank. She crossed it to Kelsey Williams, who finished the sequence at 26:50.
With 9:21 left in the half, Tennent went up 2-0. This time Alex Pero crossed the ball from the right flank to freshman Angelina Liddy, who beat North Penn defender Michelle Pool and fired it into the net for her first playoff goal.
“She doesn’t leave the field for me,” said Barry. “Her work rate is great, she tackles hard, she’s good on the ball and she scores goals. As a freshman that’s incredible. She’s gained the respect from the rest of the team.”
At the half, Tennent had the game in hand.
“We were very comfortable after the first half,” said Barry. “We scored two goals, which a lot of teams haven’t managed to do against North Penn. They defend great and also they haven’t scored many goals, so I figured our girls could comfortably hold on and win the game.”
The Maidens seemed to have an insurmountable wall to surmount, but when Tennent’s Gerstenfield took Sophie Eiger down in the penalty box less than two minutes into the second half, that quickly the wall looked a bit lower.
“One thing we talked about was to keep it clean for the first 10 minutes and not give them any chances,” said Barry, whose team racked up 17 fouls. “It gave them a lot of momentum.”
“Our coach says if we’re in the box, either get a shot off or if you get a little nudge take it,” said Eiger. “Luckily, the refs called it my way.”
Eiger’s only other penalty kick earlier in the season was blocked, so she was admittedly nervous when she stepped to the line.
But she had been practicing as all teams do before the playoffs.
When she went to the line, she booted the ball past Melissa Wasserlieben into the upper left side, and suddenly it was a one-goal game.
“I was so happy when that went in,” said Eiger, who scored a second one in the shootout. “Practice paid off.”
The goal ignited the Maidens, who played much more aggressively. Finally, with 2:35 left and Tennent hunkered in with five defensemen, they knotted the score.
“Our coach tells us when it’s 2-0, that’s the most dangerous score in soccer because if you get the first goal and it’s 2-1 you get the momentum and you can run with it,” said Eiger. “That’s what we did.”
Eiger chipped a perfect corner kick to the right post from the left side and Katelyn Shamp headed it in with 2:35 left in regulation.
“We always try to get that header,” said Eiger. “This was our second one. We wanted this for the seniors and we wanted this for each other.”
“They came out so hard they were hard to contain in the second half,” said Barry.
In the first overtime Tennent once again turned up the heat, outshooting North Penn 5-1, but couldn’t get the game winner.
Brittany Mitchell missed wide left; Pakhtigian beat Zimmerman to a 50/50 ball; North Penn defender Christine Celenza booted a ball from in front of her goal; and Pero blasted a shot just over the upper left corner.
But Pakhtigian came up big on the one that could have won it for the Panthers. Carroll stole the ball from sweeper Meghan Gallagher and unleashed a shot that was headed inside the left post, until Pakhtigian extended herself and tipped it wide with a minute left.
The second overtime wasn’t as intense, and neither team had any good chances.
“I kept my head up high and tried to lead by example,” said Fox, “and tried to cheer everybody on. Obviously it showed. Everybody put their last breath into it.”
North Penn finished its season at 7-9 overall and 5-7-2 in the Continental Conference.
“We’ve always been strong defensively but had that little weakness up front,” said Eiger. “Tonight a lot of the girls stepped up and gave it their all. It’s tough coming down to PKs. It’s the hardest way to lose.”
Tennent is now 11-8 overall and 8-5 in the National Conference heading into Thursday’s showdown with C.B South.
“I’m sure it’s going to be a tough game,” said Fox, “but we’re going to come out there ready to play and hopefully 10 times harder than we came out in the first half of this game.”
William Tennent 2, North Penn 2
(William Tennent wins on penalty kicks, 5-3)
Goals: Kelsey Williams (WT) Angelina Liddy (WT), Sophie Eiger (NP), Katelyn Shamp (NP)
Assists: Laura Carroll (WT), Alex Pero (WT), Sophie Eiger (NP)
Saves: Melissa Wasserlieben (WT) 7, Gabby Pakhtigian (NP) 11
Corners: William Tennent 2, North Penn 1
Fouls: William Tennent 17, North Penn 5
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