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LOWER GWYNEDD – Kiera Kenney’s eyes sparkled.
The Central Bucks South junior made no attempt to hide her excitement after Tuesday’s 2-1 win over Stroudsburg in an opening round game of the PIAA Class AAA Tournament in South’s first ever trip to states.
“We never thought we would get this far, but we’re a good group of girls, and together we’re a good team,” Kenney said. “Our team works really well together. We have good camaraderie. We get along.
“The communication on the field is really good, and I think that’s why we’re so successful. “
According to Kenney, the Titans have come a long way this season.
“In the beginning of the season and during the summer, we were struggling a little bit,” she said. “Most of us are young players.
“As the season went on, we developed and got a lot better. We did a lot of team bonding, and just getting to know each other and communicating helped us a lot.”
It was Kenney who gave the Titans a lead when – with 49.4 seconds remaining in the opening half – a pass by teammate Kelsey Lang deflected off Kenney’s stick and into the cage. The goal sent the Titans into halftime with a 1-0 lead.
“It was really exciting,” Kenney said. “It felt really good because recently I have been sitting, and it just felt good to get in there and play well and have the first goal in the first game.”
There were a lot of firsts for the Titans in their first state tournament appearance, not the least of which was sophomore Kelly Hamilton getting a start at left back when Kate Schneider was unable to play.
“I was very nervous,” she said. “I haven’t started in a while, but once I got out there I put all of my nerves behind me.”
“She stepped right in,” coach Meg Hutchinson said.
The Titans defense did a good job of keeping the Mountaineers at bay for the better part of the game. They did not get on the scoreboard until the 1:58 mark of the second half. By that time, the Titans had a 2-0 lead.
“I think in the back of our minds we thought we had it, but you can’t be too sure,” Hamilton said of allowing a late goal. “We have to play the game until the last minute, no matter what.”
The Titans added an insurance goal early in the second half on a well-executed corner play that saw Gretchen Kempf turn a pass from teammate Ally Bradley into a goal that put South on top 2-0.
The Titans’ strong showing came on the heels of a heartbreaking loss to Neshaminy in penalty stroke in Saturday’s district title game.
“I didn’t know what to expect from them today,” Hutchinson said. “Will they have anything left after all the emotion and physical exertion of Saturday, but they looked peppy. We came out fast.
“You get up two goals and you get a little bit lax. We weren’t being as aggressive as we needed to be stepping up in front of them. They key to the game for us was not allow them any kind of forward progress , and I thought they did a nice job most of the time.”
The Titans will face Cardinal O’Hara in Saturday’s quarterfinal game. O’Hara – which had just one corner to 18 for Wissahickon - stunned the Trojans 2-1 in overtime. South is the lone SOL team still standings.
“I’m extremely pleased,” Hutchinson said. “This is like icing on the cake.
“We were, of course, disappointed we didn’t win the championship of the district, but this is kind of a fairy tale type season, so we were coming into this game – if we come out with a win, fantastic, and we move on to the next game.”
CENTRAL BUCKS SOUTH 2, STROUDSBURG 1
Stroudsburg 0 1-1
Central Bucks South 1 1-2
Goals/Assists: Stroudsburg – Brooke Simonovich 1-0, Emi Rosario 0-1. Central Bucks South – Kiera Kenney 1-0, Gretchen Kempf 1-0, Kelsey Lang 0-1, Ally Bradley 0-1.
Shots: S-3, CBS-10.
Corners: S-5, CBS-7.
Saves: Lydia Keener (CBS) 2, Liz Lewellan (CBS) 0.
CARDINAL O’HARA 2, WISSAHICKON 1 (OT)
Wissahickon 0 1 0-1
Cardinal O’Hara 1 0 1-2
Goals/Assists: O’Hara – Alicia Giovanicci 2-0. Wissahickon – Colleen Lynch 1-0, Natalie Draham 0-1.
Corners: CO-1, W-18.
Saves: Maria Marinari (W) 2, Ciara Palatano (W) 2, Mary Kate O’Connell (O) 7.
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