ERDENHEIM – Wissahickon found itself on the short end of a 2-1 score early in the second half of Friday’s SOL opener against Springfield.
It was hardly cause for concern.
After all, the Trojans are making a habit of staging heroic late-game rallies. Twenty-four hours earlier, the Trojans staged a late rally to earn a 2-1 come-from-behind win over Christopher Dock.
On Friday, the Trojans all but duplicated that feat, this time scoring a pair of goals in the final six-and-a-half minutes to eke out a dramatic 3-2 win over the Spartans in the SOL opener for the neighboring rivals.
“For the past two games, it seems we start off a little slow,” senior tri-captain Natalie Draham said. “By the end of the game, we pick it up, and that’s something we have to work on, but it’s been in our favor the past two games, which has been pretty awesome.”
The win upped the Trojans’ early season mark to 3-0 (1-0 SOL) while the Spartans, who are minus senior standout Taylor Turchi (injury), fell to 0-2.
“Wissahickon was able to capitalize on their opportunities, and we weren’t able to do that,” said Spartan coach Kati Dougherty, whose team took 19 shots on goal. “I thought our girls played hard, and we really controlled the game at midfield. We did a lot of nice things, especially coming off yesterday (a 2-0 loss to Gwynedd-Mercy). We really improved on aspects of the game.
“We’re really young. We just have to keep growing.”
Dougherty had to be pleased with her team’s response to an early goal by Wissahickon after Adelle Lever turned a pass from Lauren Becker into a goal just four minutes into the game.
That lead held up for all of 78 seconds. That’s how long it took before Springfield’s Jill Armington knotted the score.
Neither team scored the remainder of the half.
The Spartans scored a textbook goal to go on top 2-1 at the 28:19 mark of the second half when Caroline Mountney – who was on the left post – calmly deflected a Tierney Carabba diagnol pass into the cage.
“We’re learning positioning,” senior tri-captain Adelle Lever said. “We’d always be able to shoot on cage, but no one was ever there to put it in.”
With time winding down, the Trojans began playing with a renewed sense of urgency, and it was Lauren Becker, who is only a freshman, turning an Ashley Bossert pass into a goal with 6:30 remaining to knot the score.
Overtime seemed all but imminent. Until that is, Lever broke downfield with the ball and found Bossert for the score with 1:10 remaining, giving the Trojans the big win
“This is a huge,” senior captain Bridget Burgoyne said. “It’s our first league game, and to be able to come out on this kind of (grass) surface – for us, it’s really difficult adjusting, and I think that’s why we start out slow in the first half.
“We know we can play teams like this and come out on top. It was just pushing it to the end. It’s just huge.”
Trojan coach Lucy Gil echoed those sentiments.
“Springfield is a really nice team,” the Wissahickon coach said. “My team has this great ability to really pump themselves up and never give up.
“I’m really proud of them. They did it yesterday at Christopher Dock after getting down 1-0 with 20 minutes left, and they came back to pop two goals in.
“I was pleased they were able to do it today. I hope they don’t put me through this too much, but it’s been a pleasure. This is a great team, a really fantastic team. They’re really meshing well together.”
WISSAHICKON 3, SPRINGFIELD 2
Wissahickon 1 2-3
Springfield 1 1-2
Goals/Assists: Wissahickon: Adelle Lever 1-1, Lauren Becker 1-1, Ashley Bossert 1-1. Springfield: Jill Armington 1-0, Caroline Mountney 1-0, Tierney Carabba 0-1.
Shots: W-14, S-19
Corners: W-3, S-4
Goalie saves: Ciara Palatano (W) 15, Maggie Olson (S) 10.
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