WOW!
If there’s been a more exciting day of field hockey action in district play, it’s impossible to imagine when that might have been. Wednesday’s second round action in the District One Class AAA Tournament featured one nail biter after another.
Undoubtedly none was more riveting than Hatboro-Horsham’s 3-2 upset win in overtime over second-seeded Methacton. It is the third OT game in as many outings for the 15th seeded Hatters, and this one was a win for the ages as senior Jenna Gould made it the hat trick, scoring her third consecutive game winner in overtime.
For the Hatters, it was sweet revenge. Last year, Methacton sent Hatboro home for the season in a consolation round game. This year, the tables were turned, and the Hatters – who were 1-4 after five games – are in the Elite Eight.
Joining the Hatters in the quarterfinals is another SOL team that went into Wednesday’s game intent on exacting some revenge. Last year, Souderton – then the sixth seed – saw its season end when the Indians fell to Unionville in an opening round contest.
This year the 24th seeded Indians settled the score with an impressive 3-1 win.
Two of the district’s top seeds won by the skin of their teeth – top-seeded Neshaminy needed a goal in the closing minutes to eke out a 1-0 win over Central Bucks West, and third-seeded Central Bucks South was extended to overtime before the Titans earned a 1-0 win over an upstart Haverford squad.
Wissahickon had the easiest time of it in a 2-0 win over Downingtown East.
A pair of SOL teams saw their season come to an end. North Penn, after opening up a 1-0 halftime lead, fell to defending district champion Mount St. Joseph Academy 3-1. Downingtown West defeated Council Rock South 1-0.
One day earlier on Tuesday, a pair of SOL teams advanced in Class AA play. Springfield (Montco) rolled to a 4-0 win over Sacred Heart, and Upper Moreland defeated Springfield (Delco) 2-0.
Hatboro-Horsham 3, Methacton 2 (OT)
Krista Greene asked for overtime. The Hatters’ coach got it.
Greene jokingly suggested her team might want to just start with seven v. seven (OT) after the Hatters won their second overtime game in as many outings in Monday’s opening round, downing Conestoga 1-0. She certainly couldn’t have seen overtime coming when the Hatters opened up a 2-0 lead in Wednesday’s game at Methacton.
Julianna Cossman (Lauren Purvis assist) scored at the 13:56 mark of the first half, and a goal by Gould (Purvis assist) put the Hatters on top 2-0 with 17:59 remaining.
Greene knew it might not be enough.
“A 2-0 lead is nothing,” she said. “I constantly am saying, ‘Get another. Get another.’ It’s never enough.
“We scouted them, so we knew what they had.”
What the second-seeded Warriors had was enough firepower to knot the score. Goals by Maria Numerato and Mackensey Buell within a five-minute span just over a minute after Gould put the Hatters on top 2-0 knotted the score.
“I had the feeling two wasn’t enough,” Greene said. “We finally got the momentum back when it was tied.
“Honestly, they’re a great team. I’m not going to say we got lucky, but we played our hearts out, and they played their hearts out, and we came up with the win. It could have seriously gone either way.”
It went the Hatters way when they capitalized on a corner. Gould (Colleen Eppinger and Purvis assists) connected with 8:17 remaining in the first OT period, giving the Hatters the thrilling victory.
“A corner in overtime – you have a great opportunity to score,” Greene said. “It was one of our new plays. We took a great shot, but the goalie stopped it, and it was on her pads. Jenna Gould attacked it and scored on a reverse scoop over the goalie. It was very nice. It was surreal.
“It’s shame because you hate to see a team as good as them lose their first game, but it was revenge for us because they knocked us out last year.”
Playing no small role in the win was goalie Jenna Phillips, who turned away 17 shots in a stellar outing.
“Jenna Phillips was again amazing,” Greene said. “The one girl had a lift on a corner – it was a flick on the move up in the corner, and Jenna dove up there for it. It was an unbelievable save.”
The Warriors had a 13-5 advantage in corners.
“It got a little corner happy for a while,” Greene said. “Our defense really stepped up, the midfield stepped up, and the forwards were coming back. Overall, I was very pleased. They don’t get scared. They’re just like, ‘Bring it on.’”
Hatboro earned a date with Downingtown West in Friday’s quarterfinal round. Bring them on!
Neshaminy 1, Central Bucks West 0
Coach Lisa Pennington knew her team would be in for a dogfight when it faced Central Bucks West in a second round game.
“This is not a 17th seeded team,” the Redskins’ coach said. “In my mind, they were in the top six. They were very strong, very solid. They had great ball control. You could tell they play on turf just with their touches.
“They were very confident. Their goalie (Emily Summers) played a strong game. We were lucky at halftime that it was 0-0.”
Pennington saw early reasons for concern.
“I took one of my seniors out 10 minutes into the game and said, ‘What is going on?’” the Redskins’ coach said. “She said, ‘I have butterflies. I’m nervous,’ and that’s how my whole team was. They looked like deer in headlights.”
The Redskins certainly hadn’t forgotten last year’s early exit from districts when – after a first-round bye – they were sent packing by Hatboro-Horsham in a second-round game.
“I only graduated three starters, so all the other kids knew that, and I think that was part of it,” Pennington said. “It took us 45 minutes to start to play hockey.
“Our goalie, Alexa (Bell), kept us in the first half. They had corner after corner, and she was making some really good saves.”
In the opening half, the Bucks held a 9-1 advantage in corners.
“They dominated the first half,” Pennington said. “They beat us to the ball, they played strong. They played their game.
“They came ready to play, and we came out very flat, very hesitant – I think almost afraid. It was a big wake-up call for our team.”
It took a broken corner play with 1:14 remaining in regulation for the top-seeded Redskins to finally get on the scoreboard when Marlaine Schneider (Jenny Hentz, Moriah Allen assists) connected.
“The ball came out and didn’t go where it needed to go,” Pennington said. “Their flier was so fast. Moriah dumped it off to Marlaine, who one-timed a rocket right into the goal.”
Pennington tipped her hat to a West squad that finished fourth in the SOL Continental Conference.
“They’re a great team, and they showed up to win today,” she said. “They’re well coached, and they played their outs out.
“We just happened to put the ball in the cage on one of our few chances, and they did not capitalize. They had a lot of opportunities.”
Central Bucks South 1, Haverford 0
Central Bucks South was supposed to have an easy time against 19th seeded Haverford, wasn’t it?
The Fords had other ideas, sending the game into overtime before Ally Bradley (Kelsey Lang assist) scored on a corner just over a minute into overtime to give the Titans the win.
Early on, there were some anxious moments for the Titans.
“The first half was kind of an uncomfortable half for me,” coach Meg Hutchinson said. “There were a lot of nerves, and Haverford came out like gangbusters. From what I heard, they were very fired up in their (opening round) Perk Valley game, and it was the same against us.
“We were playing a little too tentatively. There were a few corners against us early in the half. We weren’t really playing our game.”
Things changed in the second half as the Titans seized control of the game.
“We had a very good possession game,” Hutchinson said. “They had no circle penetration the entire half.
“They packed the circle. We had our chances, but we had a hard time scoring in a crowd. There were a lot of things that weren’t going right for us in that attacking third. Their goalkeeper had some great saves, and they had good defenders who would get a stick on the ball and whack it out of the circle. We needed to finish, and we didn’t really finish.
“I really thought we were going to score because we had it under such control, but unfortunately, it didn’t happen.”
South got the only goal it needed in OT and will face defending district champ Mount St. Joseph in Friday’s quarterfinal round.
“Of course, we were very pleased that we won,” Hutchinson said. “Haverford had some good really good players, and their goalkeeper was good. At this point, all the teams are still playing for a reason.
“I thought we played extraordinarily well as a team, but Ally Bradley really had a great game today. (Sweeper) Maddie Harding had a nice game today too.”
South held an 11-2 advantage in shots. South goalie Lydia Keener needed to make just two saves in the shutout.
Wissahickon 2, Downingtown East 0
It had been a long, long week for the Wissahickon field hockey team. The Trojans had seven days to think about a 1-0 loss to Upper Moreland in their regular season finale before taking to the turf for Wednesday’s second round game against Downingtown East.
“It was a tough week to sit on that loss for that long,” coach Lucy Gil said. “For me, it was nerveracking.
“By the time the girls got on the field today, they were chomping at the bit. They really wanted to get out there. It worked in our favor I guess.”
Less than 90 seconds into the game, the Trojans got on the scoreboard when Alyssa Tourdot (Aubrey Bossert assist) scored. That 1-0 lead held up until Jacquelin Coupe connected with 3:28 remaining in the contest, again using an Aubrey Bossert assist.
“Aubrey was really consistent,” Gil said. “She just plays well game after game after game. I don’t think she’s had a bad game. I can really count on her.”
Gil pointed to the Trojans’ home field as an advantage in the game.
“The turf is so fast, and we’re able to surprise people that way,” she said. “People play on turf, but I don’t think they realize how fast our turf is, and it’s hard to keep up.
“I think they started to wear down a bit at the end. They put up a good fight, and their goalkeeper was good. They gave us a couple of scares, but for the most part, we were keeping the pressure on them.”
The Trojans held a 13-3 advantage in corners. Trojan goalie Maria Marinari was forced to make just three saves while East’s Allie Murray had 12 saves.
Souderton 3, Unionville 1
Souderton – making its 17th district playoff appearance in 17 years under coach Mary Ann Harris – kept its magical post-season run alive with an impressive win over Unionville on its final game on its home field. Nest fall, the Indians will play on a turf field at their newly-constructed high school.
As farewells performances go, this was a good one for the Indians.
“Last year we played the same team (and lost), and this year the girls were very determined that wasn’t going to happen,” Harris said. “They played very well today, very aggressively.
“The defense just kept giving us super balls up the field, and the offense was up there, and they were finishing things in the circle.”
A recent addition to the forward line – junior Nicole Bencsik – had a pair of goals in the win, but it was freshman Alayna Brown (Becca Reach assist) who put the Indians on the scoreboard at the 17:56 mark of the opening half.
Moments earlier, Souderton goalie Ann Jefferis made a spectacular diving save on a corner shot – a play seemed to give the Indians momentum, and they went on to draw four first-half corners while taking six shots. Unionville had just two shots and one corner in the first half – all within the opening 10 minutes of the game.
A goal by Bencsik at the 24:24 mark of the second half put the Indians on top 2-0, but Unionville came roaring back, cutting that lead in half when a shot by Anna Cantini deflected off a defender’s stick and into the cage.
The Indians could not exhale until – with 15 seconds remaining – Bencsik took the ball off the goalie’s pads and put it in the cage for the 3-1 final.
“We’re working so good together,” Bencsik said. “We’re so pumped up, and we’re hustling more to the ball.”
The Indians will face Neshaminy in a quarterfinal game. It’s a spot no one could have predicted they would be in as recently as two-and-a-half weeks ago when the Indians were staggering through a stretch that saw them lose five of six games, which included a 5-0 thrashing at the hands of Central Bucks South.
“Losing 5-0 and then coming back and going to the third round of the playoffs – no I couldn’t have imagined that at all,” senior captain Becca Chylack said. “We’re a team now. We’re just working as a team.
“Everyone knows where they’re supposed to be playing, and now we’re scoring. It’s amazing.”
A tweak by Harris to the lineup has made all the difference in the world for the Indians, who are hoping to duplicate their showing of two years ago when they rode their 24 seed to a berth in the state tournament.
Downingtown West 1, Council Rock South 0
Mount St. Joe’s 3, North Penn 1
Springfield (Montco) 2, Sacred Heart 0
Caroline Mountney scored a pair of goals in the Spartans big win.
It took Mountney all of 48 seconds to put the Spartans on the scoreboard when she turned a Jill Armington assist into a goal. At the 19:29 mark of the first half, Elise DiFilippo (Mountney assist) scored to send the Spartans into halftime with a 2-0 lead.
Midway through the second half, Mountney, again with an Armington assist, scored, and a goal by Armington (Kierstan McLennon assist) closed out the scoring.
The Spartans held a decisive 15-4 advantage in shots but just a 3-2 edge in corners. Spartan goalie Maggie Olson had four saves in the shutout.
The Spartans, seeded seventh, will face second seeded Christopher Dock in Thursday’s quarterfinal round.
Upper Moreland 2, Springfield (Delco) 0
The Golden Bears made their first playoff appearance in nine years a memorable one, earning a spot in the quarterfinals as a result of Tuesday’s win over Springfield. This is the first time Upper Moreland has played a post-season game since 1999 when the Golden Bears advanced to the state title game.
A goal by Alyssa Levy (Meredith Rohrbaugh assist) with 10:09 remaining in the first half sent the Bears into the intermission with a 1-0 lead. They upped that to 2-0 when Rohrbaugh (Kristen Robinson assist) scored with 1:47 remaining on the game clock.
Coach Karen Grossi lauded the performance of center back Kristen Robinson in the win.
“She had a great game,” the first-year coach said. “She was a solid defender, stopping all the hits that came her way, being Springfield’s players to the ball and jabbing the ball away from the opponents.”
The Golden Bears held an 8-1 advantage in shots. Goalie Sarah Baumgardner made just one save in the shutout.
The fifth seeded Bears will face fourth seeded Merion Mercy in a quarterfinal game on Thursday.
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