By Alex Frazier
It’s a young season and a young team.
But the Golden Hawks are already playing with maturity.
Council Rock South started off its season with an unlikely 1-0 win over defending state co-champion Central Bucks West and then followed that up with a 1-0 win over Central Bucks East Thursday evening.“We started three freshmen, three sophomores, three juniors and two seniors,” said Rock coach Tim Keddie, “and we were missing two starters as well.”
“They’re a good team,” said East coach Paul Duddy. “They outplayed us possession-wise and they knock it around real nice and they’re technically a very good team.”
Conditions were hardly conducive for a good soccer match with a steady rain falling in low 40-degree temperatures, but on the turf field at War Memorial Stadium both teams made the best of it.
“It was a good game,” said Rock junior forward Jamie Vaniver, who scored the lone goal. “It was a little hard to play with the weather. It was definitely a factor. It was slippery and affected our touches and passes and shots too.”
“The conditions dictated the way the game actually went,” said Keddie. “We came out and played everybody. We maintained possession. I would have liked to see us score more, but they did a good job defending us.”
The Hawks pounced on the Patriots early when Julie Oberholtzer sent a pass to Jamie Vaniver, who chipped it over a charging C.B.East keeper Sam Gladnik. The ball hit the bottom of the crossbar and ricocheted into the goal just 5:11 into the contest.
“I just kind of lobbed it over the goalie,” she said.
At the time, Vaniver never thought it would turn out to be the gamewinner.
“I thought we were going to score another one, actually,” she said.
After Rock took early control of the game, action settled into the midfield until late in the first half, when East started pressing into the Hawks’ end for the final seven minutes or so. Alex Shaw made a good move around a Rock defender on the left side in the 34th minute and fired a shot. Hawk keeper Jess Levy made a good initial save but couldn’t hold onto the ball. Fortunately, Jenna Miniscalo was there to boot it out of harm’s way.
“Our keeper came up with a huge save,” said Keddie. “That ends up being really the difference in the game, so I’m definitely happy with that.”
The only other East chance came early in the half when Aleigh Wosewich took a shot from the right flank, but Levy made the routine save at the post.East had a couple of chances in the second half, which was dominated by South, but couldn’t convert. Devon Fryatt found the ball at her feet following a flurry of activity in front of the Rock goal, but her shot sailed wide left of the goal.
“They dominated the midfield and we had trouble getting the ball up top,” said Duddy, who tried to compensate by moving Shaw up from midfield. “She had a couple of chances.”
Meanwhile, the East defense had its work cut out for it at the other end. East sweeper Theresa Weiss broke up a number of attacks, while Kristen Dunleavy saved a goal when she booted the ball out of the center with Gladnik out of goal.
“Their sweeper had a fantastic game,” said Keddie. “She really closed down a lot of opportunities.”
“The best thing is we didn’t give them very many good looks,” said Duddy, who also complimented Weiss’ play. “She reads the game real well.”
The loss drops the Patriots to 1-2.“We have a lot to work on, but it’s early,” said Duddy.
The Hawks, on the other hand, are now 2-0 in the young season.
“The girls made the adjustments I asked them to make at halftime to try and get the ball forward more,” said Keddie. “The bottom line is we got out and got the win and we move on to the next game.”
The next game is tomorrow. The Hawks are hoping to make it a clean sweep of Central Bucks as they take on C.B. South in what coach Tim Keddie called Central Bucks Week.
“Hopefully, we’re as fortuitous with them as well,” he said.
Council Rock South 1, Central Bucks East 0
Goals: Jamie Vaniver (CRS)
Assists: Julie Oberholtzer (CRS)
Shots: Council Rock South 8, Central Bucks South 3
Saves: Jess Levy (CRS) 2, Sam Gladnick (CBE) 7
Corners: Council Rock South 3
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