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NEWTOWN – Council Rock South coach Tim Keddie issued a challenge to junior Jamie Vaniver prior to Thursday’s showdown against Council Rock North.
The Golden Eagles’ junior forward had missed last year’s district playoff game against Rock North with a sprained ankle. The Indians sent the Eagles home for the season. It was the third time Rock South had fallen to its neighboring rival last season.
“Before the game, I had a little conversation with her, reminding her she had some unfinished business on this field,” Kettie said. “As an individual, she stepped up to the plate.”
Did she ever!
Vaniver connected for the hat trick in a superb offensive performance, leading the Golden Hawks to a 3-1 win over the Indians. It is the second time this year that Rock South has defeated its archrival – a direct reversal of fortunes from last year.
“I just wanted it really bad,” Vaniver said. “I was lucky today.”
Luck didn’t seem to have anything to do with Vaniver’s dazzling offensive performance. When the junior forward had the opportunity to score, she capitalized.
While the Indians had decidedly fewer opportunities, they did manage to cut Rock South’s 2-0 lead in half with a second-half goal, and that, according to senior captain Clare Roche, was a positive.
“It’s not that fact that we drop our heads, but the fact that we don’t think we’re in it when the other team scores,” she said. “Today we did what we said we were going to do – picked up our heads after they scored.”
The Indians had to pick up their heads rather quickly after Vaniver beat her defender in a battle for the ball and found the back of the net with a strong shot four-and-a-half minutes into the game, and one fact was clear - the Golden Eagles were clearly ready for this showdown.
“We have a lot of team bonding before the North game,” senior captain Julie Oberholtzer said. “We listen to music in the trainer’s room, we dance, and we get all pumped.
“This (regular season) is like the preseason. We’re ready for districts.”
The Golden Hawks had a chance to add to their lead but a powerful shot by Jackie Weber deflected off the post, and then it was Rock North goalie Kelsey Kausch coming up with a huge save on a point-blank shot by Erica Mukula, deflecting the ball over the net.
Kausch, however, was injured on the play and was lost for the remainder of the game.
It looked as though the Golden Hawks were in complete command when Vaniver turned a crossing pass from Alexa Crosier into a goal less than five minutes into the second half.
Things got real interesting when Rock North’s Samantha McCloskey – with the goalie out of the net - picked herself up off the ground and kicked the ball into the wide open goal.
The Rock North senior captain had gone down with two other players in the muddy box, and lost in the shuffle of the collision was the fact that the ball was completely unattended several feet from McCloskey, who leaped off the ground and seized the moment.
“I was so surprised,” she said. “I thought Caitlin (Hannagen) took a shot, but the girl stopped it, and it just kind of popped up. I was on the ground, and I jumped up as soon as I could.
“I saw that I was free, and I just gave everything I had and snuck it in the right side past the goalie. I was shocked too.”
Coming back from a 2-0 deficit to make it a one-goal game was significant for the Indians.
“That’s what we have been working on all season,” Roche said. “Normally, we’re winning the first half – we’re up 1-0, and other teams come back and win 3-1 or 3-2, and our second half lets us down.
“Today we got back in it in the second half, which I think was the first time all season.”
The 2-1 score didn’t hold up for long. In the 53rd minute – just eight minutes after McCloskey’s goal, Vaniver was back at it again. Once again she received a pass from Crosier, and this time she lofted a perfectly-placed shot over the outstretched arms of the goalie into the upper left corner of the net, putting the Golden Eagles on top 3-1.
“We do work on that,” Vaniver said of her textbook goal. “I brought it up, and I just wanted to get a shot.
“We knew we had to put another one in. I hate 2-1 games. I just can’t do that.”
“When you respond to a goal like that – that’s the true indication of the character of the team,” Keddie said.
For the Golden Hawks, the win came on the heels of an important win over William Tennent earlier in the week.
“This was so good,” Oberholtzer said. “We did not want to lose two games this week. We want to go into districts with wins, having confidence.”
“Finishing the season strong is important, but it doesn’t matter who we play,” Keddie said. “That’s been our motto all year – it doesn’t matter.”
Keddie might get an argument from some of the Indians, who insist the battle against Rock South is always special.
“To me, it’s the biggest game of the season,” McCloskey said.
“Today it was,” Roche said. “They were in second, and we would have been in third if we had won, so it was a huge game.”
Both teams will eagerly await word from Saturday’s district seeding meeting. The District One Tournament begins on Tuesday.
COUNCIL ROCK SOUTH 3, COUNCIL ROCK NORTH 1
Council Rock South 1 2-3
Council Rock North 0 1-1
Goals/Assists: CR South – Jamie Vaniver 3-0, Alexa Crosier 0-2. CR North – Samantha McCloskey.
Shots: CR South 16, CR North 9.
Saves: Jess Levy (CRS) 10, Kelsey Kausch/Morgan Dapolilo (CRN) 8.
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