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WEST CHESTER – It was a by-invitation only party at West Chester East for Saturday’s District One AAA quarterfinals, and the North Penn Maidens were one of eight elite teams in attendance.“These schools have been having a party for years and never invited us, and here we are – we got invited this year,” Maiden coach Jami Wilus said. “I thought we were good enough to win today.”
Good enough without a doubt, but not quite lucky enough.
The Maidens saw their dream of advancing to the district semifinals go up in smoke when an opportunistic Julie Tatios retrieved a loose ball near the crease and found the net, giving Bayard Rustin a heartstopping 13-12 overtime win over North Penn in the day’s most entertaining and exciting quarterfinal.
The season is far from over for the Maidens, who suffered their first loss in 20 games. They need to win just one of their next two games to earn a berth in the PIAA Tournament.
“We were just saying – this is not the end,” senior co-captain Alyssa Culp said. “We have a chance to make it to states. We have our rivals (Abington) on Tuesday. This is our chance.
“Honestly, even though we lost, it was still a great experience for us. North Penn has never, ever made it to the third round of districts. This is the furthest we have ever gone. It’s amazing to be a part of it.”Making the loss particularly heartbreaking for the Maidens was the fact that less than a minute separated them from a date with Springfield (Delco) in the semifinals, and they certainly appeared to be in the driver’s seat when they rallied from a 10-9 deficit to go on top 12-10 after Abbie Hartman connected on a free position goal with 1:08 remaining in regulation.
The goal, however, stopped the clock and gave Rustin a chance to gain possession.
“That’s such a fine line,” Maiden coach Jami Wilus said. “You’re on the eight-meter – do you score or do you pull it out? You think with a two-goal lead with one minute left that you’re going to be able to hang on for the game.”
Rustin, however, had other ideas. The Knights came up with the ball on the ensuing draw, and after watching a Carolyn Adams shot sail wide of the net, the Maidens weren’t as fortunate on Abbie Brewer’s shot with 38.6 seconds showing on the scoreboard clock.
Rustin’s Leana Brewer came up with the ball on the draw, and the Knights once again were in business. With 11 seconds remaining, Tatios connected to knot the score, and as costly as that goal may have seemed to the Maidens, even more costly was a play that occurred shortly thereafter.The Knights won the ensuing draw, and with two seconds remaining, Hartman, who had four goals, was given a yellow card, taking the Maidens’ high-scoring junior off the field for the three-minute overtime.
“I think everybody freaked out and realized one of our really good players was gone,” Culp said. “She’s not only our leading scorer, she’s a really important player on draws.”
It was one of numerous calls that raised eyebrows on North Penn’s sidelines as Wilus believed the Maidens paid the price for the fact that the three officials were unfamiliar with her team’s style of play.
“It’s just like anything in sports,” the Maidens’ coach said. “If you don’t know a team’s style of play and you haven’t been in the Suburban One – we’re a run-and-gun, pressure-you type of defense, and we take chances, and when you get into such a big game like this, you expect to have some consistency and hope that someone has seen your style of play.”
An opportunistic Tatios connected for the game winner 65 seconds into overtime, propelling the Knights to the dramatic come-from-behind win.“It all came down to the draws,” Culp said. “We weren’t getting them at all.”
Early in the contest, everything seemed to be going North Penn’s way. While goalie Lyndsay Hepler (13 saves) was making one big stop after another – several nothing short of spectacular, the Maidens, after falling behind 2-0, built up a 6-3 lead. Lauren McDermott scored three of her game-high five goals in that span, and the Maidens looked unstoppable.
The Knights apparently didn’t think so and rallied to knot the score with three unanswered goal in the final 3:27 of the half, sending the two teams into the intermission deadlocked 6-6.
The second half was a back and forth affair.
Dani Horn found McDermott for the score, and then Hartman connected on a no-doubt-about-it eight-meter shot to put the Maidens on top 8-6, but Leana Brewer and Carolyn Adams answered with free position goals for the Knights.
An eight-meter shot by Horn that found the net gave the Maidens a 9-8 lead, but 30 seconds later, Adams returned the favor to knot the score, and then – with the Maidens down a player – Tori Dugan spotted a wide open Brewer for the score and a 10-9 Rustin lead with 7:36 remaining.
Culp deftly scored in traffic to knot the score with 3:22 remaining, and less than a minute later, Hartman connected on an eight-meter shot to put the Maidens on top 11-10. The Knights won the draw, but Diana Milano came up with a loose ball on the defensive end, setting the stage for Hartman’s goal and the dramatic finish.“We just were not able to get draw controls, and they were coming down fiercely, and the refs were calling fouls,” Wilus said. “There was nothing we could do about it.”
The loss sets up a matchup between the Continental Conference champion Maidens and an Abington squad that captured the National Conference title in Tuesday’s playback game. The Ghosts fell to Springfield (Delco) 17-10 in a quarterfinal contest.
“We had three chances (to make states), including today,” Wilus said. “But we didn’t want to think about it like that.
“We wanted to get to the Tuesday night (semifinal) game. Now we have another shot. We have to come out ready to play. You know Abington’s going to be ready to play.”
BAYARD RUSTIN 13, NORTH PENN 12 (OT)
Bayard Rustin 6 6 1-13
North Penn 6 6 0-12
Goals/Assists: Bayard Rustin – Julie Tatios 4-0, Leana Brewer 3-2, Carolyn Adams 3-0, Abbie Brewer 2-0, Jenn Walsh 1-0, Tori Dugan 0-1. NP- Lauren McDermott 5-0, Abbie Hartman 4-0, Dani Horn 1-2, Alyssa Culp 1-1, Stacey Pellechia 1-1, Ali Green 0-1.
Shots: NP-20, Rustin 25.
Saves: Kelsey Sward (BR) 5, Lyndsay Hepler (NP) 13
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