To view game action photos, visit the photo gallery at the following link: http://photos.suburbanonesports.com/
By Alex Frazier
With 42 seconds left in Thursday’s District One championship game, coach Jorge Rodriguez was sitting on the end of the Pennridge bench, intently watching his team.
Unbeknownst to him, Olivia O’Neill and Kelsey Misialek were sneaking up on him from behind, carrying the team water bucket.
As the final seconds flashed on the clock, they deluged him with water.It was an appropriate finale for the Pennridge girls, who had just beaten Neshaminy 2-0 to claim their first District One Championship.
And how fitting it was that the two goal scorers got to personally thank the coach.
“It was awesome,” said O’Neill. “It was breathtaking.”
In the consolation opener, Central Bucks South took out its only loss of the year in the semifinals to Pennridge by thrashing Souderton 6-0.
“We knew we had to come out and beat them because Pennridge was a really bad loss for us,” said Casey Walsh, who scored the Titans’ second goal. “Now we’re back, and we know we can do it in states.”
Maybe in retrospect, the loss to Pennridge was good.
“We needed that in a way,” said Walsh. “As much as we wanted to be undefeated, losing a game really woke us up. Now we know we have to give it our all for every game.”
“It was a very good response by the girls,” said South coach Joe Bocklet. “We played the way we were playing all year. It’s a shame that we had one game where we let down.”
The Titans will play District three runner-up Cumberland Valley Tuesday at a site and time to be determined.
“We’ll be ready,” said Bocklet. “We’ll be ready for every opponent from this point out.”
The Indians were still smarting from a 1-0 loss to Neshaminy in the semis. Injured and beat up, especially in the back, they had little chance against a Titan squad that was looking to vent.
“What we have to do at this point is get back to a sense of confidence that we can go into our state game and defend well and win it,” said Souderton coach Terry Underkoffler.That will be a monumental task as the Big Red faces District Three champion Manheim Tuesday on the road.
When Rodriguez arrived at Pennridge three years ago, everyone said, “Just wait until these sophomores are seniors.”
And they were right.
Rodriguez had interviewed for the C.B. West boys’ job and ended up at Pennridge. Ironically the championship came on C.B. West’s field.
“It makes it special for me,” he said.
As might be expected in a championship, the game was very physical and intense with 29 fouls.
A lot of credit for the championship should go to the Pennridge defense. Bridgette Hess, Karin Wolset, Marissa Kunkle and freshman Stevi Parker faced arguably the two best strikers in District One in Jen Hutchinson and Brianna Hires.
The two of them played particularly well in the first half, but were unable to get a shot.
“It’s playing for the person next to you,” said central defender Marissa Kunkle. “If someone messes up, you get their back. That’s it. It’s playing for each other. Once they get frustrated we can play around them and that’s great.”
“They always seemed to have an extra player when it seemed like we had something going,” said Neshaminy coach Rich Reice. “And you’ve got a Division One goalie (Shannon Zickler) back there”
Kunkle averted a Hutchinson fastbreak in the 27th minute, which was just about the Redskins’ only dangerous chance.
“We were very fortunate to stay in it for the first 40 minutes because Neshaminy came at us with an incredible amount of pressure,” said Rodriguez. “Both girls put in a ton of work and we were able to have our back four and our goalkeeper to keep us in the game long enough for Neshaminy to get a little tired in the second half. I think that’s what made the difference.”In the second half, the Rams’ Shannon Cardie made two great runs up the right side, but both times fired the ball wide left of the goal.
Olivia O’Neill finally ended the drought when she buried a shot inside the right post at the 19:30 mark.
“From what I remember, it was played in by my left forward (Ashely Feldman) and she flicked it on and I saw it and took a touch and it was low in the right corner. We practice it a lot,” she said. “When you’re around the net in this kind of game, you just want to score. It’s always good to get the first goal and take the pressure off.”
With 6:59 left, sophomore Kelsey Misialek scored the insurance goal into the left side on an assist from Megan Gurecki.
“We know from experience getting one isn’t enough,” said O’Neill. “I like how the girls worked hard after one goal. It wasn’t like we relaxed.”
Although Pennridge didn’t get its passing game going well until the second half, the Lady Rams had several opportunities in the first 40 minutes. Neshaminy keeper Chelsea Rota had four saves, one on a hard line drive by Sarah Senoyuit. She also punched a high bouncer out of danger and beat the Redskins’ Michelle Batista to a through ball at the right corner of the box.
“They’re very organized,” said Reice. “We didn’t get hardly any looks at the goal.”
Neshaminy didn’t get its first shot of the game until Hannah Suffrin fired off a long shot that Zickler easily caught with five minutes elapsed in the second half.
“They took it to us pretty good,” said Reice. “It was probably the result of their good play, but we didn’t play particularly well. We normally knock the ball around a little bit, but didn’t do a very good job of that tonight.”
Neshaminy will play District 11 runner-up Easton, a 2-1 loser to Emmaus, Tuesday, May 26 at Harry S Truman.
Pennridge will return to War Memorial Field Tuesday to take on the District Three seventh place team, either Red Land or Governor Mifflin, at 8 p.m.
Pennridge 2, Neshaminy 0
Goals: Olivia O’Neill (P), Kelsey Misialek (P)
Assists: Ashely Feldman (P), Megan Gurecki (P)
Shots: Pennridge 9, Neshaminy 3
Saves: Shannon Zickler (P) 3, Chelsea Rota (N) 4
Corners: None
Fouls: Pennridge 13, Neshaminy 16
Yellow cards: Bridgette Kelly (N), Bridgette Hess (P), Jessica Casper (P)
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