WARRINGTON – Maddy Harding described it as ‘the worst shot’ she could have taken on a grass field.
Not that it mattered.
The outcome couldn’t have been better for Harding and her Central Bucks South teammates as the standout junior midfielder somehow – while fully extended - scored into the opposite corner of the cage on one of those reverse stick shots that is perfect for turf and not so perfect for grass.
“It was lucky it went in, and that’s all that counts,” Harding said.
Harding’s goal – which came with 6:54 remaining in overtime – propelled the Titans to a dramatic 2-1 win over North Penn in a key Continental Conference battle on Wednesday afternoon.
“It’s huge to get this win,” South coach Christina Ford said. “We were down in their end – we had the chances, we had the corners, we had the circle penetration, so it’s definitely huge to come out with a victory when you work so hard.
“But unless you score, you’re not going to win.”
While the Titans celebrated the big win, the Maidens were left shaking their heads.
“It’s almost like I didn’t believe it happened,” said Maiden defensive back Jen Ikeda of Harding’s goal. “I saw the play in slow motion. I was like, ‘Oh my goodness, this is not what I wanted.’
“She (Harding) just kind of brushed it. We should have gotten that. We were miscommunicating. We’re going to work on that tomorrow.”
Harding’s goal was redemption of sorts for the junior midfielder, who acknowledged that the Maidens’ tying goal deflected off of her stick near the goal line and into the cage.
“That’s okay – it was mine last week in the Souderton game,” teammate Kelly Hamilton said of a goal that deflected high into the cage off of her stick in the Titans’ 2-0 loss to Souderton.
Harding – like Hamilton – kept it in perspective.
“It happens to the best of us,” Harding said. “I had to redeem myself. I wasn’t leaving here without getting something.”
Harding’s goal capped an exciting overtime that saw the Titans dominate play. They drew two early corners but managed only a Harding shot that went wide of the cage.
When Harding somehow found herself wide open at the top of the circle late in overtime, she knew exactly what to do with teammate Colleen Kempf’s pass across goal, and although her goal was a bit unorthodox, it did the job.
As Harding was mobbed by teammates, she admits her emotions were as much relief as joy.
“Finally it’s done,” she said. “That second half and overtime felt so long.
“The first half was like two seconds.”
The entire game featured strong play by both teams. The Titans had the early advantage in the opening half, drawing five quick corners. The Maidens, meanwhile, didn’t get into their own striking circle until midway through the half.
During one particularly riveting sequence, South goalie Liz Lewallen came up with back-to-back-to-back saves.
On their sixth corner of the opening half, the Titans capitalized when senior Sarah Hughes (Franny Ryan assist) fired a rocket into the cage from the top of the circle, sending South into halftime with a 1-0 lead.
“We played really well as a team in the first half,” Harding said.
A fired-up Maiden squad came out of the halftime intermission and began to apply some serious pressure of its own. Finally, on their third corner of the half, Elizabeth Fedele – after some nice moves – fired a shot toward the right post that found the cage, knotting the score 1-1 with 17:51 remaining in regulation.
“We wanted that goal,” Ikeda said. “We wanted to get in there and score, tie it up and then get another.
“We were stepping up and going to the ball and playing our game. We had the chance to keep it in our end and keep the pressure on in the second half, and it was so much more fun.”
“We got a little flat-footed in the second half,” Hamilton said. “We weren’t stepping to the ball, and they were definitely more aggressive.”
Ford acknowledged that taking a lead into halftime can be dangerous.
“It’s almost like - everything is working out, you’re playing well and you want that to continue into the second half,” Ford said. “This team will never stop playing or give up.”
The Titans finished strong, drawing five corners in the final 13-plus minutes of regulation. They couldn’t capitalize.
That set the stage for an OT period the Titans owned.
“It’s nerveracking because once someone scores, it’s over, and you don’t have a chance to redeem yourself,” Ikeda said. “It was very frustrating because we didn’t even get a chance to score.
“Without getting a chance, there’s no way that we would be able to win.”
Ford lauded the performance of her defense in the second half.
“We didn’t give up too many corners or fouls in the circle,” the Titans’ coach said. “We were able to get the ball on our sticks and carry it out, which was excellent. Kelly (Hamilton) was one of the major forces in that. She makes it easy bringing that ball out of the circle and transitioning out.
“Our defense really played strong together today to help us.”
North Penn and South entered the day with identical 3-1-1 records in league play, locked in a three-way tie for second place with Hatboro. At the end of the day, it was the Titans and Hatters trailing Souderton by one game.
“I thought we played well the entire game,” Maiden coach Carrie Jankowski said. “It wasn’t the tale of two halves.
“We came out a little bit more on fire in the second half. I don’t want to say we played poorly in one half or the other, but I think we started to come together a little bit better in the second half, but it was a pretty good game. This was one of the better games we have played on grass in several years.”
The Maidens, who fall to two games out of first, will face all three teams above them in the conference standings at home in the second go-round in league play.
“We have to figure one of the (top) teams is going to knock the other one off,” Jankowski said. “If we can win the rest of our games, we’re in a much better position.”
CENTRAL BUCKS SOUTH 2, NORTH PENN 1 (OT)
North Penn 0 1 0-1
CB South 1 0 1-2
Goals/Assists: North Penn – Elizabeth Fedele 1-0. CB South – Maddy Harding 1-0, Sarah Hughes 1-0, Franny Ryan 0-1, Colleen Kempf 0-1.
Shots: NP-7, CBS-11
Saves: Shannon Keen (NP) 7, Liz Lewallen (CBS) 6.
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