By Alex Frazier
A tie was unacceptable.
Even though Central Bucks South could have defended its Continental Conference title with a no-contest finale against sister rival Central Bucks East, the Titans wanted a win.
“I wouldn’t have been happy with a tie,” said C.B. South coach Christina Ford. “I wanted to win. We have a good team and they can get a win in this game. We were going for the win.”
For a while it didn’t seem like either team would break the scoreless tie, but with 8:32 remaining, South’s Maddy Harding slammed home a goal, and the Titan defense hung on in the frenzied final minutes of the game with the Patriots swarming on their doorstep.
“It was very nerve-racking, but they made it exciting for the fans,” said Ford. “It was too close for me to be comfortable, but I never have a doubt about this team. We believed it from the beginning, I believed it from the beginning, that we could defend our crown.”
“We were very confident,” said Harding. “We did a lot last year, but we had no doubt in our minds that we were going to do it again. You’re not a true champion unless you defend your title.”
The loss brought East’s six-game winning streak to an end.
“We were very confident we could win,” said East senior captain Erin O’Brien. “We knew we could win. We all expected to win.”
Ironically, the Patriots beat every team in the league except South, which gave them two of their five losses.
Unfortunately, the Patriots were playing the title game missing two starting backs, Megan Starner and Tori Kane, who were sick.
“Our girls are solid people and they care about each other and they tried to battle through this and pull something together quickly,” said East coach Marie Meehan. “The girls tried to rally together and do as much as they could do. One breakdown was all it took.”
Ford suggested that the key to the season was teamwork, hard work and confidence.
“We are most successful when we’re connecting with one another,” she said. “That’s our style.”
That was never more obvious than on the Titans’ goal.
South earned seven penalty corners and made good on the last of those.
Katie Blackwell his the insert pass from the left side of the cage to Harding, who passed it to Sarah Hughes. Hughes then returned it to Harding up top, and she teed off on it, sending a rocket into the left side of the cage.
“I’m getting lucky the past couple of games getting goals from the top of the circle,” said Harding. “If it’s not me, it’s someone else. I’m just glad it went in. It’s a team effort.”
Harding has played defense and forward this year and contributed in every position. But Monday, she was dominant in the midfield with her strong stickwork and blistering shots.
“Maddy’s a very strong and smart player,” said Ford. “Moving her into the midfield, we needed that. She was sick as a dog today, not feeling well, but she stayed strong when she was playing hockey, and she was able to get that shot off.”
South took control for the first nine minutes of the game until Meehan called a timeout.
“We focused on what our goals were and talked to them about what they want and how it was going to happen - solid keeping, strong hits and cutting them off the ball,” the East coach said. “They made the adjustments and we dominated a lot of that second half.”
For the next 10 minutes, East went on the attack. O’Brien peppered South goalie Liz Lewallen with a couple of quick shots, but couldn’t find an opening.
“We didn’t come out as pumped up as we should have,” admitted O’Brien.
The two teams played even for the last 10 minutes of the half.
“The first half we completely took control of the game,” said Ford. “I told them at halftime I didn’t want to read in the paper that this was a tale of two halves.”
South came out strong again. East’s Melissa Remmey stopped a sure goal early in the half.
Harding’s goal, however, seemed to energize the Patriots, who started attacking late in the half, hoping to net a tying goal.
In the final two minutes, East had three penalty corners and very nearly scored as the ball bounced around in a mass in front of the goal.
Both Maggie Gonsienuski and Casey McGinley pulled the trigger, but Lewallen was up to the challenge.
“We got panicked,” said O’Brien. “We had the opportunity and we all wanted to finish so badly, but we couldn’t do it. We gave them a hard run. We could have won.”
The South defense of Kate Schneider, Kelly Hamilton and Sarah Hughes did a particularly good job negating O’Brien, East’s 17-goal scorer.
“I told the defense not to allow them time with the ball,” said Ford. “We wanted to get the ball and carry it out. I have a strong unit back there. They work well together and communicate.”
Though it may have frazzled Ford’s nerves, the tense ending was fine with Harding.
“I’d rather play really hard good games and have it all down to one game than just completely dominate everything. It’s more fun,” she said.
The Patriots’ regular season is over. They now await the results of the district seeding meeting tomorrow night to see if they get a chance to play in the post season.
“We did a lot better than we all expected we were going to do,” said O’Brien. “We all hoped to win our league, but we didn’t actually think we’d get into the last game that decided who wins it.”
C.B. South has one non-league game left Friday against Neshaminy. It will serve as tune-up for the district tournament next week.
“We couldn’t be more excited than to be where we are right now,” said Harding. “We’ve been working so hard all season, and this was our main goal.”
Central Bucks South (10-3-1) 1, Central Bucks East (9-5) 0
Goals: Maddy Harding (CBE)
Shots: Central Bucks South 9, Central Bucks east 6
Saves: Liz Lewallen (CBS) 4, Christina Maida (CBE) 10
Penalty corners: Central Bucks South 7, Central Bucks East 6
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