To view game action photos of the Upper Dublin/CB South contest, visit the photo gallery at the following link: http://photos.suburbanonesports.com/
And then there were three.
The District One Class AAA Tournament completed it second round of action on Wednesday, and with just three teams vying for six state playoff berths – one from each conference, the SOL might well have its lowest representation ever in the elite eight.
Top-seeded Wissahickon survived a scare from a Council Rock South squad that had already sent Hatboro-Horsham packing and bore no resemblance to a 17th seed, earning a 2-1 overtime win.
Central Bucks South looked the part of the tournament’s second seeded team in its 4-0 win over Upper Dublin.
Pennsbury defeated a gritty Strath Haven squad that had upset Souderton. The Falcons notched a 2-0 win under the lights in Harry S. Truman’s stadium – a switch in venues that was necessitated since Pennsbury’s field was under water.
Council Rock North, National Conference champions with Pennsbury, saw its 12-game winning streak come to an end at the hands of Central League champion Radnor (3-0).
In Class AA action, Springfield coasted to a 5-0 win over Jenkintown on Tuesday.
Central Bucks South (2) 4, Upper Dublin (15) 0
The Titans, who had an opening round bye, were the lone Continental Conference team still standing after Monday’s opening round.
“We didn’t draw too much focus on that,” coach Christina Ford said. “In our regular season, we saw that anyone could beat us. We weren’t unbeatable – we had two different teams beat us.
“That’s a theme I brought to each game – anyone can beat us on any day. It’s not going to be handed to you. You have to go out and show that you’re the better team.”
South looked like a team that has no interest in going home any time soon if Wednesday’s performance against Upper Dublin is any indication. The Titans got on the scoreboard with a goal by Casey Haegele (Maddy Harding assist) less than 10 minutes into the opening half.
Kayla Kenney (Colleen Kempf assist) scored midway through the half to send the Titans into halftime with a 2-0 lead. Kempf also assisted on the first of two second-half goals by Franny Ryan. Kenney assisted on the second.
“Colleen Kempf is a stellar athlete for me each and every single game, and she is one of the main reasons for our attack,” Ford said. “She is not one of our top scorers, but she is always part of that development we get in our attacking third. She played really well.”
Ford went on to acknowledge the strong performance of Ryan.
“She actually got injured in the first half and had a gash over her eye," the Titans' coach said. "She got butterfly stitches, came back in and probably has to go get stitches tonight. She played really well coming back after that.”
Ford also credited the defensive effort of senior Sarah Hughes.
“She is a workhorse out there,” the Titans’ coach said. “She is very skilled for the left side – she handles that side with ease, and she just had a tremendous game.
“She’s really stepping up for us from that backfield, and today she transitioned to midfield as well. I thought she played really strong.
The Titans – who will face Pennsbury in Friday’s quarterfinal round - held a 12-4 advantage in shots and a 4-2 edge in corners. They upped their record to 14-3-1.
“This was huge,” Ford said. “To have our team do well, especially since we were playing Upper Dublin and we had played them before – I didn’t want my team coming out expecting it to be a win without going out there and working hard.
“It’s been a week since they played a game. They came out and played really strong for the whole game, and they were intense about it. My team really wants to go far.”
The Flying Cardinals, who had fallen to South 3-0 during the regular season, closed out the year with a 12-7-1 record.
Pennsbury (7) 2, Strath Haven (23) 0
Don’t try telling Pennsbury coach Brooke Bergmann that Strath Haven is a 23rd seed. The Panthers hung tough, but in the end, the Falcons prevailed, earning a 2-0 win.
Senior Mia Reed scored a pair of goals – one in each half and both with assists from Jennalise Taylor.
“I think we played great,” Bergmann said. “First of all, the fact that they were a 23 seed was kind of funny. They were very good.
“They were so aggressive, and they never, ever gave up on a ball. They took their free hits quickly, so the pace of the game was really fast, which I think ended up benefitting us because of our speed up front. I think we wore them down a little bit in the back and got some breakaway opportunities and pushed the pace. It ended up swinging our way, but they were very good.”
Bergmann lauded the efforts of a pair of defensive backs in the win.
“Alyssa Cox, our left back, played a great game,” the Falcons’ coach said. “We started the game off, and we were controlling the game, but we were playing a lot on our left side, which we typically don’t do, and she was making a lot of plays back there and doing a real good job.
“Danielle Geller played center back, and she also played a good game. They were looking to cross the ball to their right every time, transitioning out of their back, and Danielle did a really good job of shutting down the middle and getting it back to where we wanted it to be.”
The Falcons (14-5-1) will face Central Bucks South for the second time this season on Friday at 3 p.m. at War Memorial Field. In an early season meeting, the Titans edged the Falcons 3-2.
Radnor (8) 3, Council Rock North (9) 0
It was a turf team against a grass team when Council Rock North traveled to Radnor, and the turf team had the decided advantage.
“We played tough on grass this whole season,” coach Heather Whalin said. “We practiced on turf last night, but they were definitely a turf team. They were really good, and they had a phenomenal player who’s going to Maryland, and we just didn’t have it.”
The Red Raiders took a 1-0 lead into halftime and then put the game away in the second half, scoring a pair of goals for the 3-0 final.
“They played a really good game,” Whalin said.
Despite Wednesday’s outcome, it had been quite a season for the Indians, who won 12 in a row after a 2-4 start to earn a share of the National Conference crown.
“That’s phenomenal,” Whalin said. “They came back and won a league championship, and no one can take that away from them. These seniors are going out as champions.
“Unfortunately, it’s one game, and you’re done. Only the state champion goes home without a loss.”
Wissahickon (1) 2, Council Rock South (17) 1 (OT) (See featured game story.)
Senior captain Alyssa Tourdot scored with 9:19 remaining in the first overtime period to give top-seeded Wissahickon a dramatic 2-1 win over Council Rock South. The Trojans took a 1-0 lead on a first-half goal by Gretchen Guaglionone, but the Golden Hawks knotted the score midway through the second half on a goal by sophomore Chrissy Vollrath.
The Trojans held a 17-2 advantage in shots. Both teams had three corners.
Springfield (5) 5, Jenkintown (13) 0
Senior Tierney Carabba connected for the hat trick to lead the Spartans to a rout of Jenkintown on Tuesday. Maureen Leis and Annie Crudele also contributed goals. Crudele also had a pair of assists while Ali Roy also had an assist for the Spartans, who jumped out to a 2-0 halftime lead and never looked back.
The Spartans will face Christopher Dock on Thursday in a quarterfinal contest.
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