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By Alex Frazier
If at first you don’t succeed…The North Penn offense was a study in patience—and a bit of frustration.
In the Maidens’ Continental Conference opener against neighborhood rival Souderton Thursday, they outshot the Big Red 20-4, but couldn’t put the game away until the 2:51 mark of the second overtime when Kristen French scored off a corner to give North Penn a 2-1 win.
“It was frustrating,” said North Penn senior forward Sophie Eiger, “but I’ve learned that if you let the frustration get to you, you’ll never get another opportunity. I kept telling the girls we’d get the next one. We just had to keep a positive mindset going, and it paid off.”
Perhaps the Maidens were a bit leg weary, having lost a 1-0 overtime thriller to Neshaminy less than 24 hours ago.
North Penn held a 9-1 advantage in corner kicks, but couldn’t convert until the final one.
Lizzy Kohler set up the ball to the left of the goal and lofted a shot in front. Souderton keeper Emily Dwyer, who was otherwise nearly flawless for the day, jumped for it, but the ball slipped through her hands and sailed behind her to French, who charged in from the right to bury the ball into an open net.
“The past few corners we had had been going over and nobody had been there,” said Eiger, who was standing in front of Dwyer. “I saw the ball go over, and I turned to see the goalie missing it and saw French run onto it and I was cheering. That was a great win for us.”North Penn fell behind early when Souderton’s Lindsay Hollingsworth converted a shot from the left side into the top right corner of the goal, just 4:26 into the game.
North Penn tied the game at the 27:05 mark when the Maidens were awarded a free kick near midfield. Central defender Katelyn Shamp booted the ball toward the right of the goal where Eiger ran onto it and blasted it in.
“It’s usually just me and the goalie for all the goals I’ve made this year,” said Eiger. “My friend Shamp played it over and literally it was just me and the goal. I had to get it in or she would yell at me. It was easy just to slot it by (the keeper).”
With all the chances North Penn had the rest of the game, the score could easily have been three or four to one. But a young Souderton defense and a heady senior goalie kept the Maidens at bay until overtime. And even then, the defense gave the offense a chance to win the game.Souderton center middie Grace Miorelli, herself just a freshman, has had to take a big step up to fill the shoes of senior midfielder Ingrid Moyer, who tore her ACL in the first 15 minutes of the season and is lost the rest of the year.
Just over three minutes into the second overtime, Miorelli dribbled out of the back on a counter attack and got behind the North Penn defense. She unloaded a shot that almost gave the Indians an unlikely victory but instead denied them when it banged off the cross.
“It was a great play,” said Souderton coach Matt Emmert, “especially so late in the game. It’s difficult to make those bursting runs forward on the dribble. Grace did a tremendous job to create some space for herself to get that shot off. It was a really good shot. I think she was falling away a little bit otherwise that would have been in. It was a tough break for us.”
Dwyer came up with 10 saves, and another three or four 50/50 balls that could have been goals. She also caught a break when several North Penn shots sailed wide or high. One also hit the crossbar.Perhaps her biggest save of the day came on a penalty kick. With 20:43 left in regulation, Souderton was flagged for a hand ball in the box. North Penn’s Shamp lined the ball up at the 12-yard mark and when the whistle blew, fired the ball right at Dwyer.
“She’s really been keeping us in games,” said Emmert. “Saving a PK is unbelievable. She gives us so much confidence just knowing that she’s back there and is able to make those saves on 1v1s or great shots. When they have to be made, she makes them.”
The defense in front of Dwyer consists of two freshmen central defenders, a sophomore and a junior.
“We just had to keep pressing it out. We did our best to get it out,” said sophomore Courtney Bradshaw, who said she had never met freshmen Mindi Radcliff and Lauren Verso until a couple of weeks ago. “We became friends really fast.”
“They’ve been doing a great job for us so far,” said Emmert. “It’s a positive sign for us for the future.
Both teams will continue to work on offense
“It’s finesse over power and we chose power too many times,” said North Penn coach Neil Johnson. “But a win’s a win. You only need one more than them and we got it. The girls showed character. They hung in.”
North Penn (2-1-1) 2, Souderton (1-2-1) 1 (2OT)
Goals: Lindsay Hollingsworth (S), Sophie Eiger (NP), Kristen French (NP)
Assists: Katelyn Shamp (NP)
Shots: North Penn 20, Souderton 4
Saves: Megan Gerhart (NP) 2, Emily Dwyer (S) 10
Corners: North Penn 9, Souderton 1
Fouls: North Penn 10, Souderton 10
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