PW vs. Abington (at PW)

3-1 PW win.

8 minutes left in first half...Liv Patete goal / assist from Harper Reilly.
18 minutes into the second half...Maddie McGuckien goal from Molly McEvoy.
With 7 minutes to go in the first half, Abington own goal, Maddi McGuckien assist.

1-1 half

Really big win for PW Girls Soccer today. We know how good Abington is but we were confident going in. We watched film and felt good about our chances if everyone performed up to their capabilities.

What we weren't ready for to start the game was how big & physical Abington is this year. It took us a bit to get used to that. But, once we started to match their physicality, we settled into the game.

First 30 minutes of the game was back and forth. Abington struck first on a really nice strike by Addison Doyle.

I spoke to the team before Hatboro about how we would react if they scored first. Thankfully, they didn't but one game later, we were in that position. This year's group rose to the occasion. No one put their head down, no one pouted, we didn't turn on each other. We took the tap and a minute and 15 seconds later, we scored the equalizer. Marleigh Burton wins us a throw deep in Abington territory. After the throw, sophomore Harper Reilly puts a beautiful cross into the back post that junior Liv Patete heads off the post. Liv tracks down her own rebound and puts it away for her second goal of the season. Patete and senior Liv Budin came off the bench and really impacted the game in midfield in the first half. Their physical presence really helped with us settling into the game.

Midway through the second half, Marleigh Burton does the work again to get us a goal. She makes a great run down the right, plays a fantastic cross into Liv Patete at the back post and Patete wins us a corner. Maddi Lazaroff finds Molly McEvoy's head on the corner. The Abington clearance finds Maddie McGuckien who strikes the ball first time and finds the back of the net for her fourth goal of the season. Maddie has scored in four straight games, all in our league. Maddie was our vocal leader today on the field. She was in total command for 80 minutes, continuing to establish herself as one of the top players in the league.

With 11 minutes remaining in the game, Maddi Lazaroff wins a free kick out wide. She takes the free kick, plays a great ball in. McGuckien challenges the Abington defender, gets a poke towards goal. Abington tries to clear off the goal line and it ends up being an own goal. Difficult ball to deal with so credit to Maddi Lazaroff, who finished the game strong today.

I want to highlight the play of senior centerback Kaiane Jayo today. Kaiane had a very difficult job, dealing with Abington's #25 Alexis Whaley. Whaley is a terrific player who we are very well aware of. Kaiane was smart, strong, and disciplined. Freshman JJ Lafferty and sophomore Harper Reilly were very good, as well, in defense.


In addition to Kaiane, senior Keira Whelan really put in a shift. Her workrate sideline to sideline, endline to endline, was just terrific today. We asked her to hold the ball up constantly against a physical Abington backline. We asked her to drop on all defensive free kicks and corners to mark one of Abington's best players. Keira didn't get on to the scoresheet today but her coaches recognize the impact that she had on the game.