New Hope-Solebury came up short in Saturday’s District 1 1A title game at Methacton, but the Lions will advance to the PIAA 1A state Tournament Tuesday. Photos provided courtesy of Michael Rice Photography. Check back for a gallery of photos.
District 1 1A title game
#4 FAITH CHRISTIAN 4, #2 NEW HOPE-SOLEBURY 1
Four days after rolling to a 6-1 win over Dock Mennonite Academy in a district semifinal contest, New Hope-Solebury found itself on the other side of the score in Saturday’s District 1 1A title game at Methacton High School
“I just think we forgot our basics – we didn’t have our sticks down,” senior captain Sophia Leonardi said. “It was the little
tweaks we had against Dock that we didn’t have today. They caught us off-guard a little bit. They had faster passes, and we weren’t as ready as we could have been for them.”
Faith Christian took a 1-0 lead in the first quarter on a goal by Gracie Longacre, and early in the second, Longacre set up a goal by Maddie Kocher to give FCA a 2-0 lead.
If there was a backbreaker, it came when FCA’s Gracie Lynde score on a nifty reverse stick goal with just four seconds remaining in the half.
In the third quarter, New Hope was again the victim of a last-second goal – this time by Cheyenne Greene with three seconds remaining to go on top 4-0.
New Hope averted a shutout when Brianna McBride found the cage with 3:42 remaining in regulation.
New Hope-Solebury’s season isn’t over. The Lions will advance the PIAA 1A State Tournament that begins Tuesday as the second seed from District 1.
“I keep telling them that no matter what happened today – win or lose - that we’re still going to states and we still have a game on Tuesday,” Leonardi said. “As long as we fix the little things – I think we’re a really great team, and once we have teamwork and we pass, it’s really hard to stop us.”
Scoring summary
First quarter
Gracie Longacre (FCA) 5:58
Second quarter
Maddie Kocher (FCA) assisted by Gracie Longacre,10:04
Gracie Lynde (FCA) 0:04
Third quarter
Cheyenne Greene (FCA) 0:03
Fourth quarter
Brianna McBride (NH-S) 3:42
New Hope-Solebury coach Gwen Smith:
--On the game: “We were just on our heels – we played on our heels. They were beating us to 50-50 balls. We let them
play their game versus us playing our game.”
--Moving on: “We’re going to watch this film and look to improve and do better as we go into states and not repeat the same mistakes as today.
“We’re excited the season continues, so we’re looking forward. Today wasn’t our best showing, so we need to make sure that we get prepared and ready and have our best showing when we play on Tuesday because you can go to the finals in states coming in as the second seed, and that has to be our mentality. It doesn’t matter which way we get in there.”
Up next: New Hope-Solebury will enter the PIAA 1A State Tournament as the second seed and will face the District 12 champion in Tuesday's opening round.
New Hope-Solebury 0-0-0-1 1
Faith Christian 1-2-1-0 4
- Log in to post comments
