The full moon rose over the visitor stands at Falcon Field on Monday night, a giant glowing ball that made many stop and pause at the sight. It was a gorgeous night for field hockey and the perfect setting for this October showdown between the Falcons and the Skins. When they met one month ago, Neshaminy squeaked by with the win, 2-1 leaving Pennsbury hungry for when they would meet again. The time separating the two games felt like an eternity, but it was finally here. The weight of the game hung in the air, an unspoken layer - with a Neshaminy win, the Skins would be one step closer to clinching the SOL and with a Pennsbury win, the Falcons would be one step closer to sharing a piece of the SOL title.
No one likes to share when it comes to titles and Neshaminy made sure it won't happen, as they walked away with a 3-2 victory in what proved to be another great battle.
Pennsbury came out the gates with power and earning two penalty corners in a row in the first minute. The Skins denied the opportunity with strong defense and sent a message that this would be a fight for the full sixty. Neshaminy answered with two penalty corners and connected on one of their set plays with a shot and deflection to put the red and blue up 1-0 halfway through the first quarter. "Our goalie misplayed the corner shot and did not have a strong save so it got through her feet and Neshaminy's Hailey Wert, who inserted, was right at the post to deflect the ball," said PHS coach, Traci Curtis.
The rest of the quarter was played between the 25s with stats matching up between the two teams and the score holding 1-0.
The second quarter continued to be a back and forth fight of skill, strength, speed, and opportunity. Five minutes into the quarter, Neshaminy found another moment to capitalize and put the Skins up 2-0. "Unfortunately, we got caught in another defensive breakdown and it cost us again. Maci Fox beat our defender, dribbled into the circle with tons of space and took a shot from right to left. Our goalie wasn't properly set and was beaten in that moment on a pretty straight forward shot." Curtis added, "We have not been down in too many games this season, but when it has happened we have found ways to push and persevere and that's what the girls dug in and did for the remaining ten minutes of the first half."
With two minutes left in the half Pennsbury made things very interesting and turned it into a one goal game. "Ryan Burdette started a quick free hit possession in the midfield and worked the ball into the circle, feeding it to goal. Abby Iacona received the rebound off of the pads, passed back out to Regan Rodriguez, who took a quick shot and Mallory Harrison timed a beautiful deflection perfectly," Curtis said. "It was a great teamwork moment and proved what we are made of," said Curtis. When the horn sounded for halftime the stadium was electric and the Falcons were on fire.
Pennsbury had possession at the start of the second half and in the first two minutes earned three penalty corners in a row, putting pressure on full tilt. "We certainly did not take advantage of the opportunities we had. We worked so hard to earn the advantage and get the set piece and then we misplayed all three corners," explained Curtis. "We cannot give up those chances against a team like Neshaminy and make it ten times harder for ourselves. It's hard enough," added Curtis. It was a 2-1 game going into the five minute halftime.
The start of third quarter was a repeat of the second quarter for the Falcons. Five minutes in, Neshaminy's Maci Fox, widened the lead by picking up a ball that got through the defense and reverse dumping it right past the PHS goalie. "It was like a carbon copy of their second goal and extremely frustrating to watch happen, not once, but twice," stated Curtis. "Fox made a heads up play and took advantage of another moment when our defense was not in a solid state." The Skins led 3-1 with ten minutes left in the third quarter. The rest of the third belonged to Neshaminy as they earned some corners and had more possessions, stifling Pennsbury's chances to dig out of the 3-1 hole.
As the final quarter loomed, the Falcons were not shaken. They knew that fifteen minutes was forever and they could claw their way back into the game. Halfway through the fourth they did just that. "Regan Rodriguez had a great stick down, plow to the ball moment picking up the rebound off of a Neshaminy stick. She barreled right past the defender and had a breakaway to goal. It was basically a two vs. goalie as Rodriguez passed to Harrison on the left, but the Skins' goalie read the play well and broke up the chance to shoot. But the play didn't stop there - Iacona got the rebound off of the pads and reversed a beautiful shot right back at the goalie. The goalie made another strong save, but Harrison was back on pads trying to get creative because the keeper was down. Harrison took a few good shots and the keeper had multiple saves in a row until she cleared the ball past Harrison only to find Leila Curtis waiting toward the top of the circle. Curtis fired a strong push onto goal while the keeper was trying to get back on her feet and it had just enough power to get by a defender trying to make a defensive save," recounted Curtis. The Falcons were back within one with about eight minutes left to play. The game was nowhere near over. The ball was in Pennsbury's scoring circle for a majority of the remaining time as they earned multiple corners leading up to a Falcon time out with about 2 1/2 minutes left to play. "We were dominating possession for a solid amount of time and just had to figure out a way to even the score. We are so confident in our overtime crew, we were hoping to get there," said Curtis. The black and orange earned another corner coming off of the time out and the excitement was palpable. Two more corners followed for PHS, but the ball just wasn't rolling their way. "It was amazing to watch our girls continue to fight and earn those set pieces into the final minutes of the game. We dug into our arsenal of plays and did our best to be creative and to execute at a high level. I think we did an awesome job of never giving up and playing to the bitter end," Curtis said. The stats were pretty closely matched with each team earning eleven corners and PHS getting five more shots on goal than Nesh. "This one will sting for a bit, but as we always do, we will break it down, take many powerful pieces from it, and prepare for the next step. It was a great high intensity, high level game and we are grateful for the privilege to be in that type of pressure situation. It only makes us stronger as players and as people."
Pennsbury will travel to Council Rock North on Wednesday to face them for the second time.
No one likes to share when it comes to titles and Neshaminy made sure it won't happen, as they walked away with a 3-2 victory in what proved to be another great battle.
Pennsbury came out the gates with power and earning two penalty corners in a row in the first minute. The Skins denied the opportunity with strong defense and sent a message that this would be a fight for the full sixty. Neshaminy answered with two penalty corners and connected on one of their set plays with a shot and deflection to put the red and blue up 1-0 halfway through the first quarter. "Our goalie misplayed the corner shot and did not have a strong save so it got through her feet and Neshaminy's Hailey Wert, who inserted, was right at the post to deflect the ball," said PHS coach, Traci Curtis.
The rest of the quarter was played between the 25s with stats matching up between the two teams and the score holding 1-0.
The second quarter continued to be a back and forth fight of skill, strength, speed, and opportunity. Five minutes into the quarter, Neshaminy found another moment to capitalize and put the Skins up 2-0. "Unfortunately, we got caught in another defensive breakdown and it cost us again. Maci Fox beat our defender, dribbled into the circle with tons of space and took a shot from right to left. Our goalie wasn't properly set and was beaten in that moment on a pretty straight forward shot." Curtis added, "We have not been down in too many games this season, but when it has happened we have found ways to push and persevere and that's what the girls dug in and did for the remaining ten minutes of the first half."
With two minutes left in the half Pennsbury made things very interesting and turned it into a one goal game. "Ryan Burdette started a quick free hit possession in the midfield and worked the ball into the circle, feeding it to goal. Abby Iacona received the rebound off of the pads, passed back out to Regan Rodriguez, who took a quick shot and Mallory Harrison timed a beautiful deflection perfectly," Curtis said. "It was a great teamwork moment and proved what we are made of," said Curtis. When the horn sounded for halftime the stadium was electric and the Falcons were on fire.
Pennsbury had possession at the start of the second half and in the first two minutes earned three penalty corners in a row, putting pressure on full tilt. "We certainly did not take advantage of the opportunities we had. We worked so hard to earn the advantage and get the set piece and then we misplayed all three corners," explained Curtis. "We cannot give up those chances against a team like Neshaminy and make it ten times harder for ourselves. It's hard enough," added Curtis. It was a 2-1 game going into the five minute halftime.
The start of third quarter was a repeat of the second quarter for the Falcons. Five minutes in, Neshaminy's Maci Fox, widened the lead by picking up a ball that got through the defense and reverse dumping it right past the PHS goalie. "It was like a carbon copy of their second goal and extremely frustrating to watch happen, not once, but twice," stated Curtis. "Fox made a heads up play and took advantage of another moment when our defense was not in a solid state." The Skins led 3-1 with ten minutes left in the third quarter. The rest of the third belonged to Neshaminy as they earned some corners and had more possessions, stifling Pennsbury's chances to dig out of the 3-1 hole.
As the final quarter loomed, the Falcons were not shaken. They knew that fifteen minutes was forever and they could claw their way back into the game. Halfway through the fourth they did just that. "Regan Rodriguez had a great stick down, plow to the ball moment picking up the rebound off of a Neshaminy stick. She barreled right past the defender and had a breakaway to goal. It was basically a two vs. goalie as Rodriguez passed to Harrison on the left, but the Skins' goalie read the play well and broke up the chance to shoot. But the play didn't stop there - Iacona got the rebound off of the pads and reversed a beautiful shot right back at the goalie. The goalie made another strong save, but Harrison was back on pads trying to get creative because the keeper was down. Harrison took a few good shots and the keeper had multiple saves in a row until she cleared the ball past Harrison only to find Leila Curtis waiting toward the top of the circle. Curtis fired a strong push onto goal while the keeper was trying to get back on her feet and it had just enough power to get by a defender trying to make a defensive save," recounted Curtis. The Falcons were back within one with about eight minutes left to play. The game was nowhere near over. The ball was in Pennsbury's scoring circle for a majority of the remaining time as they earned multiple corners leading up to a Falcon time out with about 2 1/2 minutes left to play. "We were dominating possession for a solid amount of time and just had to figure out a way to even the score. We are so confident in our overtime crew, we were hoping to get there," said Curtis. The black and orange earned another corner coming off of the time out and the excitement was palpable. Two more corners followed for PHS, but the ball just wasn't rolling their way. "It was amazing to watch our girls continue to fight and earn those set pieces into the final minutes of the game. We dug into our arsenal of plays and did our best to be creative and to execute at a high level. I think we did an awesome job of never giving up and playing to the bitter end," Curtis said. The stats were pretty closely matched with each team earning eleven corners and PHS getting five more shots on goal than Nesh. "This one will sting for a bit, but as we always do, we will break it down, take many powerful pieces from it, and prepare for the next step. It was a great high intensity, high level game and we are grateful for the privilege to be in that type of pressure situation. It only makes us stronger as players and as people."
Pennsbury will travel to Council Rock North on Wednesday to face them for the second time.