Phoenixville ends PAC-10 season with OT win vs. Pottstown

POTTSTOWN >> Her timing couldn’t have been better.

After Phoenixville made a late push, scoring six goals in the final six minutes, Phantoms attack Katie McErlean scored the game-winner midway through overtime to give Phoenixville an 11-10 win over Pottstown on Thursday afternoon.

“I just wanted to get this game over with,” said McErlean with a laugh moments after scoring the game-winner off a free position. “It was definitely a good way for us to end our regular season.”

The result ends Phoenixville’s run at 5-8 in Pioneer Athletic Conference play (7-11 overall). Although the Phantoms did nearly everything they could during the final week of the season to make a push for the No. 2 seed in the PAC-10’s Liberty Division, they came up just short.

Pope John Paul II’s 12-10 win over Upper Perkiomen secured the Golden Panthers’ the coveted spot in the PAC-10 playoffs.

Pottstown ends the season at 1-12 in PAC-10 play (4-14 overall).

McErlean’s deciding goal on a free position came moments after her first attempt was knocked down by Pottstown keeper Reilly Owens. With the ball in her stick and her focus on the net, she knew she’d need to take a different route to the goal.

“I went low-right, instead of low-left on her,” she said. “I scored two or three of my goals low-left, so I knew she’d be anticipating it. I wanted to change it up and try and catch her off-guard.”

On the day, McErlean caught the Pottstown defense off-guard numerous times, netting a game-high seven goals, including three in the final six minutes as Phoenixville went on a five-goal tear despite trailing 10-5 in a span of five minutes.

“We told the team, ‘We’ve got six minutes to get one goal at a time,’” said Phoenixville head coach Aamina Thornton. “Then one goal happened, and another goal happened. Once we scored three quick goals in that time span, I think our girls started to believe that we could do this.”

“It was a team effort,” said McErlean. “We run the play a lot where I take the ball up high and everyone else goes low — all the cuts and the passes started clicking late in the second half. We made a really solid push.”

Trailing 11-10 in the waning seconds, Kyra Trafford scooped up an errant pass in front of the Trojan goal and flicked it past to push overtime.

Trafford scored Phoenixville’s final two goals in regulation, while Kylie Crovetti, Sean Tuckman and Abby Sims each added a solo tally. Emily Lolli finished with nine saves in goal for the Phantoms.

As much as Phoenixville turned on its attack late in the second half, Pottstown couldn’t find a way to get it back under control. After opening the half on a five-goal tear of their own, the Trojans offense suddenly fell silent, giving way to the Phantoms.

Sophomore Ebony Reddick tied a team-high four goals while Mardiaje Pearson notched four goals, including an unassisted tally with 43 seconds left to make the score 11-10.

“We’ve been battling numbers all season,” said Pottstown head coach Brandy Scherer. “We finished the season with 13 girls — one reserve. That’s had a toll on us as games have gone on into the second half. It’s hard to keep up physically, mentally and emotionally as the game wears on.”

Da’Zah Regusters scored twice, including her score with 13 minutes left where she picked it up in front of the Pottstown net and carried it the distance of the field for the strike. Jayla Holloway scored once and Emily Iezzi posted an assist.

Owens, a freshman, finished with eight saves in goal for Pottstown.

“We’ve got a lot of youth on our roster,” added Scherer, “which has its positives and its negatives. In situations like we faced today, we don’t really have that experience.”

With the season ending amidst a two-game winning streak, Thornton says her team made some serious strides as the season went on.

“I wish we had this team all season long,” she said. “We improved so much throughout the season. We’re a young team that worked well together and I think we finally started to believe that we can compete with anybody. They ended it on two big wins.”

NOTES >> Phoenixville beat Pope John Paul II 9-7 on Wednesday, May 4. … Emma Visnov posted an assist for the Phantoms.