Plymouth-Whitemarsh girls soccer bests Upper Moreland in overtime

WHITEMARSH >> Eighty minutes was not enough to decide the winner in Wednesday’s Suburban One League American Conference opener between Plymouth Whitemarsh and Upper Moreland girls soccer at Plymouth Whitemarsh High School.

The league rivals were locked at one for another 10 minutes after the first overtime and the Colonials finally separated themselves in the second extra session.

PW senior Jewel Terraces’ throw-in led to a big crowd and confusion in front of the Upper Moreland net. Somewhere in the chaos, sophomore Sara Putsch found an opening and sent her team into a celebration with a hard-fought 2-1 victory.

“The girls feel great about themselves right now,” PW coach Chris Young said. “They did great. They earned it and we will build from here.”

“All of the girls had a really great effort,” Upper Moreland coach Linda Benvenuto said of her side. “It’s unfortunate that you go into that golden goal and to lose the way that we lost today is tough after working so hard.”

Each team scored fairly early in the first half to set up what would become a defensive struggle. On the Colonials (1-1) first possession of the game, Terraces and freshman Alyse Caffrey perfectly executed a give-and-go that ended with Terraces putting the ball into the back of the net.

The Bears (0-2) responded quickly when junior Brianna Byard threaded the needle to classmate Sydney Bachmayer for the equalizer.

“We would like (Terraces) to be (the focal point of the offense),” Young said. “She is a talented player. She worked hard all preseason and I expect great things from her all the way through. She is a fine player.”

Terraces could have scored a handful of goals — as could the rest of the Colonials offense — had Upper Moreland goalkeeper Kim Benge not been standing on her head en route to a 20-save performance, six of which came in the wild final minutes of regulation.

“Tremendous game by Kim,” Benvenuto said. “She’s a junior, she’s a captain, she’s a leader. She works hard. She broke down the angles … She played tremendous.”

The Colonials offense shot itself in the foot a few times as well. Young guessed that they had about eight offsides penalties by half-a-step that would have resulted in scoring chances and one shot that Benge got a piece of banged against the crossbar.

“It was more the offsides than the finishing,” Young said of the Colonials scoring troubles. “We didn’t even get to the goal for the majority of those touches. I wouldn’t say finishing was our issue as much as getting into the final third.”

As for the Plymouth Whitemarsh defense, sophomore goalkeeper Maria Robinson stopped 11 of the 12 shots she faced. The defenders — especially senior Maddie Berman — kept the Bears attack at arms length and didn’t allow many easy chances.

“(Maddie) organized the middle of the back nicely,” Young said.

Both teams are back in SOL American action Friday at 3:30 p.m. Upper Moreland hosts Wissahickon and Plymouth Whitemarsh travels to Upper Merion.