Quinn, Phoenixville making it look easy to start 2014
The Phoenixville field hockey team, once a total outcast in any Pioneer Athletic Conference championship discussion, has emerged.
Led by the scoring prowess of Bailey Quinn and a potent starting lineup that includes Katie McErlean, Bishop Shanahan transfer Haley White and TJ Jefferis, if there were to be a Phantoms team that could capture their first PAC-10 title in 16 years … well, this team is it.
Quinn, an Old Dominion verbal commit, has exploded out of the gate with 24 goals while McErlean has added six more as the Phantoms have run roughshod over their opponents so far this season — compiling an 8-0 overall record (4-0 PAC-10), while outscoring their PAC-10 opponents by a margin of 30-1.
For Quinn, who’s on pace for more than 50 goals this season, the winning streak comes as no surprise.
“We’ve been working really hard with ball connections, communicating and bonding,’ Quinn said, “We’re really close as a team and we’re really experienced as well.
“Our grade (Phoenixville Class of 2015) has been known for doing well in sports. We’re an athletic grade. We’re close as friends, we hang out all the time. We’re finding each other on the field and we’re doing well so far.’
“This is a good group because there is a lot of talent on it,’ Phoenixville head coach John Tornetta added. “I have 13 seniors and a lot of them are really solid hockey players.’
Quinn has registered at least one goal a game as the team has racked up impressive victories over Class AAA’s Great Valley (4-1), West Chester Rustin (7-2), Pennridge (3-1) and West Chester East (5-2). Along with Quinn, McErlean, Jefferis, White and Allison Trafford all have headlined a potent midfield and front line that has picked apart defenses with great runs and precision passes.
“TJ (Jefferis) and Katie (McErlean) are outstanding in finding Bailey and feeding her,’ Tornetta said. “Allison Trafford and Haley White just add to the level of how dangerous we can be.’
With its recent bump up to the Class AAA level and its scheduled filled with the Class AA teams in the Frontier, those wins could loom large when district seedings are announced.
“We’re at a big disadvantage because we’re not going to get another power points from those teams (AA level),’ Tornetta said. “We just have to do the best we can and get the points we have.’
For Quinn, her and her team’s focus is on the task at hand.
“We’re just going to take each game a step at a time,’ Quinn said. “We don’t want to look forward to the Final Four and take each game slow. We have high expectations for this team.
“Everyone is doing great. It all starts with (goalie) Kim (Rutherford), to defense to midfield. If it wasn’t for them, including Haley White who scored a hat trick, Katie McErlean and TJ Jefferis, we wouldn’t be where we are now. Everyone is pitching in and working really hard.’
REST OF THE PAC
No good news coming out of Methacton lately. The team lost U.S. national U-19 member Brittany Dickinson to an undisclosed lower body injury in the team’s 2-0 loss to Owen J. Roberts on Wednesday. The Warriors then dropped a 2-0 decision to Perkiomen Valley on Friday.
OJR’s Madison Schaffer tallied her first goal in the win over Methacton.
Ebony Reddick has starred for Pottstown registering three games with 25-plus saves, including a staggerign 38-save performance in a loss to Upper Perkiomen. Pottstown is sitting at 2-2 in the PAC-10 Frontier, already doubling their PAC-10 win total from a season ago. The team will host OJR Monday at 3:45 p.m.
Spring-Ford picked up its first PAC-10 victory with a 1-0 result over Boyertown.
AROUND THE STATE
Jacqueline Kantor of the Patriot News reported that Lower Dauphin’s Linda Kreiser notched her 700th career victory, leaving her third on the all-time wins chart.
Karen Sangillo, of the Bucks County Courier Times, is reporting that Council Rock North seniors Amrit Ahluwalia and Theresa Delahanty will attend Dartmouth and Lafayette, respectively. CR North is tied atop the Suburban One National division at 4-0 along with CR South.
Be sure to look out for the College Corner: Field Hockey in Tuesday’s edition of The Mercury.
