King’s brace leads Strath Haven past Haverford
On a team of walking wounded, Strath Haven coach Gino Miraglia had no choice but to field a starting lineup featuring six sophomores Tuesday.
To a girl, they rose to the occasion. Led by two goals from sophomore sensation Lizzie King, the Panthers rolled to a 4-1 Central League win over Haverford to keep their dim league title hopes alive.
King scored twice in the second half to seal the game, both off assists from classmates, and bring her season total to 20 tallies. In the 58th minute, a long ball from goalkeeper Katie Fisher sprung King, who took a touch and blasted one into the back of the net.
With the game getting stretched late, King struck in a similar fashion 11 minutes from time. This time, the pass was provided by Claire Van Duyne, a rock in central defense all game, for King to bury.
Despite Haverford (8-6, 5-4) getting off to a better start, Haven (10-2-2, 7-0-2) opened the scoring in the 12th minute when Maddy Tannert-Schmidt headed home a perfect corner kick from Julianne DeCarlo. The lead stretched to two on another set piece in the 35th minute, with Grace Dickey’s free kick from 24 yards out deflecting off a defender and into the net for an own goal.
Both of the key figures in those goals would join the Panthers injured list. Tannert-Schmidt hurt her ankle but eventually returned. Dickey sustained a nasty looking leg injury in the second half that ended her day.
The Fords’ goal came off a corner in the 61st minute, Maddie Santoro side-volleying home an excellent delivery from Olivia Butera to cut the lead to 3-1 and briefly foster hopes of a comeback.
Fisher made sure the lead held up, making seven saves and aggressively coming off her line on several occasions to contend with the speed of Haverford’s forwards.
In other Central League action:
Marple Newtown 3, Ridley 0: Megan Lynch accounted for all the scoring by posting two goals and an assist, while Shannon McCarthy and Morgan Van Zeist also added helpers for the Tigers.
Lower Merion 3, Springfield 1: Cailyn Gormley scored in the second half for the Cougars, who peppered Lower Merion goalie Mo McConnell with 15 shots.
Harriton 5, Upper Darby 2: Chelsea Vondran and Breanna Watson broke through for goals in the second half, but it wasn’t enough to rally the Royals.
In the Inter-Ac League:
Agnes Irwin 3, Springside Chestnut Hill 2: Junior midfielder Emily Fryer tied it on a long-range blast in the first half and netted the go-ahead goal in the second half, and sophomore goalie Hailey Andress (five saves) came on to replace injured starter Kendall Shein (two saves) to close out the win.
Penn Charter 4, Notre Dame 0: Katie McCullough’s 13 saves were not enough to keep the Irish (4-6-1, 0-4) from falling.
In the Bicentennial League:
Delco Christian 1, Faith Christian 0: Julia Kyne broke the scoreless tie by depositing Kailey Neef’s feed 15 minutes into in the second half, and RonnieMarie Falasco made the lead stand up with seven saves for the Knights (8-4-2, 5-2-1).
In a nonleague match:
Interboro 5, Bonner-Prendergast 0: Danielle Iavarone scored twice in a five-minute span in the second half and Madison Hengey contributed a pair of assists to help the Bucs (4-8-2) pull away.
