Pennsbury clinches first ever Suburban One League National Conference championship

Pennsbury captured the program’s first ever Suburban One League (SOL) National Conference trophy with last week’s scoreless tie Oct. 9 at home against Neshaminy.

While the Lady Falcons have won districts twice and a PIAA championship once in 1999 under then head coach Lou Sudholz, present-day skipper Kate Battiste says Pennsbury had never won the league trophy — until now.

“We have some veteran leadership but we have a lot of younger players so we have a pretty good balance,’ the coach said.

Junior Jadyn Peto leads the Falcon attack with seven goals and seniors Uche Onuoha and Megan Engeland are right behind with six goals each. Junior goalkeeper Nany Santiago has recorded eight shutouts in the net for Pennsbury including the recent duel with Neshaminy.

Both of the Falcons ties have been with the Lady Skins. The first duel with Neshaminy ended in a 1-1 draw with Maggie Daeche reaching the back of the net for the Skins and Meri Webb scoring for Pennsbury.

The Falcons made it back to the state finals in 2000 where they lost 1-0 to Hempfield, a fourth-place finisher from District 3. The team last made a deep postseason run when they reached the PIAA quarterfinals with Dana Mitchell in the nets for Pennsbury.

The Black Knights were only the second team NOT from District 1 to win a state title in spring soccer. (Emmaus was the other, in 1997).

The present-day Falcons don’t have any thoughts of their team’s past history on their minds, says Battiste. “They’re living in the moment right now,’ said the coach.