Dingler’s last-minute score lifts Upper Perkiomen over Upper Moreland
UPPER MORELAND — After barely sneaking into the District 1-AA playoffs as the No. 10 seed, Upper Perkiomen decided it wanted to stay a while.
That is what happens when a team is led by a senior class that has made long runs at districts the norm.
Tuesday, senior midfielder Sam Dingler scored the game-winner with one minute left in regulation while Michaela Swenk and Aubrey Wilcox both accounted for markers as Upper Perkiomen continued its quest for its second-straight District 1 Championship with a 3-2 victory over No. 6 Upper Moreland in the District 1-AA opening round.
Hannah Mack finished the game with seven saves while Karlee Fretz, Wilcox, Dingler and Swenk each added assists in the Tribe’s (9-10-1) first win since they topped Pope John Paul II, 5-1, on Oct. 9. Mack was impressive on multiple occasions, most notably on a quick-reflexive save off an Alexa Wister redirection late in the second half.
Upper Perkiomen will travel Thursday to face New Hope-Solebury at 3:30 p.m. The Tribe defeated NHS 3-1 in the second round of the Class AA tournament in 2012.
“We wanted to win,’ Upper Perkiomen head coach Jamie Warren said. “It’s a good win for our girls and they’re coming together at the right time.’
Dingler’s last-minute goal capped off a back-and-forth second half that saw the Tribe rack up 11 penalty corners; three in the last seven minutes. The last corner proved to be the backbreaker for Upper Moreland as Dingler worked the near post after an insert to Swenk, before sweeping in her pass for the winner.
Dingler’s last-minute goal capped off a back-and-forth second half that saw the Tribe rack up 11 penalty corners; three in the last seven minutes. The last corner proved to be the backbreaker for Upper Moreland as Dingler worked the near post after an insert to Swenk, before sweeping in her pass for the winner.
“It’s exciting,’ Dingler said. “We weren’t looking to go to overtime. We just wanted to come out of here with a win and we did. We pulled off the upset.’
Upper Moreland’s Maura O’Leary and Delaney Smith scored while Allison Felicetti registered seven saves in the loss, culminating a season in which the Bears (12-6-1 overall) rebounded from a three-win season a year ago. The district appearance was the Bears’ first since 2008.
“I have to be proud of them (my team),’ Karen Grossi said. “They did a great job. They came out in the second half and played hard. Things started clicking that weren’t quite clicking in the first half.’
Tuesday, however, belonged to the Tribe and to a senior class led by Dingler, Wilcox and Mack that has seen its team make the District 1-AA finals each year they’ve been on the squad. And with an underclassmen-laden lineup, their leadership was evident as the Tribe scored two unanswered goals in the second half to propel them to the win.
“It’s helped that all of the seniors that we have are very well experienced,’ Dingler said. “It gives us confidence that we can give to our other players. We know what Upper Perk is capable of. We know what it takes to win and we can use that to energize the rest of the team.’
The senior’s experience showed early as she took Fretz’s insert and followed with a gorgeous through ball to Wilcox who easily tapped it into a wide-open cage for a 1-0 lead midway through the first half.
After O’Leary and Smith scored twice in a seven-minute span to open up the second half, the Tribe answered as Swenk took an insert from Wilcox on the team’s seventh penalty corner of the half before firing a laser from the top of the circle that scorched past Felicetti to tie the game 2-2 midway through the half, setting up Dingler’s heroics to ice it.
“We need to prove that we are a strong team,’ head coach Jamie Warren said. “We weren’t going to let this win slip away from us.’
NOTES
Upper Perkiomen was the only PAC-10 team that did not go overtime in its district opener. In Class AAA, Phoenixville won 5-4 in overtime courtesy of Bailey Quinn’s stroke over Quakertown, Methacton fell to Avon Grove 1-0 on Mary Gould’s OT winner and Owen J. Roberts fell in a shootout to Mount Saint Joseph, 1-0, in the nightcap.
