Owen J. Roberts stays unbeaten by beating Boyertown, 18-10
BOYERTOWN — The Wildcats are still rolling.
One day after taking a thrilling overtime victory over Perkiomen Valley, Owen J. Roberts kept its unscathed record intact with an 18-10 win over Boyertown on Friday afternoon.
“(Thursday) night was definitely a wake up call for us,’ said Owen J. Roberts junior Maddie Gebert, who scored the game winner in overtime (9-8) against PV. “We went into the game a little bit too confident, and they played us really well. But we settled down in the second half and stuck to our game. The way we played in the second half definitely carried over.’
Gebert scored seven goals for OJR (10-0 PAC-10, 14-0 overall) on Friday while Kerry Huzzard added six and Morgan Stone netted two. Anna Dempsey, Rachel Sharpe and Frankie Carroll each netted a goal. Sara Maute made nine saves in goal for the Wildcats in the win.
Boyertown (6-4, 7-6) was led by Hannah Jaskuta and Hailey Heimbach (two assists), who both netted three goals, while Maddy Siejk scored twice. Hannah Wentzel and Sydney Fox (two assists) both scored once.
“Our girls are still learning a lot about themselves and each other each game,’ said Boyertown head coach Pam Wernersbach. “We’re improving every game, and today was no different. We got behind early on, but we didn’t let them keep us down.’
For Huzzard and the Wildcats, the win against Boyertown was nothing different from their first matchup earlier in the season, when the Wildcats handed the Bears their second straight PAC-10 loss in over a decade just a day after Methacton ended their 152-game league winning streak.
“We came into this game just as motivated as we were earlier on in the season,’ Huzzard said. “Sure, we beat them before, but that was on our home field. Now, our goal was to come out and beat them on their turf. This season, we’ve done a lot of good things and shown ourselves what we can do.’
The Wildcats’ motivation looked to be at an all-time high early on, as they scored the first five goals of the game — spearheaded by Gebert’s three goals — in a matter of two and a half minutes.
The Bears scattered three goals throughout the opening half, but the Wildcats poured on four more, including Huzzard’s coming with 10 seconds left, to close the first half with an 11-3 lead.
“The girls really bounced back well from (Thursday),’ said Owen J. Roberts head coach Joe Tornetta. “I think they’re starting to realize that we’re not going to sneak up on anyone anymore. Every team is going to come out and play us hard, so we need to be prepared to play tough every game.’
Boyertown stepped up its intensity in the second half as Jaskuta scored all three of her goals while Heimbach scored twice including a breakaway off a steal just a minute into the half.
“The defense caused some good turnovers and we took advantage of it and created some fast break goals,’ said Wernersbach. “We played hard from start to finish, which is all we can ask for.’
Owen J. Roberts had an answer for every goal Boyertown scored, Huzzard and Gebert scoring a combined five goals in the second half to cruise to the win.
Although the team still boasts a ‘ 0′ in the loss column, Huzzard believes it’s something that hasn’t phased Owen J. Roberts.
“This season, we’ve proven a lot to ourselves,’ she said. “(Being undefeated) hasn’t really added any pressure on us. We’ve just been going out and playing hard in every game. Coming into the season, we knew we had all the potential to be a really strong team, we just need to keep following through and keep showing what we can do.’
NOTES — With the wind blowing from west to east, Owen J. Roberts scored 11 goals with the wind at their back while Boyertown totaled seven. The Wildcats scored seven goals against the breeze while the Bears had three. Emily Gilbert and Megan Markee combined for three saves in goal for Boyertown. Stone and Carroll each had an assist for OJR while Jaskuta and Wentzel both had one for Boyertown.
