Upper Dublin finds payback on Cheltenham

Upper Dublin has stumbled out of the gates in Suburban One American Conference play as it went into Tuesday’s game against Cheltenham with a 3-5 record.
One of the Cardinals early season conference losses was a 1-0 loss to the Panthers as Upper Dublin entered the game with revenge on its mind. The result a convincing 5-0 win over visiting Cheltenham.
“This was a revenge game in a way,” Upper Dublin coach Heather Boyer said. “We lost to Cheltenham the first time around when we had more corners, more (shots on) goal and came out with a very disappointing loss that day. This game needed to be a ‘no doubt about it.’”
The Cardinals jumped out on Cheltenham early and never looked back as Marlee Siegel scored on an assist from Maddie Templeton less than five minutes into the game.
“(We) set the tempo from the get go,” Boyer said. “Sometimes we’ll score a goal and then we get complacent and today they were looking to keep getting opportunities on goal.”
The offensive star of the game was Cardinals sophomore Anna Gouveia. Boyer explained how she has used Gouveia at a multitude of positions because of her talent in order to fill holes where needed. Gouveia, now settling into a center forward position has developed a nose for the goal.
“She has been a trooper,” Boyer said. “She played right defensive back for us last year as a freshman. This year I had her at center back, I had her at center mid, I had her at center forward, I moved her out to right mid I was moving her all over the place.”
Gouveia also echoing the sediments of a revenge game went off for three goals as she was an offensive force throughout the game as she facilitated the Cardinal offense.
“Our team in the beginning of the year we were struggling to score,” Gouveia said of her role as a goal scorer. “Being the one that was able to get it in the cage was a very good feeling (because) it makes me feel like I’m not letting the team down. And its not just me scoring, its everyone on the team that’s contributing to the goals.”
For the Panthers, they faced a tough spot as the Cardinals wanted to send a statement after the teams prior meeting. Cheltenham failed to establish any flow on offense managing only six shots at the Upper Dublin net.
“Just connecting with each other and trying to get passes off sooner,” Cheltenham coach Elaine McGoldrick said of the offensive struggles. “That’s the key to beating defensives is getting passes off.”
With the rematch in the books the Cardinals and Panthers find themselves with identical 4-5 conference records with plenty of season left to go. For Upper Dublin it has eight games over the next 12 days.