Perkiomen Valley ends Upper Perkiomen’s perfect start
GRATERFORD >> The transition to inter-division play in the Pioneer Athletic Conference can be daunting, namely for Frontier Division squads.
Entering with an undefeated record, the Upper Perkiomen girls lacrosse team knew it wouldn’t be an easy feat to leave Perkiomen Valley High School with its record still unscathed Wednesday afternoon.
In the end, boasting a lineup that has been regularly tested to this point of the season, Perkiomen Valley outlasted the Tribe, 11-8.
“This loss will ground us a little bit,” said Upper Perkiomen senior Morgan Rynn, who notched three goals and two assists in the loss. “Not that we were riding a high — we knew we weren’t going to go through the league undefeated. But Perk Valley played us really well, and this will definitely serve as a transition for the tough games that are ahead.”
The result hands Upper Perk (4-1 PAC-10, 5-1 overall) its first loss of the season while Perkiomen Valley improves to 2-3 in the PAC-10 (3-3 overall).
Perkiomen Valley senior Christie Balestra scored a game-high five goals and added an assist while Anna Koniencki and Paige Tyson each found twine twice.
Fresh-off a 12-11 loss to Methacton on Monday afternoon, Balestra described Wednesday’s result as exactly what the team needed.
“That loss against Methacton really hurt,” she said afterward. “It was back-and-forth the whole way, but we couldn’t pull it out in the end.
“Coming into today, though, we were all hungry. Upper Perk is always a strong team with a lot of talented players. So we knew it wouldn’t be easy at all. We knew this one was a must-win.”
Despite an impressive three-goal win over Spring-Ford earlier this month, the Vikings hadn’t had an easy time in the Liberty Division. With a 1-3 record in the division, being outscored 50-35 through those four games, Wednesday’s result could be just the spark PV needs.
“We know that we have a lot of things that we still need to work on,” said Perkiomen Valley head coach Kathy Kelley. “The PAC-10 is wide open right now, and the girls know that. Anything is possible at this point in the season. We’ve just got to take advantage of every win we can.”
Devon Fleischmann finished with 12 saves to earn the win in goal. Kat Kelley finished the game with a goal and three assists while Abby Bergman notched a goal and an assist.
Leading 5-4 just over three minutes into the second half, Perkiomen Valley rattled off four unanswered goals capped by Kat Kelley’s sweet give to Balestra with 14 minutes to go. Upper Perk rallied to bring it to 9-7 on Rynn’s second goal of the game with eight minutes left, but the Vikings had already put too much space between the two for the Tribe to rally back.
As she watched her team’s unbeaten record come to an end against Perkiomen Valley, Upper Perkiomen head coach Susan Flack says her team’s inexperience at times caught up with them.
“We weren’t taking care of the ball and we weren’t moving their goalie around enough,” she said. “Too many times, we shot the ball right at her. You can’t do that against a good team — you have to place the corners.”
Behind Rynn’s three-goal showing, Lauren Weeks scored twice while Kenzie Gebhardt, Liz Fox (assist) and Erika Boyer each notched a goal. Regan McComb made 11 saves in goal.
The loss encompasses a difficult stretch Upper Perkiomen will undergo in the coming weeks with games against Spring-Ford and Methacton in the next week — both still very much in the hunt for the currently up-for-grabs Frontier Division.
“We knew today serves as the start of us facing a lot of tough teams,” said Flack. “PV is an all-around solid team that can beat you in a lot of different ways. That’s how most of these big schools are. They’ve several good players, so we’re definitely going to have to be prepared for the challenges ahead.”
NOTES >> Perkiomen Valley has yet to lose two consecutive games on the season … The Vikings face Pottstown on Friday … Rynn’s second goal was originally called-off on account of a dangerous follow-through, but was then added to make it 9-7.
