Spring-Ford keeps playoff hopes alive with win over Boyertown

ROYERSFORD >> They persevered.

When they saw their eight-goal lead dwindle down to just two midway through the second half. When Boyertown took commanding control of the draws throughout. When the rain came down as heavy as it had all night.

They persevered through it all.

By the time the final buzzer sounded, the Spring-Ford Rams ended Boyertown’s hopes at a PAC-10 playoff berth with a 15-9 win on Wednesday night at Coach McNelly Stadium.

“We use that word a lot,” said Spring-Ford head coach Amy Short. “Perseverance — we talk about it in practice and during our games. We have the personnel to get through the toughest moments and take care of business. That’s what helped us close this one out. We persevered.”

Camryn Jones paced Spring-Ford with four goals, including the game’s first strike off the opening draw 12 seconds in.

The senior also added two assists while Cassie Marte scored a hat trick to go along with Jillian Quigley and Brianna Cirino’s two-goal, two-assist performances.

“We always seem to have those little spurts here and there,” added Short. “Tonight, our first half was nearly flawless. We executed almost everything to perfection.”

As a result, Spring-Ford (8-4 PAC-10, 13-4 overall) lives to see another day as the Rams make a push for a PAC-10 Final Four appearance after missing out last season. Spring-Ford is battling with Perkiomen Valley (8-4) for the No. 2 seed in the PAC-10 Liberty Division.

Boyertown’s season falls short of the PAC-10 playoffs for the second consecutive season, finishing PAC-10 play at 8-5 (10-7 overall).

Spring-Ford held a 9-3 lead after the halftime buzzer sounded on Wednesday. That cushion didn’t last long, though, as Boyertown’s offense put it together in the second half, eventually bringing it to 11-9 with 13 minutes left in regulation.

“That’s the tale of the season,” said Boyertown head coach Pam Wernersbach. “We start out really slow and then we play our buns off in the second half, but we unfortunately find ourselves in too big of a hole after the first half and can’t fight through it.”

Kyle Graver, Maddy Siejk (assist) and Hailey Heimbach scored two goals apiece while Kylie Webb had a score and an assist for Boyertown, which went on a four-goal tear in a span of four minutes.

“We didn’t make any changes in the second half,” said Wernersbach. “We just settled down, played harder and played more focused. We worked as hard as we could to get back into the game.”

Protecting their four-goal lead in the final four minutes, Spring-Ford took control of the possession and never give it back. With Boyertown running the double-team, desperately seeking a turnover, the Rams’ offense kept it patient and under control.

For Short and her coaching staff, her team’s controlled possession in the final minutes were a thing of beauty.

“It’s what we’ve struggled with this season — the stall,” she said. “We tried to stall last time (against Boyertown in early-April) and hold onto the ball, but they didn’t want to. They were more focused on scoring.

“We practiced it yesterday. We knew we may come into this situation at some point, so it paid off.”

It sure did.

Jones capped the long possession with a score, shortly followed by another from Cirino with five seconds left to put it away with a bang.

Although they left Coach McNelly Stadium on the winning end Wednesday, the Rams will be up to their tallest task on Saturday against Owen J. Roberts (11-1, 14-3), the No. 1 seed in the Liberty Division.

“We have to play as a team,” said Short. “We rely on each other in that way. We’re a very tight team, and we’ll need to bring a similar outlook with us Saturday that we had in the first half (tonight).”

Though the Bears’ PAC-10 season comes to a close earlier than anticipated, Wernersbach knows there is plenty of hope at Boyertown.

“We’re very junior-heavy, and realistically, we’re still very young,” she said. “Hopefully with time, we’ll continue to get better.”

NOTES >> Kamille Ward came up with 12 saves in goal for Spring-Ford. … Spring-Ford handed Owen J. Roberts its only PAC-10 loss all season (12-10 on April 11).