Springfield takes down Cheltenham in SOL American action

It would have been easy for Springfield to rest on its 3-0-halftime lead as it took on Cheltenham that entered Monday’s Suburban One American Conference game with a 0-12 conference record.

The Spartans didn’t sit on its lead and continued to throw shots at the Panther cage as they cruised to a 6-0 win.

“We didn’t do a lot of crowding and we did some nice passing so that was good,” Springfield coach Linda Nixon said.

Springfield spent almost the whole day in the Cheltenham zone as it fired 25 shots and received 13 corner opportunities.

“I don’t think we scored off any of them,” Nixon said of the corner chances. “The more corners you draw, the bigger your opportunity is to score. That’s the reward of drawing a foul.”

The main catalyst to the Spartan offense was Ellie Hamilton as her three goal-one assist performance led all scorers. Hamilton was supported with other nice performances from Mason Delareo, Victoria Ebner, and Madison Baer.

“We have scored inconsistently,” Nixon said. “So today it was nice chance to have people in the circle… It was nice, to be able, without (having) any practice to get in and get some shooting in.”

Nimi Badejoko highlighted Cheltenham’s performance as the keeper for the Panthers stopped 18 Spartan shots, many of which coming from close range.

“Nimi Badejoko has improved so much this season,” Cheltenham assistant coach Lizzy Wawrzyniak said. “She saved 18 out of (24 shots on goal), that’s not a bad ratio.”

For Cheltenham, a young team and young program, the slow and steady growth continues. While a 6-0 loss doesn’t look great on the record the result still shows growth for the young Panthers.

“I think that the girls have improved a lot over the season,” Wawrzyniak said. “I don’t think the score often reflects how much they’ve improved and how well they’ve played compared to the beginning of the season.”

As for the Spartans they pull their record to 6-7 in the American Conference with one game remaining against Wissahickon, sitting third in the American Conference with a 9-4 mark. Some how, nearly inexplicably, Springfield finds itself on the outside looking in with concerns to the District-One A playoff standings.

“Sacred Heart was in eighth and we were in seventh, they’re taking seven teams, but they just reversed the two of us,” Nixon said. “We lost to Gwynedd-Mercy on Friday, I don’t know if it included that game I’m assuming it may have.”