Clutch late goal from O’Brien pushes PW past CB South in District 1-AAA 2nd round

WHITEMARSH >> With time winding down and the game tied at two, No. 7 Plymouth Whitemarsh needed someone to step up.  Luckily for the Colonials, senior captain Frankie O’Brien was up for the task.

O’Brien controlled a penalty corner with just 2:12 left in the game, calmly pulled her stick back and sent the ball into the back of the goal for what would be the game winner as they beat No.23 Central Bucks South 3-2 to advance to the quarterfinals of the District 1-AAA playoffs.

“We’ve been working on corners and practicing corners since the preseason,” O’Brien said. “Coach has given us a really solid set of corners to work from and we just executed as a team and did what we should have been doing all game.”

It was a tale of two halves for both teams.

In the first, Plymouth Whitemarsh controlled the ball for most of the time and it showed on the score sheet.

O’Brien converted on an early penalty stroke then later assisted on a Sam Speera goal as the Colonials went into the half up 2-0.

“I thought we played a decently strong first half, obviously we got the two goals so that was good,” PW head coach Charise Halteman said. “Second half I didn’t think we played as composed as we would have liked which obviously made the game a little closer than we wanted at the end.”

Even though they fell behind early, CB South didn’t panic and looked like the more relaxed team as the second half got under way, battling back to tie it on goals from Lauren Dougherty and Casey Reilly.

All the momentum was with CB South for the majority of the second half. Unfortunately for the Titans, it ended up being too little too late as they could not hold on as the game came to a close.

Early on, there was some controversy surrounding the Frankie O’ Brien penalty stroke that gave the Colonials the 1-0 lead. The referee ruled that Dougherty had made “full body contact” with O’Brien which lead to the stroke, something CB South head coach Pat Toner strongly disagreed with.

“No I’m not happy about it and this is not the first time that that has occurred,” Toner said. “I don’t like to bad mouth refs but that’s not the first time in my career, or most of the other coaches I know careers, where that particular person (the ref) has influenced the outcome of a game and it’s been frustrating.”

Whether or not she agreed with the call, Toner also was sure to note that either way, the Colonials deserved the win and played a great game.

For CB South, the loss brings their season to an end. However, for a team that won just 3 games the year before, this was quite a bounce back performance.

“I’m proud of my kids for coming back,’ said Toner “They were 3-15 last year and when Meg Hutchinson and I took over we knew they had lost a number of players, so I’m just really proud of them for what they just accomplished.’

PW’s season continue Friday, as its visits No. 2 Conestoga, which defeated No. 15 Dowingtown East 11-1 Wednesday.

In the past, this time of year has been unkind to the Colonials as they have struggled to get out of the second round of districts. Luckily for them, this year was a different story thanks to some heroics from their captain.