Trick, Readinger lead Souderton past CB South
FRANCONIA >> During preseason, Souderton girls soccer coach Chris Felber had a message for midfielder Sara Readinger.
The junior center midfielder was going to be an integral piece of the puzzle for the Indians, but Felber wanted to express just how much faith he had in her. Monday night, with Central Bucks South basically slamming on Souderton’s door with a sledgehammer, Readinger kept finding herself on the winning end of a critical ball.
Thanks to Readinger, senior Allie Trick and a host of defenders, the Indians held off the Titans 2-1 and jumped to the top of the Suburban One League Continental Conference.
“I told her Paul Pogba was bought for nearly 100 million by Manchester United in England and that he’s a poor man’s Sara Readinger,” Felber said. “I told her ‘he’s got nothing on you, so you must be worth a whole lot more than that.’ She’s awesome, she’s dominated these last two-and-a-half weeks.”
Monday’s clash saw each team dominate a half, but thanks to Trick, the Indians (9-2-0, 5-2-0 conference) were able to cash in the one chance that paid the difference after 80 minutes. The junior assisted Tori Dowd’s goal, then scored the eventual game-winner as part of a Big Red-dominated first half.
It wasn’t quite Souderton’s 4-3 win in double overtime early in the season, but this match didn’t lack any of the drama. South’s exceptional senior forward, Aleksa Peev, caused problems all night and the Titans (5-3-3, 3-2-2) hounded the Indians almost to the final whistle chasing an equalizer.
“It means a lot to us, it puts us ahead in the conference and it’s the first time in 15 years that we’ve done that,” Trick said. “It’s the first time Coach Felber has beaten South home and away, so it’s a big confidence boost for us.”
Early on, it was all about Souderton and set pieces. The Indians had five corner kicks in the first half, plus at least three free kicks that all dropped the ball into the CB South 18-yard box, yet there were no goals or even shots on goal, to show for them.
Much of that was due to South’s defending, with senior fullback Margot Centofanti and center back Amanday Krysko leading the effort. While Peev threatened a couple times, it was the Indians who felt like they were due to score first.
“It came down to us being aggressive and winning all the 50/50 balls,” Readinger said. “Everyone working together really helped us.”
Trick credited Readinger for giving the front line plenty of great balls to create chances with and the midfielder was especially good at picking out runners with through balls on Monday. One of those passes found its way out to Trick on the left wing, where Trick carried it to the endline and fired a low cross back in front of goal.
In came Dowd, taking one of her trademark sliding shots to poke the ball in with 14:09 left in the opening half.
With about 3:30 left in the half, Trick struck again, this time showing the full array of her ability. The winger stole the ball from a South defender, then showed her speed as she outraced the back line and slotted the ball home past Titans keeper Maddie McShane.
“The through balls were really on to both of us wingers, Tori Dowd and myself, Sara just gave us awesome through balls all night,” Trick said. “We were getting behind the backs and getting our crosses through.
“I went for it, won the tackle and went straight for goal, that’s always my first thought. I saw the goalie move to one side and I had an open shot.”
The Titans came out with plenty of intensity and energy in the second half and made a point to go down the right side of the field. Peev almost wore out a path on the Souderton turf with the amount of runs she made along the wing, most ending with a hard-hit cross into the box.
In the teams’ first meeting, Peev had carried her team in the second half and into extra time, so Felber knew it was going to take more than one defender to deal with the senior. Hannah Kramer, Sam Harwick and finally Miranda Kullman all got shifts at left back, with all of them going up against Peev.
It was Kullman who made a crucial late play, getting position on the striker inside the box and preventing Peev from getting a shot off in the final 90 seconds of play.
“It’s so fast and when you sub, you have to get up to speed really, really quickly,” Felber said. “As soon as I saw Peev hit that second gear, it was time to go in with a sub. Miranda came in and did great, she made some plays, stuck with her. I knew she could do it, it was just a case of one of them had to be there and as soon as I saw that energy change, that’s when she went in.”
South’s goal came with 23:49 left when sophomore Grace Tecce played a wonderful cross to the far post that Brooke Steigerwalt was able to head home.
Readinger said holding off South in the second half was a matter of positioning and making sure the wingers and fullbacks were dropping back and picking up runners. Souderton’s offensive philosophy is to score three goals per game, but Felber wasn’t afraid to have his mids and forwards drop back to more defensive roles as time starting to wind down.
“Coach switched our fullbacks so we were playing more man-marking,” Readinger said. “We wanted someone on their one strong player up front (Peev) who was giving us most of the trouble.”
The road doesn’t get easier for Souderton, with a visit to Central Bucks East on Wednesday and then Pennridge coming in next Tuesday night. Big Red has its sights set on a Continental title, a playoff bye and getting to states, so they know what’s on the line.
It helps that every league game feels like a postseason game anyway.
“Most of the teams in our league are going to the playoffs,” Readinger said. “Every night, you have to win if you even want a chance to getting where you want to go.”
SOUDERTON 2, CENTRAL BUCKS SOUTH 1
SOUDERTON 2 0 – 2
CB SOUTH 0 1 – 1
Goals: S – Tori Dowd (Allie Trick), Allie Trick; CBS – Brooke Steigerwalt (Grace Tecce). Shots: S – 4, CBS – 7. Saves: S – Lindsey Pazdziorko 6, CBS – Maddie McShane 2.
