Lansdale Catholic gets needed challenge, tops Methacton
LANSDALE >> It was just the type of match the Lansdale Catholic girls soccer team needed.
The Crusaders, fresh off another big win in in Philadelphia Catholic League play, found themselves behind visiting Methacton early in the first half. For a team that hasn’t been in many close matches this season, it was a test to see how LC would respond.
LC did find a pair of goals, but it was still pushed for all 80 minutes of a 2-1 win over the Warriors on Tuesday.
“We tend to come out flat when we play games coming off a big win so it’s nice to have a game like this that kind of gives us that slap across the face that we needed to wake up and we need to play,” LC senior Sarah Cooney said. “It’s not going be easy when we play this type of team or even St. Hubert’s, O’Hara and (Archbishop) Ryan.”
The Warriors were also coming off a Monday match, a 2-0 loss at Spring-Ford under the lights. Methacton coach Bret Smith said the match with the Rams was the best his team had played all season and likewise got a good effort from his team on Tuesday. LC had trouble at first dealing with Methacton’s size and physical play and even to the end, the Warriors kept creating chances.
Methacton scored first when Lauren McNichol’s shot from the edge of the box grazed another player and found its way into the back of the net in the 11th minute. It was the type of chance Methacton generated most of the game but unlike many of them, the Warriors kept this one on frame.
“I thought we had the same amount of dangerous chances, we had the golden chance at the end where if it’s anywhere on the frame, it’s probably going in,” Smith said. “I was really proud of their effort, a couple players went 80 minutes last night and 80 minutes today. The fight was there, the battle was there, we’re just not getting the bounces going our way right now.”
One thing the Crusaders count on is their positional versatility. They feel any player can jump into any other spot and such was the case Tuesday with Kiera O’Sullivan. The junior started at center back, but subbed off in the first half and when she came back on, she did so as a center midfielder.
O’Sullivan had a strong match overall, but she gave the Crusaders new life with the game-tying goal in the 26th minute. Senior Kate Henesey had hustled to the end line, flicking the ball over her head to keep it in play with O’Sullivan tracking it down and launching a shot on target.
The ball took a deflection off a Methacton defender, leaving keeper Liz Greene unable to make the stop.
“I was happy for Kiera to get credit for that,” LC coach Tom O’Donnell said. “She earned it and worked for it. She generated that, there are a number of kids that are just versatile for us.”
Greene had a great game for the Warriors, making 12 saves including a second-half kick stop on Henesey and a couple of other pinpoint stuffs.
“She had a really, really good game, she came up with some big saves and was holding onto the ball really well,” Smith said. “It was an unfortunate bounce on the first goal, we’ve had three or four of them so far this season.”
Cooney noted that Methacton won a lot of tackles and 50/50 balls with their physical style and it showed the Crusaders how much every tackle matters. Offensively, Henesey felt her team’s decision making wasn’t good in the first half and the intermission provided them a chance to regroup.
Henesey, who scored her 100th career goal on Monday, got goal 101 in the second half to provide the eventual winner. In typical fashion, the senior just fought her way through a pair of defenders in the box until she could get a shot off low and away in the 51st minute.
“We had to start focusing where we were playing the ball,” Henesey said. “I had to play with my head and be smart. I couldn’t just run into a tackle and win it, so I had to play more technically.”
The last 15 minutes of the game were anything but easy for LC, with Methacton threatening plenty of times. O’Donnell pointed to assistant coach Jamie Lancaster telling the players to “relax” as the lesson they needed to take.
If the Crusaders just slowed down, O’Donnell said, they would have avoided some of the giveaways and mishit balls that allowed Methacton to keep coming.
“It shows us we aren’t all that we think we are and some teams are good matches for us and we have to play hard every single day,” Henesey said. “Teams aren’t going to just hand things to us.”
“It’s not going to come easy, when you’re at the top of the league, when you’re talked about in the newspaper, teams want to come out and beat you,” Cooney said. “I would want to do the same thing to beat a top team. It’s hard being in that position, but we have to come out and play our game, we can’t play down.”
LANSDALE CATHOLIC 2, METHACTON 1
LANSDALE CATHOLIC 1 1 – 2
METHACTON 0 1 – 1
Goals: LC – Kiera O’Sullivan (Kate Henesey), Kate Henesey (Gabby Quattrone). M – Lauren McNichol. Shots: LC – 14, M – 3. Saves: LC – Abby Shuster/Lauren Crim – 2, M – Liz Greene 12. Corners: LC – 2, M – 1.
