Souderton boys, Pennridge girls prevail in doubleheader

EAST ROCKHILL >> Souderton Area’s speed controlled the pool and sophomore Kristian Stanczewski simply had the game of his life.

“Getting six goals is nice,” he said with a smile afterwards. “This team just has a bunch of good guys, and it’s fun playing with them.”

Big Red outscored Pennridge 3-1 in the fourth quarter to pull away to a 13-9 victory, capping an evening in which the Pennridge girls earned their first ever win (15-8) over Souderton Area, as the two rivals split the Suburban One League doubleheader at Pennridge.

“It was nice. I like playing against Pennridge because they’re close to us and all,” Stanczewski said. “(As the game went on), we started passing better, getting our drives down. We started getting goals, getting good drives.”

The Indians jumped out to an early 4-2 lead and then Pennridge surged ahead 5-4. Souderton, also with help from Will Leyland’s hat trick, was in front 7-5 by the half and never relinquished the lead.

Stanczewski helped the visitors close things out strong.

“He’s a fast swimmer and has great endurance, and just kept going and finding the goal, especially on those man-ups,” Indians coach Joe Hay said. “He’ll remember this night for a while, I’m pretty sure.

“We know it’s gonna be tough here. This is a pretty good rivalry. Their our next-door neighbor, and in their home pool, they’re even tougher. It’s a big win for us.”

The Pennridge girls, with sharp-shooter Reese Trauger leading the way, pulled away in the fourth quarter of their contest to earn a landmark win over Big Red.

“They turned it on,” Rams coach Jacob Grant said of his squad. “Reese had that lob shot — in the shallow end — that was really exciting. She just put it up there perfectly, the goalie was too far out and it went in.

“Emily Eckelmeyer had a great game as well, scoring our first three goals of the game and putting us up 3-0.”

Pennridge’s defense also locked it down, preventing a potent Souderton attack, led by Clara Burrell, from taking control.

“They’re a good team and have some good players,” Grant said. “That was at our home, and now we get them at their home in a couple weeks, so we can’t celebrate yet.”