Kenah’s hat trick leads Souderton past Neshaminy, into District 1-3A quarters
FRANCONIA >> Souderton Area scored twice in the span of 38 seconds Wednesday, producing two successive bangs off the back of the cage.
For Big Red, it sounded familiar.
“We’ve done that a number of times this year,” Indians coach Sue Casciato said. “I believe three or four times this year we’ve gotten two or three goals in like two or three minutes. We have a lot of offensive weapons, which is a nice benefit. It’s hard for other teams to key on any one player.”
Big Red broke a 2-2 halftime tie with its quick-strike attack and pulled away to a 5-2 victory over Neshaminy in the second round of the District 1-3A Tournament. The victory advances the Indians to the quarterfinals on Friday, to take on the winner of the No. 1 Central Bucks East-No. 16 West Chester Rustin matchup.
“We didn’t lose in the first round this year,” exclaimed one of the Souderton players afterwards, the team huddling around in celebration, some draped in blankets following this cold, windy day on the turf.
“It feels so good. We’ve lost in the first round the past two years so we’ve been waiting for this for so long,” said Big Red’s Courtney Kenah, who led the way with a hat trick. “I just feel like we’re really working well together. We have so much energy this year and we all just want it so bad.”
Jenna Hunsicker scored with 17 minutes, 47 seconds to play to give Big Red a 3-2 lead, which grew to 4-2 when Kenah scored her second goal just moments later. She capped off her hat trick with 1:54 to play, icing the win for the eighth-seeded Indians.
“(The two quick goals to make it 4-2) were definitely the turnaround,” Kenah said. “That’s when our team got the ball rolling. We all had confidence and that turned the game around right there.”
The Indians generated consistent pressure, putting 15 shots on Neshaminy keeper Maddie Tiemann (10 saves).
“They’re a good team,” Skins coach Jamie Pinto said. “They had their opportunities and they capitalized on them, and they wound up scoring two quick goals.
“I couldn’t be more proud of the way our girls played. They played every game hard. They fought hard all season long.”
No. 9 Neshaminy took a 1-0 lead on a goal by Peyton Ritchey and then Souderton came back with a goal by Anna Gwiazdzinski. The Skins went up 2-1 when Jamie Pennington put one in but Kenah’s first goal of the afternoon deadlocked things at two going into the break.
The second half belonged to Souderton, which will most likely get a rematch with the top-seeded Patriots.
“We played them twice this season, lost 1-0 both times,” Kenah said. “So we’re definitely ready to try and beat them this time.”
“I felt we were right there with them, last time we played them at East,” said Casciato, who praised her team’s defensive play on Wednesday. “It should be a good game.”
