Late goal lifts CB South over Plymouth Whitemarsh in District 1-3A 2nd round

WHITEMARSH >> Plymouth Whitemarsh appeared to finally take the lead.

After all of the Colonials shots had been turned away by Central Bucks South goalie Jillian Heilig, PW finally got one past her with 10 minutes left in the game.

The goal, however, was not allowed.

Less than a minute later, Titans freshman Anna Shirley scored to get her side on the board.

That’s all No. 12 CB South would need in a 1-0 win over No. 5 Plymouth Whitemarsh in the second round of the District 1 Class-3A Wednesday afternoon at Plymouth Whitemarsh High School.

The game-winning goal was assisted by South senior captain Casey Reilly.

“Once (PW) scored, I was freaking out,” Reilly said. “I thought that counted. If they scored, then we really had to get back on our toes and hustle and really try to score to at least tie it. Once we did score, we were like, ‘OK we got this. We can win.’

“I got the ball from Mel (Dunton). She lifted it to me. I was at the top of the circle and received it and I dribbled through a couple people and I lifted it to my right side. Anna Shirley tapped it in. It was really good she was there on the post.”

The score came immediately after PW’s goal was waved off. Colonials senior Sam Spera took a shot that went into a crowd in front of the cage and ended up behind the goalie.

“I didn’t get a chance to talk to the team yet,” PW coach Charise Halteman said of the disallowed score. “They seemed to think it was tipped in there, but I couldn’t quite see it, obviously the official didn’t see it either. It is what it is.

“We were playing frustrated by the second part of the second half in general. I think that was just on top of it. I don’t think we were playing as composed and as clean as we usually do. Our frustration was getting to us.”

The Colonials had their share of chances to score. They applied pressure in the offensive end and put shots on net when they earned penalty corners, but couldn’t find the back of the cage.

“In some games I feel like we could have scored more and we talked about finishing and there’s definitely times in other games when we should have had a few more,” Halteman said. “We scored a lot this season so it’s not like finishing is a problem, but we have definitely found times where it’s like, ‘That could have been a goal.’ First half today I can think back and there were times that we definitely had opportunities that if we had somebody in the right place it could have been a goal. A little frustrating today.”

Heilig was a big reason why they couldn’t score. She stopped all eight shots on goal.

“She does so awesome every single game,” Reilly said. “She steps up every time. We’re really happy she was able to save all those goals. She’s an awesome goalie.”

South (11-6-2) visits No. 4 Owen J. Roberts — a 2-0 winner over No. 13 Spring-Ford — in the quarterfinals Friday.

The loss brings an end to Plymouth Whitemarsh’s season. The Colonials finished 17-2-0 and won the Suburban One League American Conference.

“The way we played in the first half here I felt like we were controlling the tempo and the pace of the game,” Halteman said. “I thought we were doing a good job of marking their talented players. I definitely think our team is better than losing in this round, but playoffs — anything can happen — and every team that gets to this point is good because they’ve won games. Props to CB South on a good game and finding a way to finish at the end.”