Owen J. Roberts tops Methacton in PAC semifinal preview
BUCKTOWN >> Owen J. Roberts and Methacton met at OJR on Friday, knowing that in just four days the teams would meet again at the same spot.
Friday’s contest marked the end of the Pioneer Athletic Conference regular season. Next Tuesday, the two teams will face off in the PAC semifinals.
After a back-and-forth contest early, an eight-goal run at the end of the first half helped Owen J. Roberts pull out a 17-7 win to capture the season sweep.
The Wildcats won’t be looking past Methacton on Tuesday though as they look to start their run for a fifth straight PAC title. The first minutes of Friday’s contest were a reminder of what could happen if Owen J. doesn’t bring its best game.
“I know since we beat them twice, they’re going to come out looking for a lot more blood then they did last time, and they’re going to be hunting for us,” said Wildcats’ junior Hannah Delahaye, who led all scorers with five goals.
The playoff seeds were set before Friday’s contest. Owen J. Roberts (10-0 Liberty, 12-0 PAC) had already clinched the Liberty Division and top seed in the PAC playoffs. Methacton (5-5 Liberty, 8-5 PAC) was locked into the last playoff spot as the second wild card team.
The first 10-plus minutes of play on Friday were back-and-forth. Each team’s score was answered by a goal from the other team. Methacton took an early 5-4 lead at the 14:40 mark in the first half. Then the Wildcats turned it on.
OJR scored eight unanswered goals to end the first half with a 12-5 lead. The Wildcats added another score early in the second half before Melinda Eglington finally broke the scoreless drought for Methacton with 10:40 to go in the game to make the score 13-6.
After Delahaye’s five goals for the Wildcats, Eloise Gebert followed with four goals and an assist. Maddi Koury (four assists) and Sophia Murray both tallied hat tricks for OJR. Gracyn Smith and Maggie Kilgallon both added a goal and an assist as the Wildcats wrapped up an undefeated PAC regular season.
“Sometimes we’re frantic, but when we start to get in our groove, there’s nothing that can stop us,” Delahaye said.
Owen J. Roberts defeated Methacton, 18-5, on April 12. The tight play through the early parts of Friday’s contest was a sign of improvement for Laurie Markle’s young squad, which features just two seniors in its primary rotation.
Mia Sheldon and Eglington both scored twice for Methacton. Sydney Tornetta, Jayme Weber and Julia McCann accounted for the Warriors’ other goals.
Methacton played without starting goalie, Rachel O’Toole, who is battling an illness. In her place, freshman Mackenzie Clark made 13 saves in her first career varsity start.
“The first 10 minutes of the game, I would have loved to stretch that out farther,” Markle said. “But they’ve got prolific scorers.”
“They had that big stretch of (eight) unanswered goals where Mackenzie didn’t make a single save, and then her second half I thought she played great for her first time in,” she added.
