Six different Pioneers score in Conestoga rout over Strath Haven

BERWYN—When a team is coming off a big, emotional victory, the danger is always that they might come out missing that same intensity in its next game. Conestoga was coming off a big 4-3 non-league win over perennial District 1 powerhouse Mount St Joesph over the weekend, when Strath Haven came to Teamer Field Tuesday afternoon. Strath Haven was riding a three-game winning streak, and had yet to taste defeat in the Central League.

Any concerns of a Pioneers let down were quickly erased, as Conestoga (7-1 overall, 3-1 Central League) dominated possessions from start to finish, and had six different players find the back of the cage in a 7-0 blanking of the Panthers (3-3, 3-1).

“We talked about our win over Mount a bit last night, and tried to keep things as competitive as we could in practice,” said Conestoga coach Regan Marscher. “A lot of times after a big win, you can be flat, and we just did all we could to avoid it. Plus, this is a Central League game, and we always feel like we have to be up for league games.”

After keeping the ball on its offensive side of the field and forcing five corners over the first five minutes, the Pioneers finally got on the board when Chloe Ziegler grabbed a ball, got behind the Panthers goalie, and tapped in the easy score at the 20:30 mark.

Ziegler finished the afternoon with two of the seven Conestoga goals, along with an assist.

“We were really excited to get back on the field and play after getting that win over Mount,” said Ziegler. “And we’ve won the Central League the last seven years, and we all want to do that again.”

Ten minutes later, Carly Hynd scored her eighth-goal of the season to bump her team-leading points total to 26 for the year, to make it 2-0, a score that would hold up going into the break.

The second half was all Conestoga, as the Pioneers piled up five more goals, another from Ziegler, along with goals from Annie Hirshman, Autumn Hill, Lily Jamison and Kate Galica.

“We’ve been working a lot on passing and spreading out the field,” said Ziegler. “We’re a much more cohesive unit this year. Everyone on this team has played together for a long time, and we kind of have the same mentality.”

Jamison’s goal, a bullet from the edge of the circle, was a personal milestone—her first ever varsity score.

“It felt really great,” said Jamison. “I saw it was just me and one girl by the circle, so I decided to just get in the circle and give it a shot.”

On the other end of the field, Pioneer goalie Katie Clemson had to be getting a little lonely. The Panthers managed just two corners all day, and did not get off a single shot on goal.

“Our goalie wasn’t tested at all today,” said Marscher. “Our midfielders did a fantastic job today distributing the ball to our forwards, who created opportunities. The last couple of games we’ve had some difficulties finishing our counter attacks, but today we took advantage of space and made solid connections.”

Strath Haven 0 0 0
Conestoga 2 5 7

Goals:
CON: Ziegler-2, Hirshman, Hill, Hynd, Jamison, Galica

Stoga: 13

Goalie Saves:
Ciabattoni (SH)-5
Clemson (CON)-0

Defensive Saves:
SH: Caulfield