Spring-Ford charges past Pottsgrove into PAC title game
BUCKTOWN >> Spring-Ford and Pottsgrove certainly had their chances to score throughout Tuesday night’s Pioneer Athletic Conference semifinal. But none of them paid off until Rams’ senior midfielder Ella Curry made a strong run into the box, drew a penalty kick and knocked it in to break a scoreless tie in the 66th minute.
Spring-Ford added another goal less than a minute later and advanced to the final with a 2-0 win over Pottsgrove at Owen J. Roberts’ Wildcat Field North. Emily Higgins scored the insurance goal for the Rams, who will play for the championship Thursday at 7 p.m. at Wildcat Stadium against Boyertown, a 4-0 winner over Upper Perkiomen.
“I think we kind of had an idea what we were doing,” said Spring-Ford coach Mo Hadadi. “The game is a mindset game. We had to calm down. We had to wait and find a solution.”
And that came from Curry, who deposited the penalty kick into the lower right corner of the goal with 14:14 remaining in regulation play.
“It was a good run, a good pass as well,” said Hadadi. “As soon as she saw the area, she knew exactly where to go.”
The third-seeded Rams (8-2 PAC Liberty Division runner-up, 11-2 PAC, 15-4 overall) got a throw-in from the right sideline shortly after that and quickly worked the ball over to the left wing to Higgins, who scored just 37 seconds after the icebreaker.
“Obviously, Spring-Ford’s a good team,” said Pottsgrove coach Steve Mellor. “There were some chances on both sides. Unfortunately for us, at the time the foul was called, we had the momentum.”
Spring-Ford controlled the opening play, but the Falcons had the first good scoring opportunity on a breakaway by Skylar Glass in the 17th minute. She beat three defenders down the field to the left wing and got off a blast toward the right corner, but Ram goalkeeper Riley Wallace (five saves) made a sprawling save to her left.
Shortly after that, the Rams’ Molly Thomas launched a long shot down the middle, but Falcon keeper Summer Walker (6 saves) deflected the ball over the crossbar.
The second-seeded Falcons (10-0 Frontier Division champions, 11-2 PAC, 16-2 overall) had another good opportunity midway through the half when Glass pushed a grounder through the goal mouth, but no Pottsgrove players could get a foot on it. Then Raven Wellington passed into the middle for the Rams to Hope Flanegin, but her shot sailed over the crossbar.
Pottsgrove’s best chance of the second half came 17 minutes in when Hailey Strain put the ball right out in front for Glass for a quick shot, but Wallace came through with the point-blank save to keep the match scoreless.
“The first 15 minutes, we were taking a lot of pressure,” said Mellor. “We were switching some things up after that and putting some pressure on their backs.”
Spring-Ford had the better of the field position for the night and earned seven corner kicks to the Falcons’ one. “I’m proud of our entire team,” said Hadadi. “They play together well as a team.”
Spring-Ford had rallied from an early two-goal deficit for a 4-2 win over Pottsgrove during the regular season. Last year, the Rams defeated the Falcons 3-2 in overtime in the semifinals before losing 1-0 to Owen J. Roberts in the title match. They’ll be trying for their fourth PAC championship and first since 2016 on Thursday.
Pottsgrove has a regular season match remaining before heading to the District 1-3A playoffs.
“I know the girls are disappointed, but we still have some soccer to play,” said Mellor.
