Downingtown West back in District 1-3A title game with win over Perkiomen Valley

PARKER FORD >> Two years removed from a district title, the Downingtown West field hockey program has just five members remaining from that championship squad.

They’ve relied on some younger players over the past two years to avoid a drop-off in play, advancing to a district quarterfinal last season and finding themselves in a District 1-3A semifinal against Perkiomen Valley on Tuesday, the Whippets’ third semifinal appearance in four years.

Two of Downingtown West’s newest stars were on display Tuesday as the eighth-seeded Whippets advanced to the district championship for the second time in three years with a 4-2 win over fourth-seeded Perkiomen Valley.

Freshman Ciara Margetich tallied two first-half goals, and classmate Ashley Plzak assisted on both scores before sealing the game with a goal of her own in the second half.

Downingtown West will face Plymouth-Whitemarsh at Methacton in Saturday’s district title game, while the Vikings head to the third place game Friday against Pioneer Athletic Conference rival Owen J. Roberts.

“I have a sister who’s a sophomore, and I’ve always kind of just grown up in this community,” Margetich said. “I knew it was a lot of shoes to fill, but I knew that if I kept to what I know how to do and do the skills that I know how to do best that I could fit in with everyone else.”

Downingtown West grabbed a 3-1 halftime lead behind Margetich’s two goals and a score by Tatum Johnson.

Perk Valley cut the deficit to one when Cristina Dougherty, who scored both PV goals, jammed a home a pass from Katie Wuerstle with about 17 minutes left in the game. The Vikings kept the pressure on, winning two corners within the next minute and a half but couldn’t find the equalizer.

The Whippets then applied some pressure on their own nicking the post and winning two corners before Plzak gave them a 4-2 advantage with 12:12 left in the game.

“It felt really good to get it in because we were working on that in practice,” Plzak said. “And it’s good to see stuff that we worked on in practice to finally show off in the games. It was a really nice play too.”

After going ahead 2-0 in its district quarterfinal win over Central Bucks East last week, Perkiomen Valley found itself in a 2-0 hole Tuesday before the 18-minute mark in the first half.

The Vikings had several early chances, putting three shots on goal in the first 10 minutes of the game, but Whippets’ goalie Kylie Schmidt, who tallied 11 saves in the game, made stops all three times.

PV finally broke through when Dougherty cleaned up her own rebound with eight minutes left in the first half. Less than five minutes later Margetich got just enough of a ball to send a spinning roller into the back of the goal and once again extend Downingtown West’s lead to two.

“We weren’t passing as well as we normally do, but I thought we had a good game plan, and that was paying off,” Perkiomen Valley coach Erik Enters said. “We were shutting them down, we’re getting interceptions. The first seven minutes we’re down their end. Tons of chances, you just gotta capitalize. Different game if you put it in early.”

Even in the game’s final minutes, down two goals, Perk Valley continued to get quality chances. Danielle Hamm put a shot on goal to set up a PV corner around the seven-minute mark. The Vikings nearly pulled within one on the ensuing corner, but Whippets’ Gianna Jaszczak came up with a defensive save.

Ashley Derrick made nine saves in the contest for Perk Valley. Enters praised the play of seniors Wuerstle, Hamm, Ashley Elvidge and Kelly Baitinger.

“I think all my senior leaders, they all played their hearts out there,” Enters said.

After Friday’s third place game at OJR, the Vikings will continue on to the state tournament for the second year in a row.

“Our goal from the start was to be playing in the last weekend of hockey, which is in three weeks from now,” Enters said. “We’re there. We’ll play Friday, that’s half of a possible eight postseason season games. Hopefully four more. That’s what we’d like.”

The Whippets have been the lower seed in their last two wins, knocking off top seed Garnet Valley last week before Tuesday’s win over PV.

Downingtown West will once again be an underdog according to the district seeds when they face second-seeded Plymouth Whitemarsh on Saturday. The Whippets will continue the same approach as they try and capture their second district title in three years.

“Every game is just a new game, so it didn’t matter what seed we were in…We just had to go into each game working hard,” Plzak said.

“It’s really fun. I like being the underdog because we like to prove ourselves,” Margetich added. “It just makes you feel good when you come out with the win and we’re going to keep trying, pushing on hopefully.”