McGlone plays hero as CB West edges CB South

DOYLESTOWN >> Keely McGlone found Taylor Moyer and wanted to cry.

McGlone, a senior co-captain and stalwart defender for the Central Bucks West girls soccer team doesn’t get many chances to win games by scoring goals. But with time winding down in regulation against a tenacious Central Bucks South squad, McGlone knew she hadn’t given her team enough on Saturday afternoon.

So when Moyer sent in a late corner kick, McGlone went up and headed it home to give the Bucks a 1-0 win over the Titans at War Memorial Field.

“Coach Mike (Moyer) always says ‘be the hero,’ and I’m never the hero,” McGlone said. “I play center defense, I may help save games sometimes but it’s never a game-winning goal. He said be the hero and I had been working so hard the whole game so I said ‘I need to finish this.’ I convinced myself of that and I got to the ball.”

Moyer, a junior co-captain and the team’s top scorer, is also the Bucks’ set-piece specialist. But prior to McGlone putting one away, she had been thwarted by South keeper Kristin Conway who saved two free kicks from Moyer and denied four other corner kick chances.

While there was one goal scored, it was anything but a dull game. The Titans played with maximum effort from front to back and their forwards caused plenty of problems for the West defense. Less than 48 hours after just edging past archrival Central Bucks East in extra time, the Bucks (3-0-0, 3-0-0 SOL Colonial) had to dig deep again to take down another rival.

“We needed this win, when we played East, it wasn’t our best game and we had to come back and play how we know how to play,” Moyer said. “Keely did an awesome job of putting the ball away, that’s just what we work on.”

The center backs for both teams were busy and up to the task. For the Titans (0-3-1, 0-3-1 SOL Colonial), it was Maddy Tantum and Bridget Curtis handling the call as West tried to find Moyer and Riley Corona up top and taking charge on the Bucks’ set piece chances.

McGlone and partner Courtney Moylan had their hands full dealing with South’s Ally Cutter and Brooke Edwards up top and a bevy of wide players like Eva Costello, Mary Nangle, Emalee Day and Leah Schnee. Edwards brought a fierce work rate to the field and battled for the ball at every chance while her fellow forwards played in some sharp passes.

West keeper Jenna Abaza also played well, making four saves but also plenty of the smart goalkeeper moves that take away chances before they go in the stat book.

“South played the best they could today, this game is everything for them,” McGlone said. “We had to set the tone in our pregame huddle, we said this is our field and we had to give everything we had the whole game. This is such a short season, we can’t slack off even for one game.”

West’s short season has also started in unusual fashion. After topping North Penn on Sept. 22, the Bucks had a 10-day layoff until Thursday’s 2-1 win over CB East, then had to turn around two days later and play their other sister school.

Moyer said the team continued to train hard between matches and while not satisfied with the performance against East, Saturday saw those things come together.

“This year, especially, our entire team is like one big family and everyone is so close,” Moyer said. “That really helps, the team bond is just there and we’re playing each other the entire game.”

After trading spells on the front foot with the Titans in the second half, West started to re-establish control with about 13 minutes left on the clock. Part of the reason the Bucks succeeded in two rivalry games after more than week off was their conditioning.

There were plenty of days after a hard practice where Mike Moyer had his team line up and do extra conditioning and running and McGlone admitted to asking why they were doing it on more than one occasion. She saw the results on Saturday.

“This is why we’re doing it,” McGlone said. “The last 10 minutes of the game, things are tough. When you’re playing a good team and it’s back-and-forth, being fit that extra 10 minutes means everything, it’s what we’re working for all preseason.”

For all their efforts, the Bucks hadn’t scored as the clock crept under three minutes and with overtime looming, got their chance. A free kick by Moyer from around midfield got deflected out off a South defender, giving West its fifth corner of the day.

Being asked to deliver quality service from all over the field on top of her work at forward is a lot, but Moyer knows it’s part of her role as a leader on the team.

“I love being a captain for this team,” Moyer said. “The pressure, it doesn’t bother me that much because I love coming out here and playing with these girls.”

Moyer said her usual target for corners is Erin Stranix, a tall midfielder who is strong in the air and the Bucks will line up around her. McGlone said prior to the final corner, she hadn’t been doing her best to make the right run off the service and vowed to make up for it as Moyer prepared to send the ball in.

The ball sailed high and over the center of the box, finding McGlone unmarked at the far post where the co-captain blasted it home off her head.

“I saw the ball coming and knew ‘I can’t blow this,’” McGlone said. “I was about to cry, I’m not even kidding. I told Taylor when she hugged me ‘I am about to cry.’ This team means the world to me, I thought we weren’t going to get to play this season, so I wanted to take the opportunity.

“I wanted to be the hero.”

South wasn’t done despite going down. The Titans drew a free kick around midfield, with Curtis using it to tee up Tantum for a howitzer that Abaza had to get down and make a save on. Janessa Watson challenged the defense in the final minute, but a block by defender Bella Centenera helped Abaza cover that one as well.

McGlone felt her team didn’t quit on Saturday and the late stops only proved the Bucks’ defense can hang with its offense.

“We’re good, we’re solid but sometimes you don’t get to see that because our forwards are always finishing such amazing goals,” McGlone said. “Today really showed our defense is pretty solid and we can handle it.”

CENTRAL BUCKS WEST 1, CENTRAL BUCKS SOUTH 0
CENTRAL BUCKS WEST 0 1 – 1
CENTRAL BUCKS SOUTH 0 0 – 0
Goals; CBW – Keely McGlone (Taylor Moyer).