Webb scores in third, CB South hands Souderton second straight loss

WARRINGTON >> Wednesday’s visit to Central Bucks South was a chance for the Souderton field hockey team to bounce back from their first loss two days prior. But goalkeeper Jordan Michalak felt things were off for the Indians from the start.

“We had a slow warmup,” she said. “There was no music, everybody was off, we had school cause we have school every day cause we’re one of the schools that go in every day. And I just think we were tired and just not ready. I think we felt we had it in the bag but obviously not.”

Souderton never found its footing in the SOL Colonial Division matchup and eventually the host Titans took advantage – Braylee Webb’s goal in the third quarter breaking a scoreless tie and CB South held off Big Red from there to claim a 1-0 victory.

“We don’t have any spark right now. I don’t know what happened,” Indians coach Sue Casciato said. We were just talking with the other coaches – we’re at a loss as what to do to get it back. There just doesn’t seem to be any energy on the field. We have one of two players that are basically carrying us or saving us I could say and we’ve really struggled to score goals.”

After scoring 10 goals in starting the season 3-0-1 – finding the back of the net at least twice in all four games – the Indians (3-2-1, 3-2-1 division) have since been handed back-to-back 1-0 defeats starting Monday with a home loss to Central Bucks West.

“We’ve been talking about it the last two or three games and we’re like I don’t know if they care as much as we do,” Casciato said. “We’re yelling and screaming and they’re kind of quiet and going through the motions. So we have to figure out what we can do about that.”

Souderton and CB South opened this season playing to a 3-3 draw Sept. 21 but Wednesday the only goal came at 9:41 in the third as Webb knocked in a ball from the right post after the Titans pushed into the circle.

“Anna Shirley was dribbling it down and then Erin (Smith) tried to shoot it then I got the rebound and just shot it in,” Webb said.

The win snapped a three-game losing skid for the Titans (2-3-1, 2-3-1), who also earned their first win over Souderton since 2017, ending a six-game winless streak (0-5-1) against Big Red.

 “That (3-3 draw) was our first game and we needed to work together more as a team,” Webb said. “And I think that this game really showed that we can work together and get it down there.”

Going 0-2 so far this week has Souderton sitting in second in the SOL Colonial at 10 points, five behind leader Central Bucks East with four division games left on the schedule. The first of those is a home date with East 3:30 p.m. Friday. The Indians won the first meeting  with the Patriots 3-0 Sept. 23.

“We’re glad we at least got 10 (games) cause who knew, but yeah, you don’t really have a lot of time to correct things and turn things around the second half of the year or get strong at the end of the season and kind of like this is it, now or never,” Casciato said. “So hopefully we can answer some questions by Friday’s game.”

Despite the setback Wednesday, Michalak is confident that starting with Friday’s contest between last season’s SOL Continental co-champs the Indians can regain the strong form they played with earlier this year.

“I don’t know really know what the issue is, I just think today especially today we looked really tired and we just weren’t putting in our best effort,” Michalak said. “But I think against East we’ll wrap it up, I think we got it.”

CB South caps its week visiting Central Bucks West 7 p.m. Friday. The Titans topped the Bucks 3-1 on Sept. 23.

Webb’s goal in the third started with Shirley dashing into the circle from the middle of the field before knocking forward a ball that bounced to Smith, who tapped it mid-air to Webb near the right post. Webb collected the ball, turned and slid in a shot in at 9:41.

“It looked like nobody was getting back in my circle to mark and then she passed it in the air, it was like an awkward half-high shot,” Michalak said. “And then it got to the girl and she hit it in. It was a really beautiful goal.”

Pushing for an equalizer, Souderton earned four penalty corners but could not collect its first goal of the week. Big Red’s last corner came in the game’s final minute but South’s Sophia Wasyliw – a La Salle commit – charged out to block a shot and eventually cleared the ball out of the circle.

“We didn’t have very good inserts, we just didn’t execute today and we had a really good practice yesterday so we were optimistic coming in,” Casciato said. “But going against East on Friday I’m hoping we show up.”