Souderton scores twice on corners in 3rd, edges North Penn for 3rd straight win

TOWAMENCIN >> With the disorder that can ensue in the circle on a penalty corner, Josie Doughty knows preparation is paramount.

“Being there for that rebound is key,” the Souderton junior said. “And when the ball comes out, you have to get your stick down and be there for it.”

Doughty found herself in the right spot amidst the chaos, knocking a ball from a crowd into the back of the cage with 1:40 remaining in the third quarter, breaking a 2-2 tie in the Indians field hockey team’s SOL Colonial Division contest with host North Penn.

“Lauren (Hallman) passed the ball at the top of the circle and then and I was there on post and I tapped it in and I was there for it,” Doughty said. “And the same thing happened last game twice she assisted my goal and it just keeps working – I’m on post and I’m there for the rebound.”

Doughty’s tally was the second off a corner in the third for Souderton, the pair of goals erasing a 2-1 halftime deficit as the Indians went on to edge the Knights 3-2 Thursday afternoon.

“North Penn is a great team and we knew that they were going to bring it – it’s a rivalry,” Souderton junior Lauren Kenah said. “So we needed to keep our heads in the game and not get down when it wasn’t going our way.”

Kenah scored Souderton’s first two goals – tying the game 32 seconds after North Penn (5-5-0, 5-5-0 division) took a 1-0 lead in the first quarter then rifling the ball into the cage on a corner to pull Big Red level 2-2 at 11:43 in the third.

“She’s a great player – it’s fun to watch her play,” said North Penn coach Shannon McCracken of Kenah, who scored twice in the Indians’ 2-0 win over the Knights Sept. 25. “And we tried to care of her today but we didn’t get the job done.”

Souderton (6-3-1, 6-3-1) struck again on corner late in the third thanks to Doughty then held on in the fourth to take second place in the Colonial with its third straight win and its sixth consecutive victory over the Knights.

“We were definitely using in-and-out passes, that was definitely helping us,” Kenah said. “We felt in the first quarter, even in the first half, we were using the middle a lot and it was very clogged in the middle so using the outsides and using the in-and-out passes to get depth down the field was definitely important for us.”

Erin O’Donnell redirected in a Bay Detweiler shot on the Knights’ first corner at 5:30 in the opening quarter while Maddie Waldspurger converted a penalty stroke to put NP up 2-1 at 5:31 before halftime. But despite a couple quality chances and five corners in the fourth, the Knights could not find the back of the cage again and dropped their second straight.

“We had a good start to the game,” McCracken said. “We scored our first goal on a corner which was beautiful and then that stroke – Maddie Waldspurger had a great stroke for us. But we lost our touch as we continued on in that game for some reason. I honestly think it was more our fault then them actually stepping it up.”

Both teams came into game looking to help secure spot one of the 16 spots in the District 1-3A tournament – Thursday’s result putting Souderton eighth in the power rankings while North sits 14^th.

“Right now we dug a little hole losing today so but hey you never know what’s going to happen cause now that the other leagues are starting to play, now you have the teams jumping in with like four games and now we have 10,” McCracken said. “I don’t know how things are going to shake out. It’s hard to actually predict how it’s going to shake out. So it’s been interesting.

“But hey, this season was as season of adversity. And I know the kids are excited to have these games and we’re happy that they’re out here and that’s been a gift. So we just have to take it as it is.”

The Indians and Knights both cap their regular seasons with home games against Wissahickon – Souderton 3:30 p.m. Monday with NP hosting the Trojans 3:30 p.m. Wednesday.

“We have to continue on this winning streak,” Kenah said. “Going to district, there’s a lot of great teams out there and we know Souderton, we are a great team and we have to prove that.”

North Penn had 11 corners on the afternoon and scored only on the game’s first. O’Donnell’s insertion pass went to the top of the circle to Detweiler, who slid a shot on the turf that O’Donnell got her stick on to pop it in the air and into the cage at 5:30 in the opening quarter.

“That was like a textbook corner, it was great to see,” McCracken said. “We’ve been struggling with our corners a little bit so it was great to see to us score on that corner and it was a beautiful.”

The Knights’ lead, however, lasted just 32 seconds. Kenah drove into the circle from the right flank, pulled back slightly to regroup then cut through the defense to score at 4:58.

“It was important for us to not get down when they scored that quickly,” Kenah said. “’So we knew we had it in us, it was a matter of getting down the field and putting the ball in the cage. Dribbling down I knew that my forwards still do a great job pulling and I knew the time was running down and we wanted to have a 0-0 game because we were down so I wanted a 0-0 game going into the second quarter.”

In the second quarter, the Knights were given a penalty stroke on the second of back-to-back corners. Waldspurger stepped up and lifted a shot into the cage’s left side at 5:31.

Kenah knotted things at 11:43 third with her second goal on Big Red’s second corner – the first coming in the final minute of the first half. Taking an insertion pass from Lauren Frye, Kenah laced a shot into the right corner of the cage.

“I got my eyes up and I saw that I had time to take the shot,” Kenah said. “I took it.”

Detweiler came close to give North Penn back the lead after getting behind the goalkeeper, but after chasing down the ball her shot hit the far left post and the Knights could not send it in during a scramble in front.

Souderton went up 3-2 at 1:40 in the third on the second of consecutive corners. Ang Borisow took Frye’s insertion pass and lifted a shot that caromed to Hallman, who tapped it forward into a crowd. The ball found its way to Doughty, who put a shot past a defender’s stick and into the cage.

Kenah almost added made it a hat trick on a corner in the third quarter’s final minute but her shot was denied by the stick of Megan Albert.

In the fourth, North Penn could not find the equalizer on five penalty corner tries while during the run a play a shot from Detweiler from the middle of the circle dribbled just wide left.