Downingtown West girls win first-ever Flyers Cup with late rally past Henderson

WEST GOSHEN >> Downingtown West’s first-ever girls Flyers Cup, earned with a last-minute 4-3 win against West Chester Henderson Wednesday night at Ice Line, didn’t come easy at all.

[CLICK HERE FOR A COMPLETE PETE BANNAN PHOTO GALLERY FROM THE GAME]

The No. 1 seed Whippets trailed third seed Henderson 3-1 after two periods despite a 34-20 advantage in shots on goal.

D-West mounted a stirring comeback in the third period. A couple of goals by senior co-captain Josie Silberman tied the score at 3-3 with 7:03 to play, then with 48.3 seconds left in regulation, senior co-captain Ella Miller hit the winning shot.

“We were trying to get all the shots we could on net [in the final minutes],” said a smiling Miller. “I just threw it in, and it bounced in.”

To view a photo gallery of the Flyers Cup championship game click here

When the final buzzer sounded, the girls finally had time to reflect on winning the Cup.

“It was kind of surreal,” said Silberman. “I’ve never won anything like this, so I’m happy for our team, especially for our seniors, since this is our last game of the season.”

Whippet senior co-captain Annalise Moylan laughed and said, “At first I didn’t realize it, but when we all started piling on our goalie, I realized, ‘Oh, this is something big.’”

Henderson jumped out to a 3-0 lead by the middle of the second period. With 2:25 left in the first period, Henderson freshman forward Maya Zrebiec broke the scoring ice; Warrior freshman forward Megan Wackerman made it 2-0 with 7:05 to go in the second period; then just 43 seconds later eighth-grader Paige Muetterties tallied to give the Warriors a 3-0 lead.

D-West struck back eight seconds after Muetterties’ goal, as eighth-grader Ava Thomas scored to make it 3-1. Thomas later received the Booby Clarke Award as the most valuable player in the Flyers Cup tourney.

The score remained 3-1 into the third period. With 12:43 to play, Silberman scored the first of her two unassisted goals. Five minutes later (7:03 left) she tallied her second goal, and the score was tied at 3-3.

Silberman said, “In the final period, the key for us was to pressure the net, get in front of the net, get as many shots as you can, and skate as hard as you possibly could.”

D-West head coach Dave Schultz said, “We made a couple of adjustments between the second and third period, and they ended up working for us. … Josie played phenomenally this whole tournament, we really have relied upon her.”

Then came Miller’s game-winner with 48.3 seconds left.

“Ella’s a rock,” said Schultz. “She just took it to the crease and buried it – that’s what we needed from our seniors.”

By the end of the game, Downingtown West had put 54 shots on goal. Henderson freshman goalie Kayla Czukoski had a magnificent game, with 50 saves. During the season, Czukoski had played other positions as well, and was one of the team’s leading scorers with 18 goals in 12 regular-season games.

“She’s an awesome player,” said Henderson coach Sarah Hannan.

D-West sophomore Molly Rosenzweig had some fine stops as well, and finished with 20 saves.

“Our goalie played extremely well,” said Schultz. “Our defense shut them down, our offense came through all tournament for us, it was a team effort tonight. It’s a great feeling to win this, we worked hard all season, and here we are, raising the Cup at the end of the season – we’re the champs.”

Hannan praised her team’s resiliency, versatility and cohesiveness throughout a challenging season.

“Our players came from all different walks of life with different schedules, it was a difficult season with the COVID and we were never able to come together all in one place [during the season],” said Hannan. “We were never together for most of our games – even all season I never had a full bench – but it was amazing that they still bonded and played together really well. No one complained about what position they had to play.”

NOTES: The Flyers Cup all-tournament team was honored after the game, including three Henderson players (Kayla Czukoski, Morgan Hendler and Lindsay Moses) and three D-West players (Josie Silberman, Ella Miller and Ava Thomas). Thomas also received the leading scorer award and the MVP award.

Downingtown West 4, WC Henderson 3

WC Henderson             1       2       0       –        3

Downingtown West      0       1       3       –        4

WC Henderson goals: Zrebiec, Wackerman, Muetterties.

D-West goals: Thomas, Silberman 2, Miller.

Goalie saves: WCH – Czukoski 50, DW – Rosenzweig 20.