Great Valley upends Henderson on late goal

By Bryan Davis
bdavis@medianewsgroup.com
@btdavis25 on Twitter

WEST CHESTER >> Playing a team that was ranked number one in the district and sporting an unblemished record on its home field might have proved a daunting task for some girls soccer teams, but Great Valley proved more than up to the challenge over an enthralling 80 minutes of soccer.
Rose Bleahen broke a tie with a little over five minutes left in the second half to lift the Patiots to a surprising 3-2 Ches-Mont League victory over West Chester Henderson (8-1-1) at Schramm’s Field on a pleasant Monday evening.
“Definitely,” said Great Valley coach Jen Michewicz said when asked if she was happy with the win. “We came in with a good game plan tonight. Over the last two weeks, we have seen four of the top 10 seeded teams in the district. Those tough games we’ve had really paid off and we came in prepared. We fought through some adversity during the game and we did what came here to do.”
With the momentum clearly on Henderson’s side after they erased a two-goal deficit, the Patriots was hanging on, playing mostly in their end the latter part of the half.
Then, an opportunity came and they pounced. Maggie Peterson, who was dangerous all night, drove through the Henderson defense, then slipped a ball to Bleahen, whose shot went off the fingers of keeper Kennedy Stark, but she was unable to keep it out of the net as the Pats took a 3-2 lead with 5:25 left.
“Gilliam Yonce played a ball to Maggie and she sent a cross in,” said Bleahen. “I shot it, and fortunately, it went it. “It was awesome to get a win. We were really looking forward to this game.”
“Maggie Peterson is a great player,” said Henderson coach Craig Scangarella. “You can’t leave her 1-on-1 and she crossed a ball in the box, and that was it.”
Great Valley started off as well as you can hope to start a game. Before the crowd settled in, they took a shock 1-0 lead. Yonce volleyed in from close to put them on top.
“Gillian was fired up coming in because the Henderson coach is her club coach,” said Michewicz. “She wanted to prove that we belonged on the same field with them.”
The Patriots held the better of the play in the first 40 minutes, outshooting the Warriors, 8-3.
They doubled their lead as a Peterson cross was fired in from in close by senior Emily Laden with 35:44 left in the half.
Henderson clawed one back just 30 seconds later as sophomore Morgan Chiazza outmuscled the defense to latch onto a loose ball and thumped a shot past Megan Stairs into the net.
The Warriors started to have the lion share of the possession and getting the better of the play.
Chiazza almost got a second when she found herself in behind the defense, but her shot was turned away by the feet of an onrushing Stairs.
Henderson got the equalizer moments later following its first corner kick of the second half. The ball floated past Stairs and it was turned in by junior Olivia Bradley.
“Great Valley was a great team, hats off to them,” said Scangarella. “They wanted it more than us. I’m proud of the team’s effort. We’re going to learn from this, regroup and move forward.”
The Patriots still had five minutes to defend, but they did so without allowing a dangerous scoring chance. When the final whistle blew, the Great Valley bench raced onto the field in celebration.
The Warriors look to rebound Wednesday when they host Kennett, while Great Valley will entertain West Chester Rustin.

Great Valley 1 2 – 3
WC Henderson 0 2 – 2
Great Valley goals: Yonce, Laden, Bleahen.
WC Henderson goals: Chiazza, Bradley.
Goalie saves: Stairs (GV) 5; Collier (WCH) 2; Stark (WCH) 2.