Wissahickon’s Margaret Wilde nets game-winner against Upper Moreland

UPPER MORELAND >> It’s been a tough few years for Wissahickon senior Margaret Wilde. The University of Pittsburgh commit suffered three left knee injuries – two to her meniscus and one to her ACL – that resulted in her missing her first three seasons of high school soccer.

Finally on the pitch, Wilde is making an impact.

The lefty scored the game-winning goal in the Trojans 4-2 win over Upper Moreland Tuesday afternoon at Upper Moreland Senior High School.

In the 58th minute, Wissahickon earned a corner kick and Wilde stepped up to the ball. Her left-footed strike went over the crowd and curved back into the far side of the net for a score to give the Trojans a 3-2 lead.

“I was actually meaning to hit my teammate Margo (Kasenchar) on the back-post,” Wilde said. “Luckily it got where it needed to go. That’s all that really matters.

“I practice free kicks but nothing ever from the corner. I normally take the corners on my club team (Penn Fusion), so I’m used to trying to bend it in the back-post, but I never, ever try to shoot it from there. I like to give my teammates opportunities.”

“She’s got quite a left foot,” Wiss coach Chris McDaniels said. “She hits the ball really well. She was trying to wrap her foot around that and hit our big centerback at the back-post and played it a bit too tight. You saw the pace of it – it was pretty tough to deal with. Her left foot – she’s scored a couple from 30 out this year already. She can do that.”

It’s the third straight game where Wilde found the back of the net.

“(Missing three years) was definitely frustrating,” Wilde, who suffered her ACL injury as a freshman and meniscus injuries as a sophomore and junior, said. “My goal was to play in college, so those years in development not being able to be on the field for about 22 months definitely was really frustrating, but I’m just glad to be able to play high school soccer with my best friends and get back to club soon.”

“We’re happy to have (Wilde) this year in 12th grade,” McDaniels said. “She’s a terrific talent. I wish I would have had her for four years.”

Later in the second half, Wilde helped the Trojans add an insurance goal. In the 72nd minute, she deflected the ball towards Emma Baker, who went towards the net from the right side and scored in the bottom left corner.

Wissahickon (5-2-1) controlled play throughout the second half. After the score was tied, 2-2, at intermission, the Trojans put seven shots on goal and earned two corners to one shot by the Golden Bears (5-2-1) and no corners. Upper Moreland’s only shot on goal in the second half came with 45 seconds remaining in the game.

“We lost one of our forwards in the first half, Emma Frasca,” Upper Moreland coach Lisa Benvenuto said. “We also lost one of our midfielders for the majority of the second half, too, Mallory Roedig, who was winning all the 50/50 balls in the middle. I think that we were still able to produce opportunities ( in the second half), but maybe not as many as we did in the first half. I’m really pleased with the way we were able to contain them. Wissahickon comes with quite some promise, especially with their lineup. Chris coaches them really well and once they got into their rhythm, you were able to see that unfold on the field. I think we still did a really great job in stopping them from finishing.”

The Golden Bears got on the board first in the seventh minute when Frasca kept pressuring a loose ball in front of the Wissahickon net before depositing it in the bottom left corner.

The Trojans responded with two quick goals in the 20th and 22nd minutes, both scored by Kylie Friedman.The two goals were similar in that teammates found Friedman in space for clean looks at the net. The first was set up by Natalie Ryan and the second by Margo Kasenchar.

The 2-1 Wissahickon lead didn’t last long. In the 23rd minute, Willow Taylor tied the game for Upper Moreland.

The Golden Bears entered Tuesday as the No. 5 seed in District 1-3A. Benvenuto is happy with the way they played against Wissahickon, which was ranked No. 11 in District 1-4A.

“I’m pleased,” she said. “As I’ve said to the girls, we learn from every single game that we play. Sometimes what you see from your team when they lose is actually more beneficial than what you see from them when they win. I think that today, the play that we saw was better than the play that we’ve seen from them when we’ve won games and when we’ve tied games. I think that the effort was there and the work was there.”

Wissahickon 4, Upper Moreland 2

Wissahickon 2 2 – 4

Upper Moreland 2 0 – 2

Goals: W: Kylie Friedman 2, Margaret Wilde, Emma Baker. UM: Emma Frasca, Willow Taylor.

Saves: W: Taylor Piergrossi 2. UM: Natalie Walton 11.

Corners: W: 4. UM: 1.