Springside Chestnut Hill completes undefeated season with PAISAA state title
Springside Chestnut Hill Academy completed an undefeated season Wednesday by winning the Pennsylvania Independent Schools Athletic Association state championship with a 1-0 win over the Academy of Notre Dame.
“It was just a really special group of girls,” SCH junior Bella Brown said. “We all connected really well and got along together. We got along to the point where we became family and we really bonded with each other. It was really easy to play with each other and have fun with each other.”
The Blue Devils 18-0-1 season with an Inter-Ac and state championship has been a couple years in the making. The team features five seniors and 13 juniors, who were a part of the 2019 squad that lost the state championship game, 2-1, to Westtown.
“That was really a heartbreaking moment,” Brown said. “It’s something that all the upperclassmen wanted and worked hard for. That season we were also undefeated in our league. This year when we went undefeated in our league we knew that states was something we were striving for and something that we had to set our minds to. That’s exactly what we did.”
They came back with a perfect 5-0 season with a shortened schedule due to COVID-19 in 2020.
SCH was perfect through Inter-Ac play this year and added non-league wins against quality sides Archbishop Wood and Archbishop Ryan. The Blue Devils one tie was a 2-2 game against the Pennington School.
In the PAISAA semifinals, the Blue Devils beat Episcopal Academy, 3-2. They scored three goals in the first 10 minutes. Lauren Sullivan scored the first goal, Inter-Ac MVP Lisa McIntyre the second and Maya McDermott the third. Brown assisted Sullivan’s goal while McIntyre and McDermott set each other up for their scores.
“Going into that game we were really hype and really excited because it was the state semis,” Brown said. “Our coach sent us a motivational video and we were sending texts to each other throughout the day, getting excited together. When the game started, right off the bat we were playing insanely well. We got three goals in the first 10 minutes and we kept it under control after that.”
Episcopal Academy made it 3-1 before halftime and got within 3-2 in the final 10 minutes, but SCH kept it a one-goal game until the final whistle.
In the championship game against Notre Dame, the Blue Devils applied consistent pressure over the first 20 minutes, but couldn’t find the back of the net. McIntyre changed that in the 23rd minute with an impressive strike. She cut right and from just outside the box sent a right-footed shot into the top left corner, hitting the inside of the post before going in.
McIntyre’s goal was all SCH needed in its 1-0 win to claim the second state title in school history (2017).
“It’s sad to see the seniors go because we’ve been with each other through the entire years of high school,” Brown said. “We’ve really been a close team this year. To end out with an undefeated season in the Inter-Ac and a state title just means a lot because we’ve put so much work in games and in practices and team dinners and team bonding, stuff like that. It’s really special to us.”
SCH features a number of girls from the Reporter/Times Herald/Montgomery Media area. Brown is an Oreland resident while McDermott is from the North Penn school district. Virginia Perry is from Warminster, Brigid McDonald from Abington and Elena Franklin from Upper Dublin.
