Downingtown West finishes strong to top Great Valley

MALVERN >> Downingtown West overcame a slow start to notch five unanswered goals in a Ches-Mont League field hockey crossover with American Division leader Great Valley on Thursday. 
The strong finish lifted the Whippets (7-1 Ches-Mont American, 10-2 overall) to a 5-2 win over the host Patriots (5-1, 9-2).

“Our girls did a really great job coming back against a really strong team like Great Valley,” said Whippets coach Courtney MacPherson. “No matter what the score is — up 3-2, 4-2, 5-2, you never really feel safe until the final whistle against a team like that. For us to stop that early momentum and turn it around our way, I am just really, really proud of our girls.”

The Patriots came out of the gate on fire, and had the ball inside the circle within the first two minutes. They got on the board first with a goal from Nadia Nemeth at 11:46. Barely a minute later, it was 2-0 when Eva Nemeth found the back of the cage.
“You never want to get behind like that,” said West goalie Kaiya Chepow. “But you know you’re going to give up goals in the postseason, so games like this only help with the mental preparation to be able to put it behind you and recover from it. We just had to reorganize the defense, but after those first five minutes, we played really well.”

After the rough start, Chepow was a brick wall in the cage. The Patriots actually outshot the Whippets, but Chepow piled up 16 saves on the afternoon, while her counterpart, Katie Hanlon, was credited with eight.
“Kaiya did an outstanding job,” said MacPherson. “She didn’t get down on herself after letting in those two goals, and did a beautiful job.”
West got on the board just before the end of the first period, when Ciara Margetich fed Ashley Plzak with a pass, and Plzak slammed it home to cut the lead in half.

It didn’t take long for the Whippets to get the equalizer. A little over a minute into the second period, Margetich knotted the score at 2-2, with an assist from Piper Cline. Less than a minute later, the Whippets got their first lead of the day when Margetich notched her second goal of the afternoon, with an assist to Plzak.

“Before the game, (Great Valley coach) Brenda (Haley) and I were talking about how tough this league is,” said MacPherson. “We both agreed this has to be the strongest league in District 1. There are no easy games, and that can only help you down the road in the post season.”
The Patriots came out strong once again to start the second half, but this time, Chepow and her defensive teammates were up to the task, with Chepow making some spectacular saves, and the Whippets otherwise keeping Great Valley out of the cage.
Meanwhile, the West offense just kept attacking. Cline picked up the first of her two goals just before the end of the third period, chipping one in from close range, with an assist to Carly Smith.

“We call ourselves the comeback team,” said Cline. “It was crazy starting out like that, but we all have so much trust in each other, we just know we’re going to get it done in the end. When we were down, we just snapped ourselves back into things.”
West’s final goal came midway through the fourth, this time with Alyssa Freeman sending the ball towards the cage, and Carly Smith took a deflection and slipped it in behind the goalie and into the cage for the score.  
With the win, the Whippets move into the top spot of the District 1 3A rankings, while Great Valley holds on to the sixth spot. In all, fully half of the top ten calls Chester County home. Add in the 2A schools, if the season ended today, 10 Ches-Mont teams, plus county neighbors Conestoga and Villa Maria, would qualify for the playoffs.
“This season, our schedule has been really tough, both in and out of the league,” said Cline. “We’ve played quite a few teams we lost to last season, and we’re coming up with wins this time around. It’s preparing us for anyone we might face down the road.”

Downingtown West 5, Great Valley 2
Downingtown West     1 2 1 1 –5
Great Valley         2 0 0 0 –2
Downingtown West goals: Margetich 2, Cline, Plzak, Smith.
Great Valley goals: N. Nemeth, E. Nemeth.
Goalie saves: Chepow (DW) 16; Hanlon (GV) 8.