Dulin, defense deny Spring-Ford in Boyertown’s 5-2 win

ROYERSFORD >> Katelyn Dulin took control of the ball in her own half of the field early in the second half of a tie game Thursday night, saw some open field and decided to see what she could do. The Boyertown senior attacker dribbled through and around the Spring-Ford defense all the way down to the Ram cage and knocked in a goal from the right side to put her team on top.

After that, the Bear defense took over and Boyertown added two late scores for a 5-2 win in a Pioneer Athletic Conference Liberty Division battle at Coach McNelley Stadium.

Dulin, the 2021 Mercury All-Area Player of the Year, wound up with a hat trick and Hannah Ulrich and Peyton Shellaway also scored for the Bears (7-1 Liberty, 9-1-1 PAC, 12-3-1), who will be the third seed in the PAC playoffs. Erin Zimmerman and Marissa Cagliola scored for the Rams (5-4, 7-4, 7-8), who are still in contention for league and district playoff berths.

“I kind of just picked up the ball and saw the space and I thought, ‘I’m just going to take the ball’ and saw that the goalkeeper was not on the post,” said Dulin.

That goal gave Boyertown a 3-2 lead just three minutes into the third quarter and the Bears allowed the Rams only a few trips downfield and just one corner opportunity the rest of the way.

“I think we played really well as a team tonight, offensively and defensively,” Dulin added. “We pretty well shut them down.”

The Rams took several shots at the net in the opening two minutes and Zimmerman scored off an assist from Madison Friend just 1:42 into the match.
Boyertown came back to tie midway through the quarter on a slapshot from the right wing by Ulrich off an assist from Alaina Charlesworth and took the lead late in the period when Dulin scored off a pass from Shellaway. Spring-Ford tied it early in the second when Cagliola ripped in a shot on a corner play off a pass from Julia Corropolese.

“They’re dangerous and fast,” Boyertown coach Alicia Terrizzi said concerning the Rams. “They have some really skilled players. Their forwards are extremely fast. I’m really pleased with how our team played tonight at speed.”

Defensive pressure paid off for the Bears midway through the fourth quarter as they would not allow the Rams out of their own end. Backchecking Ulrich knocked the ball loose to Shellaway, who knocked it home for a 4-2 advantage with six minutes to go. Dulin added another insurance goal off a pass from Shellaway on a corner play with just over a minute left.

“I think in the second half we got away from what our game plan was,” said Spring-Ford coach Jennie Anderson. “You have to give credit to them. (Dulin) is a great player, but I thought tonight we did a pretty good job of neutralizing her. Overall, I thought our offense and defense played well.”
“I think our defense did a great job of dealing with their speed,” said Terrizzi. “There were a lot of skilled players on both teams.”

The Rams came into the night in a battle with three other teams for the PAC’s second wildcard playoff berth and were 21st in the District 3-A rankings with the top 24 qualifying for the playoffs.

“We’re just going to come back out tomorrow and see what we can fix,” said Anderson.

Meanwhile, the Bears were 10th in the district rankings.

“We kept our sticks down and defensively as a team, we really stayed together,” said Dulin. “We really showed that we can play tonight going into the playoffs.”

Boyertown 5, Spring-Ford 2

Scoring
First quarter
SF-Zimmerman (Friend)
BT-Ulrich (Charlesworth)
BT-Dulin (Shellaway)
Second quarter
SF-Cagliola (Corropolese)
Third quarter
BT-Dulin (unassisted)
Fourth quarter
BT-Shellaway (unassisted)
BT-Dulin (Shellaway)
Corners: Boyertown 9, Spring-Ford 3
Saves: Boyertown: Yoder 2. Spring-Ford: McCreary 4.