Wissahickon completes undefeated regular season with OT win over Plymouth Whitemarsh
LOWER GWYNEDD >> Wissahickon had two things it wanted to do Tuesday night — celebrate its seniors and finish the regular season with an undefeated record.
It took more than 60 minutes, but check and check.
The Trojans closed the regular season with a 1-0 overtime win over Plymouth Whitemarsh on senior night to improve to 18-0.
“Because we don’t really have any superstars, (the players) all rely on each other,” head coach Lucy Gil, who led Wiss to a perfect regular season in 2009, said of what makes this team special. “They don’t look for somebody to take over. I’ve had teams like that and when that person gets the ball everybody else stops playing. These guys know that they have to back each other up, that they have to be right next to them for a pass. They’ve been really good about supporting each other.”
“I love all these girls and they all mean so much to me,” senior Sophia Havrilla said. “I’m so grateful to be able to play with them and I’m definitely going to miss them all next year when I go off to school.”
Havrilla caged the game-winner. After getting the ball from senior Caroline Kirkpatrick, Havrilla carried the ball up the left side of the field and cut towards the goal. Her shot beat the goalie and gave the Trojans a 1-0 win just 45 seconds into overtime.
The back-to-back Suburban One League Liberty Division champs applied offensive pressure most of the night, but couldn’t get one into the cage during regulation. They earned eight penalty corners in the game, including four in the fourth quarter.
“It was definitely frustrating but we were able to come together as a team and really persevere and work hard,” Havrilla said. “It definitely showed in the last quarter and then in overtime as well.”
“PW put up a brickwall and it was really hard to get into the circle,” Gil said. “Once we got into the circle it was really hard to get anywhere near the goal cage. They just packed them in in layers it seemed like. I think what happened was when it was 7-v-7 (in overtime) there was a lot more open space and we were able to maneuver in. That’s what it took. PW put up amazing defense.”
“We’ve been practicing and preparing for this game basically all season,” PW coach Jess Randazzo said. “I couldn’t be more proud of the girls. The defense played so hard, gave up minimal fouls and errors. I’m really proud of how they played.”
The wins finalizes a regular season that saw Wissahickon go 10-0 against SOL Liberty rivals, 6-0 in crossover games against SOL Freedom opponents and 2-0 in non-league games against Council Rock South and North Penn. It was the win over North Penn on Sept. 30 that had the Trojans thinking 18-0 was possible.
“That was right in the middle of our season and that was our biggest competition,” Havrilla said. “We beat them 3-1 and after that I knew we were rolling and we just had to keep going with that momentum.”
Wissahickon entered the game ranked No. 2 in the District 1-3A rankings. The Trojans will have a first-round bye before starting their postseason run in the second round Wednesday Oct. 26.
“These games are really good for us,” Gil said. “The 10-0 games don’t really help us to push through adversity. These games are really, really good.”
PW was No. 15 going into Tuesday’s game and will open the postseason in the first round Monday Oct. 24. The Colonials will know their seed and opponent when the rankings are finalized Thursday night.
“This showed our highest potential that we can play and I will not accept anything else from my team going forward,” Randazzo said. “Wissahickon is a great team and I think they prepared us in a great way going towards playoffs and I also wish Wissahickon the best in the playoffs as well.”
Wissahickon 1, Plymouth Whitemarsh 0 (OT)
Plymouth Whitemarsh 0 0 0 0 0 — 0
Wissahickon 0 0 0 0 1 — 1
Goals: W: Sophia Havrilla.
