CB East keeps pedal down, surges past Abington in District 1-4A quarterfinals
ABINGTON >> A blinged-out golden bulldog head around her neck, CB East senior Gwyn Krystkiewicz explained what’s taken over her team this past week.
The No. 14 Patriots continued their stellar postseason run on Saturday, going down to No. 6 Abington and knocking off their second consecutive top-six seed and sewing up a spot in the state tournament. A good team during the regular season, the Patriots have been relentless in three playoff fixtures so far, hammering opponents from the first whistle and not leaving anything off once the motor starts up.
Krystkiewicz, the “Dog of the Game,” had a hat trick and Elliot Forney scored twice to overpower a brace from Abington’s Maura Day as East claimed a 5-2 quarterfinal win Saturday morning.
“We’ve had this motto all season but it’s really showing now in the postseason of keeping our foot on the gas pedal,” Krystkiewicz, a winger, said. “Before every game, we say it and I seriously think that we’re all going and doing it. Nobody is stepping on the breaks and now we get to keep going.”
Back in August, on the first day of the season, the teams met in a barnburner of a game that East won 5-4. Aside from their all gas, no breaks mentality, the other major change for the Patriots has been the play of their back line. Brooke Roumy and Sophie Schorn aren’t natural center backs, but they’ve been superb between fullbacks Chantal Van Dongeren and Grace Craig and senior forward Cam Williams pointed to the back line as a factor on Saturday.
Abington wasn’t quite at 100 percent Saturday, with senior Carley Slavin nursing a swollen ankle that kept her on the bench to start the game. Once the Ghosts fell behind 2-0 midway through the first half, the West Chester recruit subbed in and didn’t come out. Although the Ghosts battled against the constant flux of pressure from East, it was a taxing toll to try and dig out of the deficit.
“They’re a really good team and they put a lot of pressure on us,” Day, a senior midfielder, said. “Coming out without Carley was really hard for us. We needed to come down, obviously they were good and putting the pressure on us but we needed to keep our heads and not forget how to play.”
Ghosts freshman keeper Addison Hayden was terrific, making nine saves, but there was only so much she could do with a Patriots team full of finishers continually coming down the field at her over and over again.
Krystkiewicz, who had an early shot saved, cracked open the scoring with a sensational effort. A ball from Sofia Mignon found Krystkiewicz with a defender on her back, the senior skillfully slipping off her mark on the turn then chipping the ball over the keeper to the top shelf for a 1-0 lead.
Two minutes later, a foul gave East a free kick that Forney dropped right into the mixer in the six yard box, allowing Williams to get a touch on. Then, before she let off and let the crashing Krystkiewicz come in and punch home the free ball. Even with the 2-0 lead, which they carried to halftime, the Patriots last words before returning to the field were “keep the gas pedal down.”
“It’s a confidence thing,” Williams, who had three assists said. “The fact we were able to get this kind of win over Abington was big for us. We go into the next game with pressure, but we don’t have that sense of we have to win or we’re done.”
Forney was able to be a threat going forward in another standout midfield showing thanks to her two teammates in the central triangle in Mignon and Mikayla Gray.
“We preach getting the second ball every time and KM and Sof do such a great job winning the first ball which allows us to then win the next one,” Forney said. “Once we win that second ball, we’re able to turn and find people out wide. Once we in the middle get going, the whole team ends up getting going and that’s what happened today.”
Forney converted a penalty kick with 36 minutes left to put Abington behind 3-0 in the second half.
As Day noted, her team did start to play more controlled after halftime and began to test the Patriots back line a little bit more. With 27 minutes left, Abington earned a corner kick that Day bent into the net, getting it through the keeper for an Olimpico goal that gave the hosts some life.
East answered, with Williams hitting a ball across the front of goal that Krystkiewicz charged in and slammed home for the hat trick. Day converted on a penalty kick soon after to cut the lead to 4-2, but again the Patriots were able to quell the momentum.
Abington isn’t finished and will face either Pennridge or CB West in the playbacks rounds for a chance to extend their season and secure a state bid.
“It wasn’t over until the whistle so we just tried to keep going,” Day said. “We didn’t want to stop playing. We gave it our all, it was definitely a hard game. We just said we had a good run for districts but now it’s time to get into states and it’s a new season.”
East capped the game with a fifth goal, Williams again fighting to keep the play alive on the endline and this time finding Forney, who hit a brilliant ball to the far post that tucked in with about two minutes left.
The Patriots will face Pennridge or CB West, two of their biggest rivals and teams they know very well, in Tuesday’s semifinals for a chance to play for a district title. Whoever it is, East will go into the game pedal all the way down.
“It’s unbelievable how the switch has changed for us,” Krystkiewicz said. “As soon as we started the postseason, everyone was mentally checked in like ‘we’re going to do this and we’re going to do it right’ and I think everybody is on their A-game.”
CB East 5, Abington 2
CB EAST 2 3 – 5
ABINGTON 0 2 – 2
Goals: CBE – Gwyn Krystkiewicz, Krystkiewicz (Cam Williams, Elliot Forney), Forney (PK), Krystkiewicz (Williams), Forney (Williams); A – Maura Day, Day (PK)
