Owen J. Roberts earns return trip to states, rallies past Lower Merion 4-2

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ARDMORE >> Perhaps it may be the Phillies World Series hype in the air, but Owen J. Roberts coach Joe Margusity likened his girls soccer team to baseball’s big moments.

“We had our home run threat in (Alexa) Vogelman, so any time she touches the ball she’s a threat to do something good,” Margusity said.

Vogelman scored once and drew a pair of corners that served as the precursor to allow Fiona Sanders’ corner-kick deliveries to find Olivia Thompson for headers that hit the back of the net twice, retaking a late lead to ride out a 4-2 win over No. 4 Lower Merion on its own turf Tuesday in a District 1 Class 4A playback.

With the win, the No. 8 Wildcats (16-6-0) clinched a PIAA state tournament berth and will face No. 2 Pennridge (3-0 winner over No. 6 Abington) on Friday at a time to be determined.

Down 2-1 in the 69th minute, Vogelman drew the first corner and Thompson headed in Sanders’ corner to knot the contest. Six minutes later, the script was the same with a corner drawn by Vogelman leading to a header from the senior forward to take a permanent lead.

“We know we can come back in those big moments and I think our team knew we could power it up and get it going,” Thompson said. “We generated three goals in like 10 minutes.”

That they did.

The third was swept into the left of the net by Vogelman as she crossed over the right side with separation inside the box to cap the scoring.

“It was really a thing of beauty,” Margusity said on Vogelman’s goal, which came with 4:36 left in the game.

Owen J. Roberts sophomore forward Fiona Sanders works to keep the ball inbounds along the sideline against Lower Merion during a District 1 Class 4A playback at Lower Merion Tuesday. (Evan Wheaton – MediaNews Group)

Senior captain Gabbi Koury put Owen J. Roberts on the board first with an unassisted snipe from 30 yards out, putting the ball just over the outstretched fingertips of freshman goalie Cate Cantu (five saves).

After taking that 1-0 lead into the half, the Wildcats saw it disappear and then some. Twelve minutes into the second frame, senior forward Grace Downey tied the game for the Aces (18-3-1) off a feed from Gabby Jarvis.

Downey played a hand in Lower Merion’s other goal by getting the ball to Emma Barrabee, who headed it in past Colby Wasson (seven saves) to give the Aces a 2-1 advantage just three minutes later.

“When we came out in the second half, I feel like we had a little bit of low energy,” Thompson said. “As soon as they hit that goal, I think we knew we had to get it back and we knew we could do it. We’ve been practicing those corners over and over again and just finishing them like we have been in practice.”

Lower Merion won the Central League championship for the third straight year a month prior, but lost star center midfielder and Boston College pledge Elly Slensky to a torn ACL during the title game.

The Aces have fought through the District 1 bracket without the All-Central League and All-Main Line selection since, entering with a bye and taking a win over Wissahickon before being bounced to the playbacks by Neshaminy.

“We’ve been trying to play without the league’s best player, which is tough to do,” Lower Merion coach Kevin Ries said.

Lower Merion sophomore Emma Barrabee works to clear the ball from the Aces’ zone during a District 1 Class 4A girls soccer playback against Owen J. Roberts at Lower Merion Tuesday. (Evan Wheaton – MediaNews Group)

Despite missing some firepower, the Aces weren’t without the rest of their high-octane nucleus of four-year starters. Powered by center defender Sadie Cohen and Downey, both All-Main Line selections, Lower Merion got 10 shots off to the Wildcats’ 12.

Along with Slensky, Jarvis, Downey and Cohen, Rose Oriana, Abby Braslow, Emma Burke, Ava Cohen and Finley Hoffman are all graduating as well, closing the door on a golden class that went 57-1-1 in the Central League.

“We’re gonna lose a lot, but we got some very good young girls who are hopefully ready to step up next year,” Ries said, pausing for a moment. “Yeah, they’re gonna be tough to replace. But I think our program will be in fine shape.”

Owen J. Roberts 4, Lower Merion 2

Owen J. Roberts 1 3 — 4
Lower Merion 0 2 — 2

SCORING
OJR — Gabbi Koury, 27th minute
LM — Grace Downey (Gabby Jarvis), 62nd minute
LM — Emma Barrabee (Grace Downey), 65th minute
OJR — Olivia Thompson, 69th minute
OJR — Olivia Thompson, 75th minute
OJR — Alexa Vogelman. 76th minute
Shots: OJR-12, LM-10.
Saves: OJR-7 (Colby Wasson), LM-5 (Cate Cantu).

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Evan Wheaton

ewheaton

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