EAST WHITELAND >> The last two days for the West Chester East field hockey team have been ones that couldn’t have been better if every member took a turn writing the script.
The Vikings, coming off handing previously unbeaten Kennett its first loss on Monday, took control in the second period and staved off a spirited fourth-period comeback from Great Valley to come away with an impressive 4-3 road victory in Ches-Mont League action Tuesday.
“We have a tough week this week,” said East coach Jessica Rice. “We faced Kennett yesterday (Monday) and the girls played some of the best hockey I’ve ever seen. We were thrilled. But, going into today’s game, we knew Great Valley would be tough — the Nemeth twins on their team are legit good hockey players, but we knew if we could fight through back-to-back games and the tiredness, and keep them at bay, we had a good chance of winning.
“Our seniors have been with me for a long, long time. We haven’t beaten Kennett or Great Valley in three or four years, so it’s been a great week for us.”
East came into the fourth period with a 4-1 lead, but the Patriots quicky changed that. Nadia Nemeth unleashed a shot off a penalty corner that was blocked, and the rebound fell to Reese Meclonian, who deposited it into the back of the cage.
The two-goal deficit got cut again just a little over a minute later. Eva Nemeth’s shot off a penalty corner deflected off a defender and went in over goalie Keira O’Flynn. Suddenly, it was 4-3 with more than half the quarter left for East to hold up.
“Too little, too late,” said Great Valley coach Brenda Haley. “The fourth quarter is usually how we play, but it was too little, too late.”
East did just that, despite the near constant pressure they faced. The Vikings were able to work the ball into the Great Valley end with around two minutes left. Two consecutive corners relieved the pressure. With time winding down, Rachel Ziegler scored off a goalmouth scramble to make it a 5-3 lead with 30.8 seconds left to secure the victory.
“Fourth quarter gave me a near-heart attack,” an elated Rice said.
O’Flynn made seven saves – a number of them of the top shelf variety – to keep the Patriots off the board when they did apply pressure.
“Keira had a great day,” added Rice. “She’s a great communicator. She knows how important these Ches-Mont games are and she is so dedicated to the sport. This week, she is coming into her own.”
The Vikings did a fine job on Nadia Nemeth, the reigning Daily Local News All-Area Player of the Year, keeping her to one goal on the afternoon.
“I think we had trouble getting the ball out wide, then to the center,” Nemeth said. “We didn’t make the connections we usually do. Overall, we have a lot to bring to practice these next couple of days and I think we’ll come out strong the next game.”
Nemeth scored her 100th career goal recently and she talked about how it felt to accomplish the milestone.
“It felt good,” she said. “I knew I had to get to the hundred, and I did, but now I’m ready to move on and win games. It was on my mind obviously. It was great to get it. I put in a lot of hard work over the years.”
After a first quarter that ended up 1-1, the Vikings took control in the second.
Kylie Chandler, Audrey Argonish and Ziegler found the back of the cage as East built a 4-1 lead into halftime.
“I thought it was an amzing game,” said Argonish, who finished with a goal and an assist. “We came in playing as a team with high energy and did what we did best, working as a team. I played pretty well working with my teammates.”
The Vikings improved to 3-2 in the league and 6-2 overall. They will face another challenging opponent Friday with a nonleague contest against Mount St. Joseph. Great Valley fell to 1-2 and 6-3. They will travel to West Chester Henderson on Thursday.
West Chester East 5, Great Valley 3
WC East 1 3 0 1 — 5
Great Valley 1 0 0 2 — 3
WC East goals: Ziegler 2, Argonish, Chandler, Bechteel.
Great Valley goals: N. Nemeth, Meclonian, E. Nemeth.
Goalie saves: O’Flynn (WCE) 7; Hanlon (GV) 5.
