LOWER GWYNEDD – The idea of waiting around didn’t suit Archbishop Wood.
With the top seed in the PCL playoffs locked up, meaning they wouldn’t play until Oct. 24, the Vikings went looking for a challenge. They certainly found one in Gwynedd Mercy Academy, with the Monarchs hitting their stride and looking to make a move of their own for the upcoming District 1-3A playoffs.
Wood got the goal, and the 1-0 win, but had to withstand quite a bit of pressure from GMA to do it.
“I don’t know if we’ll see that level in the PCL, so to get that kind of win out of it was really good,” Wood senior Ava DeGeorge said. “It should give us a lot of confidence going into the playoffs.”
It’s not that Wood, which has won the last two PCL titles, won’t be challenged in the league tournament, but the Monarchs had something the Vikings aren’t going to see in their league. GMA, a District 1 semifinalist last year, was unbeaten in the last six, the lone non-win an impressive 1-1 draw with District 1-4A potential top seed Downingtown East and eager to try and win its way into a first-round home game.
The result kept Gwynedd Mercy Academy at the No. 5 spot in the 3A rankings, but not for a lack of effort. While Wood had some good chances, and capitalized on the one it needed, the Monarchs were almost relentless in their efforts to put a ball away.
“At the beginning of the season, we had a little bit of a disconnect, but us as captains, we worked it out through team bonding,” GMA senior defender Ella Koschineg said. “The environment in the team is huge for us, culture is super-big and for me, personally, I think all the relationships I made with the underclassmen made us grow stronger.”
Wood got a really solid effort up and down the formation, especially in the midfield. DeGeorge said that was not something that would have been the case earlier this season but also highlighted the growth the Vikings have made.
Fittingly, it would be each third of the field getting involved in the game’s lone score. With GMA in possession, defender Grace Hoeger stepped up for an interception, won the ball and quickly dished to midfielder Sage Boost.
Boost took a couple touches, then slipped a pass up to Kylie Wiest who made a nice run that included holding off a challenge by the Monarchs’ Riley Morris before threading a through ball to DeGeorge. The reigning PCL MVP caught up to the ball and fired a shot off her left foot just a split-second before Koschineg could close down, tucking the effort neatly into the net with 32:42 left in the opening half.
“Playing through the middle is where we’ve really improved the most,” DeGeorge said. “At the start of the season, it was almost like we were just playing defense to forwards, just dumping it in but today, we really played well through our middle.”
Gwynedd Mercy came back almost right away with a spell of sustained pressure. Senior midfielder Kat Pluck, the third piece of the Monarchs’ standout senior trio, put a challenge in when she ripped a free kick on net, only to be denied by a diving stop from Wood’s Lauren Greer.
Greer, a senior and second-year starter, was busy on Monday with nine saves. The keeper, who is also a guard on the Vikings’ basketball team, also gave props to her defenders.
Wood’s backline of Hoeger, Molly McConnell, Macie Kennedy and Brigid Johnston kept coming up against Gwynedd Mercy’s solid combination play and build-up.
“Clearing the ball was a big thing today and that’s something in the beginning of the season that we struggled with,” Greer said. “Our backs have done such a good job of clearing the ball, pinching in when we have to and just making sure everyone is covered.”
At the half, Wood coach Tom DeGeorge had three notes for his team. First was that they had a lead, second was they were playing a good team that was looking to change that and third, possibly most important, it was their last chance to win a nonleague game.
Granted, the Vikings played a loaded nonleague slate, but it was definitely something the players took to heart as they returned to the field. It seemed to give them some fuel, from forwards Paige Eckert and Regan Kelso all the way back to Greer in goal, to keep battling.
Getting a win to head into the league playoffs was a good boost for Wood, but only because the Vikings had realized the success in their struggles earlier in the season.
“As much as it sucked in the moment and your confidence was low, once we got into the PCL, it felt so different,” DeGeorge said. “It was almost like it was slower, you had more time, so I think it helped everyone.”
The Monarchs have a formidable trio in the Cornell-bound Koschineg, Rutgers recruit Morris and Lehigh pledge Pluck, but they, along with fourth captain Ava Kolp, have also helped mold a young team throughout the season. At times, GMA had three freshmen making up its front line and the Monarchs also started two sophomores on Monday.
GMA finishes out its regular season on Friday against Plymouth Whitemarsh, then all eyes to the playoffs where the Monarchs will go after a state playoff bid.
“With the leadership, not even just the captains, it’s coming from underclassmen stepping up, it grew a lot of confidence on the field,” Koschineg said.
Archbishop Wood 1, Gwynedd Mercy 0
Archbishop Wood 1 0 – 1
Gwynedd Mercy 0 0 – 0
Goals: AW – Ava DeGeorge (Kylie Wiest).
