LOWER GWYNEDD — As the Wissahickon Trojans entered their district playoff opener against Abington, it was all about the hype.
“We got a good motivational speech beforehand, ‘First district game, give it our all, give a 110 percent,’ all those things,” junior forward Riley Ball said. “We wanted to become really motivated and excited, and I feel like we brought the energy we wanted to bring.”
Beneath the bright sun and blue skies, Wissahickon brought a storm.
The No. 9 Trojans buried five first-half goals — including three by Ball — en route to a 6-2 victory over a resilient, 24th-seeded Abington squad in the first round of the District 1-3A playoffs Monday at Wissahickon High School.
Cait Connaghan added a pair of goals and Audrey Walsh had two assists for the Trojans (14-4-1), who will travel to Malvern on Wednesday to face No. 8 Great Valley, which earned a first-round bye.
“I feel like the game was a little chaotic and we could have had a little more control over the game, but Abington came out really strong,” Wissahickon coach Lucy Gil said. “We knew they wanted to put a lot of pressure on us, and they did, so it was hard for us to get our passing under control. But it’s always nice to get that first win under your belt and move on.”
Wissahickon unleashed 16 shots on goal and had 10 corners.
Ball opened the scoring less than 2 minutes into the contest on a pass from Avery Mullin. Connaghan followed up 5 minutes later, fed by Kayla Mullin.
Just when it looked like the Trojans would run away with it, Janice Coonghari got the Ghosts (7-11-1) on the board with 8:03 remaining in the first period, as she netted a pass from Skylar Beal.
But Carley Lehman scored on a give from Walsh late in the frame to make it 3-1 in favor of Wissahickon.
Ball’s second goal came on a penalty stroke 4:30 into the second quarter. Abington’s Maeve Linie, with an assist from Maura Callodonato, scored 4 minutes later before Ball finished her hat trick with 4:43 left in the half, putting the Trojans up 5-2.
Ghosts goalkeeper Caitlin Murar racked up 10 saves on a busy afternoon.
Despite the loss, Abington coach Janine Larr was glad to see her team get into the playoffs and turn in a strong effort.
“We’ve been overcoming some injuries and some illnesses, so we were excited to come out and play them,” Larr said. “I think we got a good start, but we kind of had one defensive lapse that put us back, and then that stroke hurt us a bit.
“I was super proud though, because in the past, we hadn’t gotten too many opportunities offensively against them,” Larr said. “So, to get two goals in the first half and be in the game, we were really happy about that. The girls played one of the better games they’ve played all year.”
Wissahickon swept the teams’ two meetings of the regular season, 8-0 in early September and 4-1 a couple weeks ago.
“I think we let up a little bit today, and that’s what caused that big lag in the middle of the game when we weren’t scoring,” Gil said. “Plus, Abington turned up the defense a lot. They had 11 people in the circle, so it was really hard for us to penetrate.”
Wissahickon did manage to regroup offensively midway through the second half, working more cohesively with short, precise passes to keep the ball in the Ghosts’ end.
Connaghan’s second goal, this time on a pass from Avery Mullin, came with 4 seconds left in the contest.
The Trojans limited the Abington to just one shot on goal in the second half.
“I thought our defense was good together,” Ball said. “We swung the ball in the back, got it from left to right pretty well, and did a nice job against their passing.
“And our back player, Siena Miller, she did some nice step-ups to get it out of our circle and stop breakaways,” Ball said. “The rest of our defense was great too.”
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District 1-AAA Playoffs, First Round
Wissahickon High School
WISSAHICKON 6, ABINGTON 2
24 Abington 1 1 0 0 — 2
9 Wissahickon 3 2 0 1 — 6
Abington goals: 1st — Janice Coongari (Skylar Beal assist), 8:03; 2nd — Maeve Linie (Maura Callodonato), 6:31.
Wissahickon goals: 1st — Riley Ball (Avery Mullin), 13:19; Cait Connaghan (Kayla Mullin), 8:35; Carley Lehman (Audrey Walsh), 1:30; 2nd — Ball (stroke), 10:30; Ball (Walsh), 4:43; 4th — Connaghan (Mullin), :04.
Penalty corners: Abington 2, Wissahickon 10.
Shots on goal: Abington 7, Wissahickon 16.
Saves: Abington — Caitlin Murar 10, Wissahickon — Ava Fell 5.
Records: Abington 7-11-1, Wissahickon 14-4-1.
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Email Christiaan DeFranco at cdefranco@thereporteronline.com. Follow him on X at @the_defranc, or go to ChrisDeFranco.com.
