UPPER DUBLIN — Down four starters, the eighth-seeded Upper Dublin Cardinals knew they had their work cut out for them.
A pair of concussions, a broken finger, and a sprained ankle had struck at exactly the wrong time.
On the other side, the No. 9 Marple Newtown Tigers were riding a four-game winning streak, and they stepped off the bus in “orange mode.”
“When we’re at our most aggressive playing and communicating, we call it ‘orange mode,’” Marple Newtown senior Olivia Dwyer said. “Instead of being like, ‘Let’s get angry’ or whatever, we scream, ‘Let’s get orange!” to get ready to go and to come out stronger than the other team.”
If orange was the objective, the Tigers were fire.
Dwyer scored twice to power Marple Newtown to a hard-fought, 2-0 victory over Upper Dublin in the opening round of the District 1-2A playoffs Tuesday.
Marple Newtown, out of Delaware County’s Central League, generated nine shots on goal while limiting the Cardinals to just three.
With the win, the Tigers (10-9-1) advance to a second-round matchup Thursday against top-seeded Villa Maria Academy (11-3), which blasted No. 16 Oxford 13-0 in a Monday game.
“I think with all the injuries, and knowing their next game would be against the No. 1 seed, I’m not sure if the girls had the most positive outlook today,” Upper Dublin coach Emily Town said. “I think that affected their intensity. But you also have to give (Marple Newtown) credit for how they played.”
Undermanned, Upper Dublin (11-7-1) had to field several freshmen who have promising talent but little varsity experience.
“I think if we were at our full health, this game might have gone differently,” Town said. “It sucks we weren’t able to get the ball up into our offensive circle and score as much as we were hoping for. If we would have played the way we played a little earlier in the season, maybe we could have won this game.”
The contest was scoreless until 5:54 into the second quarter, when Dwyer found the net as Marple Newtown pressured the circle. As the game wore on, Upper Dublin was increasingly on its heels.
Dwyer scored again, this time on a corner, 2 minutes into the third period. It proved to be a devastating blow to the Cardinals.
“I expected a fight,” Marple Newtown coach Caroline Coladonato said. “Whenever you make it to the playoffs, every team is ready to go. I knew we were pretty similar in terms of skill level, especially with our rankings, so I knew it was going to be a battle. And that’s what it was.”
“We did a lot of research on them,” Coladonato said. “Going into it, we were expecting big hits out of the circle and for them to start the ball pretty quickly, so we prepared for that beforehand. And we also really highlighted communication on the field, because when your girls on the defensive end are communicating where to mark up, where to block, that’s when you can intercept a lot of those free hits coming out of the circle.”
The Tigers had 11 penalty corners while consistently preventing Upper Dublin from getting into any sort of rhythm on offense.
Cardinals goalie Camryn Muth thwarted seven shots in the defeat.
This game happened to be the last for Upper Dublin’s coach. It was Town’s third year at the helm and fifth with the program. But she now lives and works in Center City, which is a tough trek every day.
“I’m most frustrated for the seniors that weren’t able to play in their last postseason of high school,” said Town, who will continue to coach with the Philly Hockey Club. “Most girls don’t go on to play in college, so this was the last game of their careers.
“For me, I’m taking a little break from high school field hockey,” she said. “I’ve been going to preseason since I was 13 years old, so it will be nice to be able to stay at the shore in the summer for a change. But I’m going to miss the girls a lot.
“All good things have to come to an end, eventually.”
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Email Christiaan DeFranco at cdefranco@thereporteronline.com. Follow him on X at @the_defranc, or go to ChrisDeFranco.com.
