PHILADELPHIA – Regan Kelso knew how big a deal a Philadelphia Catholic League championship was, but actually getting to lift one of her own surpassed all expectations.
The Archbishop Wood junior made an instant impact with the Vikings’ girls soccer team this fall after transferring in from Pennsbury and fit right in for a championship program. Saturday, in her first title game, Kelso made her biggest impact yet this season.
Kelso scored both goals as top-seeded Wood hoisted its third straight PCL title, downing league newcomer No. 5 Nazareth Academy 2-0 at Northeast High School.
“It’s definitely a surreal feeling but so exciting,” Kelso said. “I feel I’ve really learned how to play in these big scenarios. My old team, we didn’t have the opportunity to play for championships, so this is a really big deal with a lot of pressure and it helped me learn how to play under that pressure.”
Nazareth Academy had an impressive debut in the Catholic League after moving over to District 12 this academic year. The Pandas had knocked off No. 3 Cardinal O’Hara and No. 2 Archbishop Ryan to reach the final and had given Wood a tight game in a 2-1 regular season loss to the Vikings.
Early on, it seemed like Nazareth Academy’s plan was to bunker down and hang around while looking for chances to counter for a goal. With Gracie Sullivan behind them, it wasn’t a bad plan, with the keeper playing a fantastic final while making 11 saves.
Had the game been played earlier in the season, it might’ve worked. However, Wood captain Ava DeGeorge noted this is a much different Vikings side than the one that started out back in September dropping games in its nonleague slate.
“I’m really proud of the way we can keep possession in our final third,” DeGeorge, who won her third PCL title with the Vikings, said. “I think we tired them out playing possession, it wasn’t like we won by getting lucky on anything like that.”
The streak of PCL titles started in 2021, when Ava and her older sister Alyssa secured the first of the three championships with a win over Archbishop Ryan. Ava, who is bound for Rider, and her dad Tom DeGeorge – the Vikings’ coach – have kept it going even as the roster has changed around her in each of the past two seasons.
“The biggest thing we talk about is culture,” Tom DeGeorge said. “The captains from last year wrote the girls a nice little letter, it’s something we’ve done every year and it shows this program means a lot to these kids. They all said the same thing, that they wanted to play with their best friends and win the PCL.”
Wood went on the offensive almost immediately as the front line of DeGeorge, Kelso and Paige Eckert and midfielders Sage Boost and Kylie Wiest worked the ball around looking for a crack in the Pandas’ defense. Often, a team playing against a packed-in defense falls into a trap of shooting at the first sign of an opening but the Vikings were steadfast in trying to keep possession.
For 20 minutes, they were doing it, but couldn’t solve the last line of defense. Kelso even gave Sullivan a shoutout for her tremendous play, but there was nothing the NA keeper could do when Kelso went right at a defender then unleashed a wicked right-footed shot to the far post that clipped a piece of the woodwork and went for a 1-0 lead.
“Gracie had an amazing game, she eats up those long shots and she can get her fingertips on just about anything,” Kelso said. “We were playing with it around the box and when we were able to break through past the 18, that’s when we were able to get crosses or be successful.
“For me, it was just getting the angle and if you have that little yard of space, taking the shot. You don’t have to wait for the perfect shot because that’s when the goalie will be expecting it.”
While the bulk of the game was played in Nazareth Academy’s end, it didn’t mean Wood’s defense wasn’t fully unoccupied. Senior goalkeeper Lauren Greer, who added another championship to her name, didn’t have a save but she did have to deal with several balls hit into the 18-yard box.
Greer, who is also a guard on Wood’s state champion girls basketball team, pointed to the growth of the defenders in front of her as a major reason for the Vikings’ ability to three-peat.
“I want to give a huge shoutout to my defenders, we basically got a new back line and their progression over the entire season was absolutely amazing,” Greer said. “I’m so happy for all of them, they’re so young so they still have a long way to go too.”
Greer is in her second year as the starting goalkeeper and while basketball is her main sport, she’s appreciative of the opportunity playing a second sport has afforded her. Soon, she’ll trade cleats for sneakers to help Wood chase a fourth straight state title in basketball but soaked in the accomplishment of being part of two three-peats in her high school career.
“It’s a really big accomplishment, I’m very proud of myself,” Greer said. “It takes a lot of hard work playing another sport and when it’s soccer season, this team comes first.”
The four defenders, Macie Kennedy, Molly McConnell, Grace Hoeger and Bridgid Johnston, all had at least one key clearance and kept Greer from facing any major threats. Johnston, the left back, in particular was very energetic and even started roving a bit more in the second half.
Keeping the standard of winning going was something the defense took seriously, despite losing some stalwart players and having to rebuild the unit from the ground up as the season went on.
“It really means a lot to us,” Johnston said. “We’re going to come back and try to do it every year. I was really proud of the way we held the ball today and stayed patient the whole time.”
Kelso added her second goal six minutes into the second half. She took the ball wide on the left side of the box then whipped in a ball off her left foot that Sullivan did get a hand on but not enough to deter the effort from going in.
Tom DeGeorge agreed the versatile junior, who can play on either wing, at center forward or in the midfield, is a special player and he added her lefty shot is a tough one to track with the way it moves. In general, Kelso has done whatever’s been asked of her and much like the way Eckert came through big in her first PCL final as a freshman a year ago, it was another Wood newcomer bringing home the hubcap on Saturday.
“She’s just clutch,” Ava DeGeorge said. “With her shot, it goes in. It’s such a huge help when you play her a through ball, you know she’s probably going to finish it.
When the Vikings received the round PCL trophy, they lifted it as a group but it didn’t take long for Ava DeGeorge to pass it along to Kelso to take hold of first. Wood will play for the District 12 title next week then move onto states, but there’s no equaling that feeling of lifting a first trophy.
“In this league, everything’s a fight and you just have to grind,” Kelso said. “It’s all about the team, you win and lose as a team and everybody is there to pick each other up.”
Archbishop Wood 2, Nazareth Academy 0
Archbishop Wood 1 1 – 2
Nazareth Academy 0 0 – 0
Goals: AW – Regan Kelso 2.
