MECHANICSBURG — Audrey Anderson couldn’t resist.
As her players were milling about taking photos with the PIAA 4A trophy or their gold medals and mingling with family, friends and supporters, the Pennridge girls’ soccer coach had to know what had happened. It was in jest, the coach chiding the Rams for having finally given up a goal in the postseason, but also in character.
Anderson’s all about defense and her team’s performance on that end during the playoffs more than proved it.
“The self-discipline is crazy, she’s very big on that,” right back Meredith Blannett said. “Whether it’s your ball you lost or not, the person you’re defending or not, you always have to be the one who gets there. I trust my center backs and Casey (Malone) on the other side, but I’m not going to be the reason something happens against us and that comes from Aud.”
Pennridge outscored its opposition 39-1 across the District 1 and PIAA tournaments. The Rams’ closest margin of victory in the playoffs was 1-0 against Conestoga on Nov. 4 in the district title game and its second closest was three goals, also against ‘Stoga in Friday’s state final.
In total, the Rams finished the season with a 131-6 aggregate and didn’t allow any team to score multiple goals against them all year. Only Central Bucks East managed to pull points off Pennridge, the Patriots playing the Rams to a 1-1 tie on Sept. 6, giving the Rams a 25-0-1 season record.
Maybe the only thing Anderson dislikes more than giving up goals is giving up shots, because with no shots, there’s no goals. Her defenders are well aware.
“We definitely take pride in it,” Malone, the left back, said. “There are a lot of good teams we play against and to only have six goals against us is crazy. We pride ourselves on giving up no shots, that’s one of our biggest things.”
It was a true collective effort throughout the season. Center back Anna Croyle was the anchor, starting every game, but there were plenty of other contributors along the back line at various points.
Malone dealt with a couple minor injuries and even played some forward at times, senior Lindsey Balmer spent some time at outside back, junior Gabby Herrmann hopped in for a few spot starts at fullback and Addy Mills came up huge. Senior Hannah Primwhere began the season as the other center back and when the senior unfortunately went down with an injury, it was the sophomore Mills who filled in for her and started every match of the postseason.
Behind them was sophomore keeper Cece DeMoss, who made a couple tough and aggressive plays off her line Friday to take balls out of the air.
Croyle also pointed out defending is a team thing at Pennridge, adding the backs had plenty of help all year.
“I think so much credit has to go to our forwards with their constant pressure and even our midfield, to not let them get back a lot of the time,” the Syracuse recruit said. “There are a lot of games where it’s our forwards and midfield doing a lot of the work and we’re just cleaning it up.”
ANKLE LOCKED
Blannett didn’t make it two minutes into the state semifinals before an ankle injury ended her night.
The senior tried to plead her case to get back in, but with the battle on its way to being won, the Rams were thinking about the end of the campaign. Come Friday, even with a still very-swollen right ankle, Blannett wasn’t missing out.
“I wasn’t going to let myself not play,” Blannett said. “I kept saying to Aud last game ‘I’m good,’ but she said ‘I’d rather have you for the state game,’ which was smart. I have trust in my teammates, but I’d much rather be out there and a part of it.”
The Albany recruit not only played, she was out there for every second of the 80 minutes. A good pregame tape job by team trainer Brian Alburger got Blannett good to go and the senior acknowledged afterward the emotions late in the game helped a bit too.
“I think it was the adrenaline that got me through,” Blannett said. “We were all kind of eyeing each other, we knew it was going to happen. It was the end of an era.”
KIWAK BACK
Ava Kiwak didn’t have the number of goals Liv Grenda had or the amount of assists Sophie Craig compiled, but the third piece of the Rams’ midfield was just as integral to the unit’s success.
The senior, committed to Drexel, also got to play out her last season fully healthy. Last year, a noticeable knee brace on her right leg was a reminder of the knee injury that had cost plenty of time.
Bringing her toughness back with her, Kiwak fit right back in the mix this fall.
“It was just knowing them from when we were young and having that chemistry from playing with them since I was six or seven,” Kiwak said. “It just helped so much and made it so much fun this year.”
Kiwak, along with Tori Angelo and Casey Malone, were freshmen when their older sisters — Samantha, Maddie and Leah respectively — won a state title in their last game with the Rams.
Ava called it a full circle moment that she won her last game with a state title the same way her sister did. For her and her classmates, it was also their own moment, a cap to two years of tests both as a team and as individuals.
“We had a goal,” Kiwak said. “Freshman year, we made that goal and wanted to keep on repeating that. Sophomore year, we fell short. Last year, we lost in this game. I feel like we wanted to come back hungrier and it worked.”
ONE FOR THE ROAD
Liv Grenda knew she had to do it.
One thing the Dayton-bound senior midfielder had harped on all week was that one goal wouldn’t be enough in the state final. So when she had a window to try and extend her team’s lead, Pennridge’s all-time leading scorer took it and was rewarded with the 66th and final marker of her career.
Grenda’s goal all but sealed up the win, giving the team’s 12 seniors a good amount of time to let it sink in.
“It’s a special group, we’ve all been best friends since we were about six years old,” Grenda said.
“We’re always there for each other on and off the field. We’re just so close, I think that makes all the difference.”
As freshmen in 2020, Grenda, Malone, Croyle, Craig and Tori Angelo all played key roles in getting the team to its first state title. That game had ended in a jolt when Malone’s older sister Leah scored in double overtime.
Friday morning, Leah and Casey Malone shared a meal, older sister reminding little sister to take the whole day in because she was going to miss it when it ended.
“It came from how we were connected,” Malone said. “We were so close as a team, we were all in it from the jump. We’re best friends, we had each other to rely on so that made it a lot easier to push ourselves.”
Monday, for the first time since August, the Rams didn’t have practice. For the first time in four years, the seniors weren’t going to think about the next season.
That’s when it became real for a lot of them, but they couldn’t help but think about it for a few minutes on Friday.
“It’s going to be so weird, it’s hard to imagine,” Grenda said. “I got a little teary-eyed at the end just thinking this was the end of it. Four years of putting heart, soul and everything else into the program and it feels weird to just be over like that.”
For the three captains — Grenda, Craig and Croyle — the emotions were hard to deny.
“We grew up together, we knew what we all wanted and we just love each other so much,” Craig said. “We want to see each other succeed. I started bawling my eyes out, I couldn’t stop looking at Liv and Anna, I knew I was running to Liv first, all I wanted to do was run to her so we could be happy and cry.”
Blannett, Ava Kiwak, Croyle, Angelo, Balmer, Malone and Grenda have committed to play at the next level. Craig has decided not to keep playing and a few of the other seniors are still weighing their options.
“Sophie, that’s insane, I’ve played with her my whole life and to know that’s not going to be the same again is sad,” Croyle said. “I’m glad we were able to end it on top with no regrets.”
A few of the seniors will have a last club run together over the next few months, but as a group, they’ll never wear the same uniform again. They know they’re leaving the program in good hands and they were content with the way their chapter ended.
“We’ve played together since we were five or six years old, it’s something we always knew was going to happen,” Blannett said. “We’re just so happy for each other that it happened.
“We’re together every single day, we connected on every level you can probably think of and we just really respect each other.”
Hailey Primwhere, who scored two goals in the win, Angelo and Balmer formed an incredibly potent front three all season. It wasn’t surprising the trio, along with Hailey’s twin sister Hannah, are also extremely close friends and took plenty of pictures together after the game.
The four will go their separate ways in a few months’ time, but they’ll always be linked by their four years with the Rams and especially, this last run together.
“It feels like it hasn’t hit me yet, we’re going to go to school Monday and not go to practice and that’s what we’ve done all year,” Hailey Primwhere said. “It’s my best friends, we had a happy ending together. It’s sad we’re never going to be a part of this, but we’ll always be family.
“Always.”
