Plymouth-Whitemarsh overcomes frustration, beats Upper Moreland

WHITEMARSH >> For better than a half Thursday at the cold and rainy Victory Fields, Plymouth Whitemarsh High’s field hockey team had owned the territorial edge, had far more chances and far more corners than Upper Moreland, yet found itself trailing by a goal.

The Colonials had been stoned on a penalty stroke, had another goal disallowed and were figuratively pulling their hair out in frustration.

“I had to call a timeout and calm our girls down,” said Colonials head coach Marianne Paparone. “They were playing frustrated, and I had to tell them to try and keep their composure.”

That message finally got through, and the Colonials responded with a 3-2 victory, made possible by Frankie O’Brien’s stroke at 20:50 of the second half to tie the game and Kennedy Reardon’s rebound tally with 4:55 left to win it.

“The ball was played in and I saw their goalie down,” said Reardon of the game-winner. “I just lifted the ball and hoped for the best.”

And when that goal was counted, the Colonials had strengthened their hold on second place in the Suburban One League American Conference standings.

“They’re a talented team,” said Bears head coach Karen Grossi of PW. “They have the skills that are perfect for turf. That gave them an advantage in the offensive end.”

And the Colonials put that advantage to good use, swarming in the Bears defensive end, drawing seven first-half corners to the visitors’ three and generally wreaking havoc.

The only thing missing was goals, and the Bears were in front, 1-0, before the contest was 5:00 old, thanks to a terrific individual effort by Jessica Flanagan, who pushed the ball hard down the left side, beat a Colonials defender and slipped the ball through PW netminder Clair McAllister.

Meanwhile, Bears goaltender Allison Felicetti was strong and a half, first sprawling to stop a Reardon rebound at the 19:00 mark, then getting her right hand on O’Brien’s stroke attempt at 11:51.

Finally, the Colonials broke through with just over six minutes left in the first half when Sam Speara found the cage off a feed from Reardon.

The contest was tied, but didn’t stay that way long, thanks to Delaney Smith’s successful stroke just over two minutes into the second half.

And the Colonials’ frustration began anew.

But finally, O’Brien got a do-over on her missed penalty stroke of the first half, and beat Felicetti to knot the score.

PW kept up the attack and it paid off when Reardon lifted her game-winner over Felicetti with just under 5:00 on the game clock.

“We were frustrated,” Reardon said, “but realized how important this game was, and we increased our intensity.”

The result pleased Paparone, but the coach said she understood there was still a lot of season left to play.

“We still just have the one league loss to Wissahickon,” she said, “but I felt we didn’t play very well that day. Hopefully we can play better when we play again.”

And, in defeat, Grossi was proud of the Bears effort.

“I was proud of our girls today,” Grossi said. “They finally put together everything we’ve been coaching them to do.”