Montes, Owen J. Roberts battle past Perkiomen Valley
GRATERFORD >> Her toughness was never in question.
Yet Nettie Montes felt she and her Owen J. Roberts teammates still had something to prove.
“We’ve always wanted this, ever since we started playing together” said Montes, of her team’s unscathed record in the PAC-10 to this point on the season. “We’ve put in all the hard-work, all the dedication, and as seniors this is our last shot.”
The hard-work seemed to pay off again Monday afternoon, as the Wildcats took a 2-0 victory over Perkiomen Valley.
“We took advantage of the opportunities we had,” said OJR head coach Amy Hoffman. “(Perkiomen Valley) definitely out-cornered us and controlled most of the possession. But we took advantage of good scoring chances and made them count.”
Montes and Courtney Gerber each netted a goal while Natalie Fuertsch added an assist in the win to help the team improve to 10-0 in the PAC-10 and 12-2 overall.
The result drops Perkiomen Valley to 8-2 PAC-10, 9-3 overall with both conference losses coming to the Wildcats.
On the game, the Vikings outshot Owen J. Roberts 21-10 and also held a 13-10 advantage in corners.
PV head coach Erik Enters says the Vikings need to find a way to simply put the ball in the cage.
“We were creating plenty of chances on offense, it’s just a matter of executing and scoring goals,” said Enters. “All our shots were big blasts, which won’t work against this defense and their goalie. We need to work it around and create chances with deflections and misdirections.”
OJR goalkeeper Amanda Lamb made 13 saves in the shutout.
Kerri Hanshaw and Miranda Wesley made four saves apiece for Perkiomen Valley.
With her team protecting a two-goal lead and under seven minutes left in regulation, Montes took a hard shot to the chest off the stick of PV’s Kelsey Giese.
Even after taking the shot, Montes exited the game with her goggles on her face, her stick in her hand and a determination to get back on the field.
“I guess I’m just a competitor,” laughed Montes. “I knew I couldn’t help the team too much from the sideline. I wanted to get back on the field and help us to preserve the win.”
Collecting her breath on the sidelines for a few minutes and repeating the phrase “I’m fine” to the trainers, her coaches and her teammates, Montes reentered the game, helping her team to protect the lead and eventually take the win.
“She makes a difference any time she’s on the field,” said Hoffman. “She wants to be out there helping her teammates any way she can.”
Montes made a big difference earlier in the half, scoring an insurance goal on a penalty stroke with 8:56 left on the game.
Coming off a 3-2 non-league loss in overtime to Emmaus on Saturday, Hoffman says the result banded the Wildcats together.
“We played a great game, unfortunately we just let them hang around too long,” said Hoffman of the loss. “We let that fuel us and learned from our mistakes. We can’t let a good team hang around. I think it really fueled us today.”
Gerber, a senior midfielder, echoed her coach’s comments.
“It was one of the best games we played as a team all season,” said Gerber of the loss Saturday. “So to lose in overtime like that was disappointing.
“We wanted to come out and prove ourselves again. That was definitely our motivation coming into this game against PV.”
As both Owen J. Roberts and Perkiomen Valley enter the homestretch of the regular season, both know the importance of taking it one game at a time before the dust settles.
“There’s still a long way to go on the season,” said Enters. “We need to win every game we play…that’s the bottom line. We’ve got a long road to go still.”
Owen J. Roberts will look to protect its unmarked record as the Wildcats travel to Boyertown Wedesday. Perkiomen Valley will look to get back on the scoreboard and regain its momentum Wednesday against Spring-Ford.
NOTES >> OJR’s Maddie Schaeffer made a huge defensive save in goal with about 11 minutes left to help preserve the shutout. … PV’s Danielle Trommelen made two defensive saves on the game.
