Mayer, Lower Moreland take down Academy New Church
BRYN ATHYN >> Lower Moreland’s slogan this year is small but mighty. Lower Moreland has some impressive wins on its resume coming into Thursday night’s contest with Academy of the New Church as it was looking to ANC to the list.
“Our slogan this year is small but mighty,” Lower Moreland coach Jess Ashenbrenner said. “Our number were really small this year but they’re a close group of girls and they’re really friendly.”
The brilliant midfield play display by Lower Moreland led by midfielders Jamie Mayer and Gianna Venafra guided its 3-1 victory.
“Jamie is the girl we rely on in the center,” Ashenbrenner said. “Gianna’s always there ready to go with the ball. Typically it’s Jamie getting it to Gianna and she knows how to run with it.”
Mayer got the game and the scoring started on the night. With both teams still in the feeling out phase, the ball found its way on Mayer’s stick around midfield as she took it all the way to cage for the score.
After facing its first deficit ANC responded. Zia Cooper scored on a nice shot to level the game up at 1-1 with just over eight minutes left in the first half.
“I think our girls came out very, very excited and a little too energetic where it wasn’t contained,” ANC coach Whin Syllla said. “After the time out we said ‘It’s OK to be excited and to have all this energy but it needs to be controlled and focused and when they came out of that timeout I though they were very focused.”
As the second half rolled around so too did the Lower Moreland transitions. The final goal came from another great midfield run, this time from Venafra, who assisted to Lindsay Graham for a slam dunk goal.
The goal proved to be the dagger for ANC as it had spent most of the second half in the Lower Moreland half but not finding a way to score. ANC had six corner opportunities and fired four-second half shots and was held scoreless.
“They had those larger hits,” Ashenbrenner said. “Once they hit the big hit our girls weren’t getting back fast enough.”
The 3-1 win puts another quality win under the belts of Lower Moreland. It currently sits with a 7-3 record in the Bicentennial Athletic League as a promising season continues to look bright.
“We’re third in the BAL right now,” Ashenbrenner said. “We’ve won some games that we have not won in the past. We’ve been really successful this year.”
Top Photo: Lower Moreland’s Lindsay Graham celebrates scoring a goal against Academy of New Church during their game on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016. (Bob Raines/Digital First Media)
