Owen J. comes out hot in second half, advances to fifth straight final with 2-1 win over Upper Perkiomen

RED HILL >> During her team’s halftime huddle Tuesday night, Owen J. Roberts head coach Amy Hoffman had plenty to say.

But she hardly had the chance to say any of it.

“They basically took the words right out of my mouth,” said Hoffman of her players during the halftime talk. “They were the ones saying ‘We’re right in this. We know we still have 30 minutes left to play.’”

With a renewed and refreshed approach in the second half, the Wildcats scored two quick goals to secure a 2-1 win over host Upper Perkiomen during the Pioneer Athletic Conference semifinals. The win sends No. 3-seeded Owen J. Roberts (14-5 overall) back to its fifth consecutive PAC Final as they will look to make it a three-peat Thursday night against top-seeded and unbeaten Methacton (a 3-0 winner over Phoenixville).

Upper Perk’s Hope Flack got the scoring started late in the opening half. The senior forward chipped in a rebound from Abriana Gatto just under 24 minutes in as the No. 2-seeded Tribe took a 1-0 lead into the half.

Out of the break, though, everything changed for OJR.

“We came out after halftime and we knew we’d have to put some quick goals in,” said OJR senior forward Bridget Guinan. “Upper Perk is a good team, they can score any time. We knew they would be pushing so we needed to get on the board.”

And the Wildcats did just that in a game that played out eerily similar to OJR’s comeback win over Upper Perk in last season’s PAC Championship.

The Wildcats controlled the possession and started to create chances for the first 15 minutes of the second half Tuesday night. More importantly, they capitalized twice during that time.

Three minutes into it, junior forward Bridget Gallagher tipped one into the cage off the stick of Sarah Garritano to even it up at 1-1. Less than four minutes later, Guinan scored on a textbook feed from Natalie Fuertsch along the right side to save a broken corner try and give OJR a 2-1 lead it would never relinquish.

“Sometimes it just takes us a little bit to wake up,” said Hoffman, “and unfortunately, getting a goal scored against us is what woke us up this time. Our girls were all so focused on making it back to Thursday, that they didn’t want to make a mistake.”

OJR goalkeeper Cassie Micklesavage made Flack’s first-half goal stand up. The senior made stop after stop in the cage late as the Upper Perk offense turned on desperation mode and planted itself inside the scoring circle.

Through it all, though, she stood tall on the way to eight stops, including a sprawled out save with about eight minutes left in regulation to keep the lead.

“I kind of learned to stay calm under all that pressure,” said Micklesavage, “because you’re gonna get into these type of games. You’ve got to learn how to play them and stay calm.”

Micklesavage made for a frustrating night for Upper Perk and head coach Jamie Warren. The Tribe were creating scoring chances, especially in the late going, but couldn’t find ways to finish.

“It was similar to last year, but I don’t think we tanked this year,” said Warren. “Last year when they started to get an edge on us, we really struggled. This year, we didn’t struggle as much.

“We just couldn’t get any scoring on offense — we had some opportunities, we were getting some good looks but couldn’t get anything in the net.”

Now the Tribe will look to renew its focus for the District One Class AA playoffs, which get underway next week.

Meanwhile, Owen J. Roberts has another game to focus on before thinking about districts.

The Wildcats lost to Methacton in both meetings — a 1-0 loss in mid-September and a 2-1 loss last week — bringing the age-old adage into play.

“It’s hard to beat the same team three times,” said Hoffman with a laugh. “We’re ready. Believe me, we’re definitely ready. We have a little bit of work to do — finishing some things that we’ve got to have ready for Thursday, but we’re looking forward to it.”