Borisow’s hat trick leads Souderton to Senior Night win over Neshaminy

FRANCONIA >> Ang Borisow only recently began to deliver the insertion pass on penalty corners for the Souderton field hockey team.

“I actually began to insert halfway through the season, just a few games ago, and I started to really like it,” she said. “So now I’m doing it full time. So this is my job now.”

Monday, the junior showed she can finish corners too as the Indians rolled to a Senior Night victory.

Borisow scored twice in the final minute of the second quarter then completed her hat trick by finding the back of the cage less than three minutes into the third as Souderton’s first five goals all came on corners in a 6-0 victory over visiting Neshaminy in a Suburban One League crossover contest.

“We tried a couple new ones tonight and one of them was successful and we really struggled at the beginning of the season,” Indians coach Sue Casciato said. “I think the first two games we went 0-for-35 on our corners so it’s definitely gotten better. We’re probably putting 25% of them at this point so grateful for that.

“And as far as a team game goes this is the best game we’ve played across the board. We’ve had some standout players some other games but I thought as a team our passing was good, our intensity was good so hopefully we can keep it.”

Freshman Ava Jones added the two goals after Borisow while senior Lauren Kenah capped the night’s scoring after earlier collecting a pair of assists. Junior Lauren Frye also recorded two assists as the Indians (9-1-0, 8-0-0 SOL Liberty) earned their eighth consecutive win.

“I’m glad we won for the seniors,” Jones said. “And shout out to Lauren Kenah because she really helped us out. I’m glad she got the goal at the end.”

All three of Borisow’s goals came from her work down in front of the cage. She broke the scoreless tie with 1:00 left in the second quarter before doubling the advantage after three straight Big Red corners with no time remaining in the half.

“Just as soon as you go in, run to post and make sure you have the eye-stick coordination to hit the ball in,” Borisow said. “And make sure you don’t swing at it cause that’s a key thing, you just can’t swing, you have to make sure you have it on your stick before you pull it in and if the goalie’s there dodge them and I think that’s what I did tonight, I finally executed that.”

Borisow tallied her third at 12:17 in the third on the first corner after the break. Jones made it 4-0 redirecting a Frye shot at 2:35 then struck from her second at 12:41 in the fourth.

“We’re lucky to have her,” said Casciato of Jones. “I tried her in a different position tonight and I think it really made a big difference and I said whether you like that position or not, you were really good at it so that’s probably where you’re going to end up.”

Kenah, a University of Virginia commit, tacked on the fifth by driving into the circle then ripping a shot into the cage’s far left corner.

Souderton out-cornered Neshaminy (7-4-0, 6-4-0 SOL Patriot) 17-0. Neshaminy goalie Riley Wert made 16 saves while Indians keeper Tegan Ferina had three saves.

“We have a lot of seniors, we have 10 seniors and I think tonight especially we just gelled as a team,” Borisow said. “And I think the feeling of having fun tonight was ever more than wanting to play individually good ourselves so passing it was I think the key thing to make this win happen tonight.”

The Indians have not lost since falling 2-1 to Methacton in their second game of the season Sept. 7. Of their eight wins since then, the last five have come by shutout as Souderton sits in first in both the SOL Colonial Division – its 24 points three ahead of second-place Central Bucks South – and the District 1-3A power rankings.

“I’ve been saying to them all year we have the potential to be a very good team,” Casciato said. “I said this yesterday at practice I don’t know what’s going to happen, I said we’re in a good position but I don’t think we’ve gotten close to reaching our potential and I said this year some of the teams who are always historically always super strong are not and I said this could be your year, we need to take advantage.”

Both teams next play at home Wednesday – Neshaminy faces Central Bucks South at 3:30 p.m. while Souderton takes on Council Rock South at 6 p.m.

Borisow scored Monday’s opening goal on the Indians’ sixth corner, corralling the ball near the right post after a Kenah shot toward the front of the cage with Borisow knocking it in with 60 seconds remaining before intermission.

“She hit it in and it was deflected off of someone’s stick,” Borisow said. “I placed it right onto my stick and then I pulled around the goal and hit it right in.

The Indians made it 2-0 with zeroes on the clock in the half, striking after three consecutive corners – a Frye shot hit the left post on the third then bounced across the front of the cage before Borisow put in the rebound at the right post.

“It hit right on the post, I’m kind of surprised it didn’t go in right there,” Borisow said. “But then I was ‘All right I’m going to get it in, it’s right in front of the goal, there’s no one else there.’”

In the third quarter, Borisow collected a bouncing shot from Frye, slid around the keeper then put the ball past a defender on the right post to finish the natural hat trick at 12:17.

“I saw the goalie dive and I was like I could see with my peripheral vision that there’s no one behind her and I just figured I’d just do one pulling up,” Borisow said.

Jones, who moved from forward to left midfield, put Souderton up 4-0 on the second of back-to-back corners late in the third. Kenah passed across the circle to Frye, who unleashed a shot that Jones got a stick on, the ball trickling into the cage at 2:35.

“It’s not supposed to happen but redirections, the goalie can’t stop it,” Jones said.

Jones made it a two-goal night early in the fourth. A Kenah shot was blocked but Jones fired the loose ball in at 12:41.

“I thought she was going to call the foot but I just kept on going until the whistle was blown and it was a goal,” Jones said