Owens strong in goal as Pottstown tops Pottsgrove, 12-4

LOWER POTTSGROVE >> She plays a position where misses get more notice than successful stops.

Still, the Pottstown coaching staff appreciates Reilly Owens’ stout play in the goal cage. The Trojans were particularly appreciative of the play from their junior goalie in the course of Friday’s game with Pottsgrove.

Owens’ 15-save goaltending was particularly key to Pottstown’s 12-4 victory over the Falcons. It complemented an offense that built an initial 6-1 lead on the way to a 7-2 halftime advantage, which enabled the visitors to answer the previous meeting between the neighboring Pioneer Athletic Conference (Frontier Division) rivals, which Pottsgrove won by a tenuous 14-13 margin.

“Reilly was steadfast in goal,” Pottstown head coach Brandy Scherer said. “She’d take a shot and push it. She’s the leader of our defense.”

Owens was conspicuous by her efforts to prevent Pottsgrove shots from finding the net. The Falcons (1-4 division, 2-6 league) were able to score only two more times in the second half, falling behind Pottstown (2-5, 3-7) by as much as seven goals (11-4) almost 10 minutes into the second half and seeing numerous shots get scooped up or knocked out of the way by Owens.

“Reilly is a really good goalie,” Pottsgrove head coach Kirstin Urie said. “Everything was either shot at her, or she moved. We had a difficult time today.”

Pottstown’s early offense made the going even tougher for the Falcons.

Da’zah Regusters got the Trojans rolling with the first of her game-high five goals just 22 seconds into the contest. She followed with another tally at the 21:52 mark, and after Brooke Saylor got Pottsgrove on the board 18:25 in, Pottstown rattled off three more goals in a 4½ minute span — Regusters capping the run behind Maryam Belgrave and Ebony Reddick — for a 5-1 advantage.

“After the last game with Pottsgrove, we were determined to come back,” Owens said. “We wanted to really play our ‘A’ game.”

 “When the goalie makes a great save, it picks everybody up,” Scherer added.

Abbie Krause converted off a free position with 6:01 left before halftime, and after Saylor hit from the right side of the cage with 27 seconds to go, Reddick got Pottstown another goal seven seconds before the buzzer sounded.

Like she did at the start, Regusters got the Trojan offense going in the second by converting a shot from the front of the cage one minute in. Sierra Potts stuck a penalty shot at the 20:32 mark for Pottsgrove, but the Trojans answered by stringing together three more goals in less than five minutes. Reddick converted from the left side at 20:17, Regusters scored off a free position at 17:53 and Krause hit the nets at 15:44 for an 11-3 cushion.

 “The offense helps,” Scherer said. “We had seen Pottsgrove before, so we were up on what they do.”

Allie Reppert got Pottsgrove’s final goal at the 8:21 mark, but Pottstown took advantage of being one player up — the Falcons were called for a dangerous play at 5:47 — to get its final goal.

“We had a lot of positives and negatives today,” Urie said. “We played competitive, but not well enough.”

Owens pointed to one particular challenge with playing goalie.

“Not getting down on yourself when the ball goes in,” she said. “You have to get the attitude every ball that goes in has to go through the team first. You just have to improve from where you start.”

NOTES >> With three assists to go with her four goals, Reddick topped the 300 mark in career points. She came away from the game with 301. … Scherer did not see any downside to her team playing on Pottsgrove’s turf field. “We’ve been in the gym and on the parking lot often,” she said, noting their accustomed home field is being resurfaced this season. “We’ve seen enough of it (turf) from schools who have it.” … Saylor was also credited with an assist alongside her two goals. … Mya Krueger had an eight-save day in goal for Pottsgrove.