Souderton finishes strong, Pennridge seniors prove resiliency

EAST ROCKHILL >> For Souderton girls lacrosse, it wasn’t about the start but instead the finish.

The Indians got off to a rocky start this season, dropping their first two games and not quite finding a way onto the same page through the first few weeks. They stayed the course, started picking up wins and are all but a lock to make the District 1 Class 3A playoffs next week.

Friday night, they closed the regular season hitting on all cylinders in an 18-5 win over Pennridge.

“I think overall, we’re really working well as a team,” Souderton senior Anna Anello said. “The midfield transition from the start of the season has been much better. We’re all connecting and seeing the open girl right away, which is really helping us.”

Souderton opened its week with a loss at Plymouth Whitemarsh but won its last two to head into the postseason. The Indians were holding the No. 17 seed in the 24-team bracket at the conclusion of Friday’s game which had them on track for a trip to SOL American foe Abington in the first round, although that’s still open to change.

Riley McGowan led Souderton with six goals and four assists, Sarah Goodwin had two goals and three helpers and Carlie Doughty notched four goals and an assist. Entering the season, the Indians felt good about their offensive unit and defensive unit but their success would hinge on the transition.

“I feel like we’re connecting, cutting to the ball constantly and always moving,” Souderton senior Jules Borisow said. “We’re driving through passes and always trying to move the defender. The draw has also really been helping us to get possession.”

Both Borisow and Anello, who scored three goals on Friday, said the movement offensively has picked up as well. At times early in the season, Anello said the Indians could be selfish or stagnant on offense but now they’re looking for the player with a better shot.

Souderton assisted on 11 of its 18 goals on Friday.

Indians coach Nancy Offner said a key adjustment that helped the team improve its transition game was moving Borisow up to the circle on draw controls. Putting the senior on the draw unit with Sarah Goodwin and Carlie Doughty gives Souderton three players always looking to push the ball and move the offense along while Kayla Moyer and Borisow have also been strong starting transition from the defensive end.

“With clears coming out of the defensive end, it’s really nice being able to rely on the midfield or offense to be there,” Borisow said. “We don’t have to run it up the entire field, so that’s always reassuring. Or, being able to try looks or try things you normally wouldn’t, you know the entire team has your back.”

Souderton has a sizable group of seniors, so having at least one more game together is something they view as a reward for the work they put in to stabilize and make something off the slow start to the season.

“We started off pretty low and we’re confident,” Anello said. “I’m just overall proud of our whole team and really excited to see where playoffs take us.”

SPECIAL START

Every coach wants a kid like Shana Montgomery on their team.

Montgomery, one of Pennridge’s four seniors, has an unenviable role as the back-up to junior all-SOL goalie Alexa Machado so playing time has been hard to come by. Still, Montgomery is the one player Rams coach Karen Schnurr can count on to be hopping up and down the sideline and yelling at the top of her lungs to support her teammates.

Friday, Montgomery got to start her last high school game and played every second of it in net while making 13 saves.

“It was great, I know I let in a bunch of goals but I still put everything I had out there. I’m happy with what I did, I got a lot of new bruises,” Montgomery said with a laugh.

Montgomery is staying close for college as she’ll be attending Delaware Valley University and playing lacrosse there.

Injuries hit Pennridge hard this season and as a result, the Rams struggled and will miss out on the postseason. Even with adversity hitting her team over and over again, Montgomery strived to keep pushing her teammates on.

“I just try to be there for them as much as I can and be the positive energy even if we’re down,” Montgomery said. “I don’t try to let it get me down.”

Schnurr couldn’t have been more proud of how Montgomery played on Friday saying the senior was fearless and commanded the field.

“She’s the biggest supporter, the biggest cheerleader,” Schnurr said. “Every time we were down, she was the positive force. She had every person’s back on the field, Alexa’s included. She is the spark, just a solid force of energy and positivity on the team.”

An honor roll student at Pennridge, Montgomery is planning to study Secondary Bio Education at DelVal. She faced a lot of shots on Friday night and joked she was just trying to get in the way but with the way the rest of her team cheered for every stop she made, Montgomery did a little more than that.

“I was a little nervous,” Montgomery said. “Come halftime, I thought I was coming out but I got another boost of energy when the coaches said I was going back out for the second half.”

SENIOR SENDOFF

The Rams lost five starters to season-ending injury this year, including two seniors.

It seemed extra cruel that seniors Miya Wagner and Grace Loughery had to stand on the sidelines and watch the last game of their high school careers. Casey Hefner, the only senior captain not injured, played the whole game and netted the last goal of the night for the Rams.

“The girls who came up from JV or playing more than they normally would stepped up a lot and they helped fill the spots we needed to fill,” Hefner, who has committed to play at Kutztown, said. “They got confident taking shots, we were lacking on attack with some of the injuries but they stepped up trying to put it in the back of the net.”

After making districts last year, the Rams expected big things this season and as the injuries mounted, players had to adjust. Losing two attackers, two midfielders and a defender for the season just robbed more and more of the team’s potential.

Arguably the biggest loss was Loughery, a Navy commit who set the program record for goals with 215 at the time of her injury with about three weeks to go in the regular season. Even with her right arm in a cast Friday, Loughery was toeing the sideline yelling instructions and encouragement to her teammates.

“We were really confident in our players and meshing as a team and then these injuries set us back,” Loughery said. “The freshmen and sophomore stepped up and did a good job trying to fill in for us. We have three coaches but I felt like I was coaching on the sideline at times, I just have to be involved.”

Wagner, who is attending Temple and hoping to play club lacrosse, also had to become more of a coach and leader after she went down for the year.

“Confidence is the biggest thing, especially for younger players,” Wagner said. “Getting the JV and younger players hyped on the sideline or in the team room really helps them and in turn it helps our team because we all feed off each other so teaching that to them, they’ll learn a lot more.”

Not getting to play in their last high school game was tough for Loughery and Wagner. Wagner grew close with a lot of the team’s juniors and said knowing she wouldn’t get to play with them again was toughest for her. For Loughery, it was difficult not getting to share the field with Wagner and Hefner one last time as they grew up playing together since the fifth grade.

The four seniors didn’t get the last season they had hoped for, but they tried to do everything they could to set up their returning teammates for success next year.

“They showed me resiliency, they didn’t give up and tried to keep fighting,” Schnurr said. “As a coach, that’s what you want, a team that’s never going to back down. That’s the kind of team I want to coach.”