North Penn holds off surging Upper Merion in District 1-3A first round

TOWAMENCIN >> North Penn knew the tidal wave was coming.

“I think we were ready for it and we knew how to handle it,” the Knights’ Kayla Stressman said of Upper Merion’s second-half run Tuesday night.

The Vikings carved a 6-1 halftime deficit down to 8-6 with 12 minutes to play, but North Penn controlled the ball and controlled the game the rest of the way, locking down an 11-6 victory in the opening round of the District 1-3A Playoffs.

The victory advances No. 11 North Penn to a second-round game at No. 6 Great Valley on Thursday while a tremendous season for No. 22 Upper Merion came to a close.

Said Stressman of what was key for the Knights in the final 12 minutes: “just to spread out, don’t force passes, take the shot when it’s there. Play really good defense and get the draw.”

North Penn did all those things in order to hold off a Vikings squad that really started to click after halftime.

“They were an aggressive, fast team. They have a bunch of good players on that team,” Knights coach Heather Mellow said. “We were seeing things a little bit easier (in the first half). I feel like we were a little bit tired in the second half. And when you’re tired, you’re making mistakes and you’re not seeing things as well. But (Upper Merion) also marked a little bit tighter on Kayla, which shut things down too.”

Stressman still finished with three goals and three assists and the Knights hung in.

“Overall, it was a pretty good start (to the playoffs),” Mellow said. “Kiera (Holt) had a great game in goal. She came up with some big saves when we needed them.

“Quinn (Rodoff) did a great job at the end on draw controls and hooking us up. I thought she did an outstanding job at the end. We were trying to figure out the matchup, trying to offset (Upper Merion’s) Ashley (Evitts). Because she’s quick and she’s fast and is aggressive and gets to the ball. So Quinn did a great job.”

Goals by Katie Harkins, Lauren Blanch and Rodoff put the game away for the Knights.

“I’m excited to play (Great Valley),” Stressman said after the win. “It’s gonna be a hard game but I feel like if we play our best game, who knows what can happen.”

Evitts and Julianna Callison, both seniors, held key sticks for the Vikings. They, along with junior Olivia Smith, scored two goals each.

“We came out with fire and intensity in the second half. Unfortunately, we lacked that in the first half,” Upper Merion coach Angie Yanocha said. “Unfortunately we came out too flat to start. But it’s just a great group of players that I have this year. My senior group is just absolutely amazing. It’s hard to lose them because they were the core of our team this year. I’m very proud of the girls for coming out with that fire and intensity and making it a real battle.

“I think North Penn realized at one point in that second half: ‘okay, they’re on fire. They’re coming back.’ And I know when they called that one timeout, we recognized they were gonna try and stop our momentum. So we wanted to keep it going but unfortunately, at the end with the last two yellow cards, we lost some of that discipline. But overall I’m extremely proud of this group. I will miss my seniors. We have some really good returners that will be coming back and we had a strong group of freshmen this year.”

District 1-3A First Round

North Penn 11, Upper Merion 6

UM goals-assists: Olivia Smith 2-0; Ashley Evitts 2-0; Julianna Callison 2-1; Audrey Schuebel 0-1.

NP goals: Quinn Rodoff 2-0; Kayla Stressman 3-3; Grace McGeehan 1-0; Katie Harkins 2-0; Lauren Blanch 2-1; Steph Gibson 1-0.