Gillen’s brace sends Lansdale Catholic to win over Archbishop Wood

WARMINSTER >> The Lansdale Catholic girls soccer coaching staff wants its front line to be fluid.

Kellie Gillen, Sarah Fitzpatrick and Emily Schall are all pretty similar players — fit, fast and technical — so it’s easy for them interchange across the top of the Crusaders’ formation and not lose the shape or idea. It also frees them up to attack defenses several different ways, which on Thursday afternoon at Archbishop Wood, seemed to outside-in.

Gillen made two similar runs and cuts into the box, converting both into goals in the first seven minutes of the second half as LC topped the Vikings 2-0 in their annual Philadelphia Catholic League regular-season meeting.

“Wood’s our rival and for a lot of our seniors, they were saying it could be their last 40 minutes getting to play them, which gave us a lot of energy,” Gillen, a junior, said. “We came out in the first half with not much energy, so it picked us up.”

“We train that and we’re trying to get them to be what we call more fluid,” LC coach Bree Benedict said. “We want them to make the criss-cross runs, just anything to be more unpredictable.”

The opening 40 minutes didn’t feature a whole lot of scoring chances, as both sides relied mainly on shots from distance as they tried to find areas to break down the respective back lines. Wood was slightly more dangerous, with forward Leighann Kafel hitting the crossbar late in the half and earlier putting in a great cross that a forward as a half-step too late to reach at the far post.

Although they didn’t put anything away, the LC forwards did see they could push the ball down the sides and made a note to go after those chances once play resumed. On Thursday, Gillen spent the second half playing the left flank and quickly found herself with room to make a run forward.

The forward picked the ball up around midfield, carried to the endline and cut back in to Wood’s box before firing a shot from a tight angle to the far post.

“A lot of times were trying to cut in early but they could predict that, so I tried to take it all the way to the corner,” Gillen said. “I didn’t think it went in, it was right to the corner of the net.”

Her shot had gone in, a shade more than a minute into the half. Six minutes later, Gillen made almost the same run, taking the ball down the left to the corner stick, coming back across the endline and cutting into the box, this time tucking the ball inside the near post.

The manner of shot Gillen took on both attempts isn’t the easiest a forward will find, but Benedict chalked it up to the junior’s confidence.

“That’s the perfect word for Kellie, she’s the most confident kid I’ve ever coached,” Benedict said. “Especially as a junior on a team with a lot of impact players who are seniors, it’s almost like she is a senior. She’s got a killer shot, she comes out and fights for all those balls. She’s so much fun to coach because she just doesn’t give up.”

For Wood, the start to the second half seemed to quell the good work they had done in the first 40 minutes. First-year Vikings coach Tom DeGeorge has seen a lot of growth in his relatively young team in just a few weeks but didn’t think his side had that level on Thursday.

The Vikings are a strong possession-based attacking team and with Paige Hoeger and Maggie Cliggett playing at the top of the formation, they can really challenge defenses. LC gave plenty of space in front of its backline to attack, but between defenders getting in the way in the box and Wood players trying to force a few extra touches, some of the more promising attacks came undone.

“I thought both their goals kind of deflated us,” DeGeorge said. “After two goals like that, it’s tough to come back and score three. We fought to the end, hit the crossbar and had a couple chances. Once LC scored two, I pushed three up top and thought we had a lot of opportunities that wouldn’t go in.”

LC keeper Abby Schuster also played a key role in preserving the clean sheet. The senior, who’s been part of a rotating cast of keepers, made four saves that included a stuff of a Kafel shot at the near post.

Like Wood, LC got through a tough early nonleague slate and has found its stride a bit in PCL play. The Crusaders jumped to 5-1 in the league with the win, moving them into a tie for second with the now 5-2 Vikings as both trail 7-0 Little Flower.

“Making it deep in the PCL tournament every year, we have the motivation to get there again,” Gillen said.

LANSDALE CATHOLIC 2, ARCHBISHOP WOOD 0
LANSDALE CATHOLIC 2 0 – 2
ARCHBISHOP WOOD 0 0 – 0
Goals; LC – Kellie Gillen 2. Shots: LC – 6, AW – 4. Corners: LC – 1, AW – 3. Saves: LC – 4, AW – 4.