Horton’s hat trick the catalyst in Abington’s win over Upper Dublin

ABINGTON >> When Kailey Horton isn’t smiling, that’s when Abington girls soccer coach Rick Tompkins knows something is amiss.

Horton was all smiles Thursday night after polishing off a hat trick on her Senior Night. The forward, who brings a little bit of everything required in the position, picked the right night for her breakout performance of the season.

Behind Horton’s trifecta, the Ghosts topped visiting Upper Dublin 5-2 to strengthen their hold of the Suburban One League American Conference lead.

“I told everyone to push it, give it your all, win every 50/50 ball and just keep pressing them up,” Horton said. “Everyone started to step it up, we got many opportunities and I was able to finish one then it boosted our confidence so we could finish a couple more.”

Abington (10-1-0, 9-0-0 SOL American) started all 11 of its seniors on Thursday, something Horton said was a special opportunity for the group after a couple of trying seasons the prior two years. It meant some of them were out of position, like Horton at center forward instead of the wing or Cam Lexow at center back instead of center mid, but Tompkins wanted the whole group to get the start.

When the teams met back in September, Abington edged UD 4-3 in a thriller and the Cardinals (7-6-0, 6-5-0) jumped out early on Thursday. Emily Booth drew a foul in the box to win a penalty kick, which Priya Kaneria converted to put the visitors up 1-0.

The Cardinals will never quit in a game, but they’ve also been fighting a season long battle of attrition with injuries that again caught up to them on Thursday.

“All the credit in the world to Rick and his team for the way they’re ready to play, they deserve all they’ve gotten,” UD coach John Topper said. “We’ve lost three defenders in the last two days. I was very proud of our girls, they went out and fought and did everything we asked them to but the end of the day; we got worn a little bit thin.”

There was no shortage of guts from UD, like Laura Pendleton getting a bloody nose after a collison in the first half and going right back in, or Lexie Moss playing through a swollen ankle that had the senior slow to come off when the score got out of reach.

Abington had to create its own luck in the first half after going down a goal. Horton did so when she capitalized on a defender’s slip and ripped a perfect strike into the net for the equalizer.

“Kailey Horton put on a show,” Tompkins said. “It’s been coming for a couple weeks, she’s just been snake-bitten. We got beat by CB East and she missed two gimmes. She was down, I told her ‘you’re in the right spots, it will come. Just keep smiling.’ The kid always smiles, so for me to tell her, it’s unusual.”

Lexow put her team up with a goal that was all effort. The Virginia-bound senior started by striking a free kick into the wall, only for an Abington back to serve the rebound back in, with Lexow winning a battle with a defender.

In alone, Lexow had no trouble slotting home the finish, which came with 2:06 left in the half.

“The mentality as we went in, we wanted to win,” Lexow said. “When Kailey scored the first goal, our momentum went up. Their goal got the defense heated a little bit and once we tied it up, we all got fired up. When I scored, I think we all felt ‘we got this,’ and at halftime we made some changes with positions and runs against their stopper-sweeper to find ways past their defense.”

Abington kept the pressure up after halftime, but didn’t put another way until midway through the second half thanks to a sterling effort by Horton. The senior worked the ball to the right corner, used her patented step over mover a couple times to shake a determined defender, then skirted a shot across the mouth of goal that nicked a defender’s heel and went in.

“It was Senior Night, so I was giving it my all, plus I had a lot of friends and family here and I wanted to give everything I got,” Horton said. “I just wanted to get to the endline as quick as I could, I tried to cross it; it hit a defender enough to go in so it was perfect.”

The Ghosts have been known to strike in bunches this season, and Horton’s second set off a scoring spree. Three minutes later, Elizabeth Tracey played a long through ball in to Touey, with the junior using her speed to pull away from the backs and neatly tuck her shot in far post.

Touey then played facilitator on the final Abington goal, taking a ball out wide to the right flank, cutting back in and playing a perfect cross that Horton met in front for the hat trick.

“It’s been amazing, we’ve all bonded immensely, we all push each other and have great attitudes,” Horton said. “We knew it was going to be a close game, Upper Dublin is a really good team so we knew we’d have to give it all we got in front of our fans and a family.”

Booth, who worked hard all game for UD, got a goal back for the Cardinals in the final minute.

“Every game, we’re putting two or three players in positions they’re not used to or haven’t gotten a lot of minutes in,” Topper said. “We’re hoping if and when we get healthy, it’ll make us that much stronger and we’ll be more flexible and resilient.”

 

The Ghosts have played well this season, but they have some major nonleague tests coming up before what they hope is their first playoff appearance since 2015.

“We’re a comeback team, we work for it and don’t give up,” Horton said. “We’re doing so well this year and I think big things are going to happen.”

ABINGTON 5, UPPER DUBLIN 2 
UPPER DUBLIN 1 1 – 2
ABINGTON 2 3 – 5
Goals: A – Kailey Horton, Cam Lexow (Emily Friel), Horton, Casey Touey (Elizabeth Tracey), Horton (Touey); UD – Priya Kaneria (PK), Emily Booth.