Souderton’s dream becomes reality in Hershey
HERSHEY >> Souderton’s Campbell Power felt like she was watching a dream she’d never wake up from.
She wasn’t the only one that felt that way. From the moment their bus pulled out of the high school parking lot to the 20 or so minutes following the end of Saturday’s state title game, it all felt like a dream.
“It was completely surreal, I was waiting to wake up from some kind of dream,” Power said. “I kept waiting for reality to hit and it didn’t hit until we were walking into the stadium, every girl was saying ‘we’re here, this is crazy.’”
The Indians had been halfway across the state and back during the season, but walking into the expansive HersheyPark Stadium, from its massive concrete stands to the sprawling wide playing field, they had to take it all in. Souderton keeper Lindsey Pazdziorko confessed to pinching herself a couple times on the bus ride, just to make sure it was real.
“I walked in and my first thought was ‘this is a big stadium, we’re really here, this is it,’” Pazdziorko said. “Walking out here, it’s really emotional, it’s a lot to take in. This is more fans than we’ve had in a while, since our Senior Night probably. I’m going crazy right now, I’m everywhere with my emotions, my voice is just gone.
“I’m shocked, I’m so happy, I’m proud of my team, my family.”
Even the ending of the game seemed dream-like with Averie Doughty threading a needle with her shot to the near post on a chance that was against the run of play to that point. At one point prior to the presentation of medals, the sophomore scorer disappeared into a mob of teammates all chanting her name.
Senior Sara Readinger, normally as calm and composed as anyone in the midfield felt the moment as well.
“There were a lot of nerves coming into it, everyone realized this wasn’t a normal game,” Readinger said. “Our preparation was a little different. Everyone was more excited coming in, our locker room was crazy, everyone was screaming with the energy. We were taking it as a bigger deal because it was.”
STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN
Early in preseason, Jones drew a three-tier staircase on a whiteboard that ended with a state title at the top.
More than a few players scoffed at the idea, but Jones had a reason for doing it the way she did. Winning a championship doesn’t happen with one big step, but instead a whole lot of smaller ones.
“It was in sight but the whole point of that was to take it a game at a time,” Jones said. “We couldn’t get ahead of ourselves and we did that, we kept it in sight.”
The staircase had three sections, one each for the regular season, the district playoffs and the state playoffs. The regular season, all 18 steps, was the largest and also proved the most difficult as the Indians kept finishing with draws and went through a long scoring drought.
Still, they got hot down the final two weeks and finished with a first-round bye in districts. The defense continued to shut people out and the offense scored enough to climb the next four steps to the district title match. Even though the Indians would lose there, their effort set the stage for the next set of steps.
States was full of dramatics, including a shootout win in the quarterfinal, a tying goal with 11 seconds left in the semifinal and then overtime winners in the semis and state title game but Jones could point to the ascent up the staircase as part of the reason her team kept winning.
“We studied a lot of film, we did a lot of chalk talk to prepare for each team,” Jones said. “We treated each game in the season as important and I think that lent well to the playoffs.”
LEAVING A LEGACY
One game won’t define Pennridge’s senior class.
Of the Rams’ eight seniors this year, four served as team captains and six have signed to play in college. After experiencing the heartbreak of a state quarterfinal loss as sophomores then the shock of a second round district loss as juniors, they showed up determined for their last preseason.
“I’ll remember how much the girls played for them, the heart they played with and how much they brought to preseason,” Pennridge coach Audrey Anderson said. “Someone had asked me when did I know we could make a run for the state title and I said the first day of preseason. When I saw our senior group, they showed up ready to go and wanted it so badly.”
All eight seniors – Abby Groff, Molly Groff, Sarah Williams, Mary Kate Levush, Ashley Groeber, Nicolette Harrison, Kat Estep and Holly Harbeck – played in the state title game.
“It was a great season. So many teams dream of that moment, so many teams want to be in Hershey playing for a state championship,” Anderson said. “They should feel proud of what they accomplished. Both teams dug in the entire season and came up with big wins and did some great things. We talked about our season and how we accomplished so much and got farther than a lot of other teams in this program had been able to do.”
The Rams finished the season 21-4-1, won the SOL Continental title for the third straight season, made their first state title since 2011 but perhaps most importantly, the senior class set an example not just for their teammates, but the scores of younger players who frequented the team’s games.
“They didn’t want people to take the shortcut and having that influence all season long was a big part of this team,” Anderson said. “It’s a lot of wins to have in a season. I told them to focus on that, that number of wins coming against a lot of really, really good teams. I’m happy this group got to Hershey, Im happy they put everything on the field but I’m sad for them that it wasn’t the ending we’d hoped for.”
RED’S ONLY A COLOR
Goalkeepers can be a superstitious lot.
All postseason, Pazdziorko had worn black in goal and had been terrific. But Pennridge was the home team Saturday, meaning the Rams got to wear their black home uniforms and forcing Pazdziorko to use her red goalkeeper kit.
“When I found out we were the away team I had to think ‘what are Pennridge’s colors, please don’t tell me it’s black,’” Pazdziorko said. “When I remembered they do wear black I thought ‘I’ve won in this before, I’ve had shutouts in red before.’ I didn’t let it get back to my head, I don’t even know when I wore this last but I knew I could play well whatever color it was.”
In her last high school game, the senior keeper was superb. She built up a terrific rapport with her defenders all season, even as a couple injuries altered the look of the group. It helped having two seniors in the center back spots, but Pazdziorko made sure they always knew what she wanted them to be doing.
Souderton’s back line wasn’t the fastest, but they made up for it with excellent shape, discipline and toughness. Plus, with a mobile and aggressive keeper in Pazdziorko behind them, a lot of loose balls in the box tended to get taken care of.
“She’s a great keeper,” Anderson said of the Souderton senior. “We knew that about her going in and we knew we had a great keeper in MK (Levush) so it was going to a be a game where the one team that could capitalize was going to win.”
The defense wasn’t too bad in front of her either. Center backs Mirand Kullman and Kailee Harwick were strong as always while outside backs Darby Kramer, Payton Carroll and Gianna Natale held their ground when Pennridge started to force the ball wide in the second half.
“Our defense won it for us,” Jones said.
“Our defense was huge, they kept us in the game,” Power said. “Lindsey as usual was huge, she always seems to make a couple huge saves.”
Pazdziorko, who signed with Towson earlier this week, made seven saves and had her defenders’ backs one last time. She gave up just nine total goals all season and finished the campaign fittingly with a shutout, the 17th she posted on the year.
“I love this team, I’m going to miss all of them so much next year,” Pazdziorko said. “There are other girls from prior years that have come back and I know I’m going to be doing that. This is my family.
“I’m so happy I got to spend this last extra week with them. I’ll miss being with them every day, but I’m going to stay in contact no matter what.”
FINISHING ON FIRE
If not for Readinger, the ball that led to Doughty’s goal would have never developed. But all the senior midfielder could do was marvel at the way her sophomore teammate finished the season.
“It was insane, Averie’s been scoring all our game winners lately so it was even better that it was her,” Readinger said. “She stepped up and filled her role on the team. She’s such a standout player, we know when she gets the ball, she’s going to find a way to score.”
It was always a matter of confidence for Doughty this season. The coaches saw all the potential and talent she had and they worked to get her believing she could make use of it.
Whether it was assistant Todd Andrade telling Doughty she owed him two goals a game or Jones giving her the last kick in the quarterfinal round shootout, Doughty was put in pressure situations and delivered masterfully in her last three games.
“She is goal-driven, that’s for sure,” Jones said. “She has good timing, she’s quick, her touches have been really good. She wants the back of that net.”
With so many players departing, including Power, Readinger and Pazdziorko, next year’s team may have found one of its leaders this last week. There aren’t too many teams that bring back a player who scored a state-title winning goal, and Doughty recognized what her last three games could mean for her going into club season and then her junior year.
“I’ve felt pretty good,” Doughty said. “I think this will help us out. We’ll obviously miss the seniors but we have a lot of pretty good players here, I don’t see any reason why we can’t still get this far.”
