Hatboro-Horsham digs deep to edge Upper Dublin

UPPER DUBLIN >> It’s still early, but Hatboro-Horsham and Upper Dublin said a lot about themselves on Wednesday.

The Hatters visited the Cardinals as both sides opened SOL American play, with each team getting plenty of good scoring chances and the threats coming down to the final few minutes. Hatboro-Horsham, despite a couple players out injured, had the benefit of experience while the Cardinals are still putting their pieces together.

In the end, that extra experience proved the difference as the Hatters edged the Cardinals for a 3-2 win.

“It feels good, it’s fun seeing everyone come out strong and finish a win for the whole team,” Hatters senior Ally Eutermoser said. “It makes everyone feel good.”

Eutermoser was a difference maker for the Hatters on a hot Wednesday afternoon, coming in off the bench to deliver two first-half goals that staked the visitors to a lead at intermission. She, like most of the roster, got plenty of experience last season as the Hatters made their first District 1 playoff appearance in six seasons.

With that amount of experience back, expectations were high for the program but for the players, they just want to do it for each other. After giving up an early goal to Upper Dublin when Laura Pendleton headed home Karolina Bocul’s corner, Eutermoser wanted to give her teammates a lift.

“If we wanted to win, we had to find a way to pick everyone’s heads up and score,” Eutermoser said. “I knew I needed to get out there and score, that would pick everyone’s heads up and we could win.”

The senior didn’t need long to get after it, forcing UD keeper Rachel Adelman into a save shortly after entering, then leveling the score in the 17^th minute when she ran down a ball from Cam Ryan and put it top shelf. About six minutes later, the Hatters found their senior in another good spot, as Cam Hughes played Eutermoser a ball she was able to touch into space and tuck inside the post for a 2-1 edge.

Hatboro-Horsham topped William Tennent 3-0 on Tuesday to start their season, a good result but one that left the squad a little banged up. Playing on back-to-back days against a determined opponent, the Hatters had to dig down and coach Kelsey Daley liked what she saw from her players.

“That’s one of the things I always tell them, if we down 1-0, 2-0, they just always have to keep their heads up,” Daley said. “This team is a really close group on and off the field so they keep their heads up, keep the positivity with each other and that’s what happened here today. They get angry when they get scored on so they come out harder.”

Upper Dublin lost eight starters from last year, including most of its midfield and back line, so coach Chuck Gesing expected some early road bumps. Still, the Cardinals’ intensity never waned on Wednesday, even after losing the momentum of their early lead.

The Cardinals’ backs had some trouble handling the Hatters’ experienced attackers early on but did settle in as the game aged and made some nice stands later in the contest.

“I liked just that, the fight and fact nobody gave up,” Gesing said. “We rotated players in and they were able to fight everywhere. We’re a young team and still trying to figure it out but you can see it’s starting to get better. It’s not the result we want, but we are starting to figure it out.”

Most of Upper Dublin’s experience is in the attack and it showed on Wednesday. Pendleton, a senior who has played mostly defense and in the midfield the past two seasons, started up top while lightning quick wingers Anna Desch and Julia Eustace made their presence felt on her flanks.

The Hatters were down two usual defenders due to injury, but their stitched-together back line held up well. Senior Gabby Liott was a force in the middle, disrupting plenty of UD runs or passes into the box.

“We just had to keep working hard and keep getting the ball out and be smart with it,” Liott said. “It was a lot of communication in the back, being sure who was marked and just working to get the ball out.”

Upper Dublin continued to push for a second goal as the second half began, naturally putting more numbers up as a result. A corner kick for the Cardinals would turn into a pivotal goal the other away about 12 minutes into the second half.

After stopping the initial service, Hatters senior Kara Thomas cleared the ball out where sophomore striker Emily Thomas latched on and carried it about three-fourths of the field and buried the finish for a 3-1 lead.

Thomas’ tally proved necessary when the Cardinals struck back about 14 minutes later. Pendleton and Mary Rose Brown worked a terrific give-and-go in the box that ended with Pendleton putting away her second of the match.

“That’s what we’re hoping to do, we don’t want to be a one-trick pony or have everyone keying in on our forwards,” Gesing said. “We’re encouraging our midfielders to get forward too. It’s what we want.

“I try to remind them we are still trying to figure it out and it takes a while. It’s going to take us a little while to come together but it’s always getting better. We went two scrimmages and a regular season game without scoring, well we got two today so it’s a step in the right direction.”

The Hatters won’t play again until next week and while they’re happy for a few days to rest their bumps from the two wins, they liked the way the squad rallied to start the season.

“We gel really well as an entire team and we embrace that teamwork aspect,” Liott said. “Seeing it all coming together today was really great.”

“It’s not about the skill of the players, you have to gel together,” Eutermoser added. “Next year, we’re going to be gone but there’s still plenty of players bringing it back. You have to always stick together and it’s not just the players leaving, you’re always going to do well if you work hard and together.”

HATBORO-HORSHAM 3, UPPER DUBLIN 2
HATBORO-HORSHAM 2 1 – 3
UPPER DUBLIN 1 1 – 2
Goals: HH – Ally Eutermoser (Cam Ryan), Eutermoser (Cam Hughes), Emily Thomas; UD – Laura Pendleton (Karolina Bocul), Pendletown (Mary Rose Brown).