O’Neill rises to moment, sends Hatboro-Horsham past Abington in 2OT thriller
HORSHAM >> Tired, a little sore and wearing mix-matched cleats but not by choice, Maggie O’Neill didn’t feel any of it as her teammates mobbed around her on the far side of the field.
Somewhere in the growing amoeba of Hatboro-Horsham players, the forward was still trying to process the sequence of events that had capped a wild night. After getting blitzed out of the gate, the Hatters had not only recovered, but twice took the lead only to give up a late goal that would have broken many other teams.
O’Neill however, just believed and she turned into a game-winning goal with 3:18 left in the second overtime as Hatboro-Horsham edged Abington 5-4 in dramatic SOL American girls soccer contest Thursday night.
“This game, we’ve been so excited leading up to this game, it’s our home turf and I said ‘we’re not losing this game,’” O’Neill said. “They scored with 40 seconds left, we put our heads down for a second but then we just kept going, kept fighting and we knew it was coming.”
The tiny junior scored twice on the night and assisted a third goal as she continues to author a superb season and a growing clutch record against the Galloping Ghosts. O’Neill, who has scored a goal in every game this season, poured so much into Thursday’s effort she even broke one of her cleats in the second half.
Luckily, she keeps a spare set in her bag and the shoe was the right fit to keep the Hatters unbeaten as the top two sides in the American conference table met.
Early on however, it looked to be all Abington. Ghosts freshman Maura Day scored off a throw-in four minutes into the game, then added an assist when her free kick carried into the box and junior Casey Touey appeared from thin air to head it home for a 2-0 lead 10 minutes in.
“You’ve got to like the heart,” Abington coach Rick Tompkins said. “We came back and scored a goal with 40 seconds to go. They got the game-winner, they earned it, they’re a good team but we’ll get them again. I’m pleased with the effort, we have some things to clean up defensively.”
The Ghosts just switched up their defensive formation, so it’s far from a finished product and it was tested plenty by the Hatters. Ally Eutermoser took advantage of a breakdown in the back to punch home a goal with 17:21 left in the opening half but the Ghosts still carried the lead into halftime.
Then, barely 30 seconds into the second half, O’Neill made the first marks of her script for the rest of the evening. Using a sharp cut-back move, the winger shook a defender on the right side then launched a long strike to the far side of the net, burying it to level the score.
“It was a left-footed shot, I just kinda went for it, I just really wanted to score,” O’Neill said. “We had to challenge the keeper, we hadn’t done that enough in the first half
With 25 minutes to go, O’Neill helped give her team the lead when her corner kick service found defender Sophia Liott in the six-yard box for the 3-2 advantage. Liott drew the unenviable task of man-marking Touey and did an admirable job against the Ghosts’ outstanding striker.
The notion of a back line that gave up four goals playing well seems to not make much sense, but the Hatters defenders did in fact, have a strong outing on Thursday.
“We dropped back for each other, which really helped, Abington has a really fast front line so having that support and cushion really helped us,” Liott said. “It’s just communication, Izzy (de la Torre) did a great job stepping in with me and helping out and so did Cam Ryan. I didn’t let her get too far away from me.”
Still, Touey found a way and slipped free to knock in a header off Camille Mugnier’s corner kick with about 19 minutes to play. The speedster junior managed another shot a few minutes later, but Hatters keeper Martine Royds was able to make the stop.
Three different players scored a pair of goals on Thursday, with Eutermoser getting her second on a solo effort in the box with 15:41 to go. The forward, like O’Neill earlier in the half, shook loose from a defender and struck to put the host side up 4-3.
Abington committed to getting it back and pushed numbers up but it wasn’t until Touey earned a last-minute corner that the Ghosts found it. The initial service skipped through the box, but on the far side, Grace Quinn came through, settled the ball and ripped it back in to equalize with 40 seconds to play.
“We’re making incremental progress,” Tompkins said of his group, which is replacing most of last year’s starting lineup. “We have a long way to go, this is obviously a tough setback but they did a good job.”
Abington had golden chance to win it in the first overtime when Lesha Karaba played in Day on a through ball. Day touched into open space, but Royds closed the gap well, forced the freshman to shoot and parried the effort away with four to go in the frame.
“We wouldn’t have won without that great save by Martine,” Liott said. “That was an amazing save.”
Liott said she felt a different energy leading into the game Thursday and everyone on the team wanted to win for each other.
“We’re 7-0 right now, we want to keep that going and keep our winning streak alive,” Liott said. “We need to focus and when we get back to practice, work on a few things we weren’t good at in this game.”
Hatters assistant coach Marcello D’Agostino, who cheered on his players from the opening tip and got a celebratory drench afterward, couldn’t keep his thoughts quiet after the win.
“They had the heart and they showed it today,” D’Agostino said, placing an arm on O’Neill’s shoulders. “That’s why we came out on top tonight, they never quit. This girl right here, like the rest of the team, they played an unbelievable game.”
Gabby Liott started the final sequence by winning the ball just past midfield, slipping it up to Peighton Toale, who then played Emily Thomas up the right touchline. Thomas cut back and played the ball back, where O’Neill won it in a 50/50 challenge, took a couple touches and ripped the left-footed try to the far post.
“It’s just the hype, I don’t know, it’s crazy, it’s the pressure and you want to come out on top,” O’Neill said. “You just have to take some shots and hope it goes in.”
HATBORO-HORSHAM 5, ABINGTON 4 (2OT)
ABINGTON 2 2 0 0 – 4
HATBORO-HORSHAM 1 3 0 1 – 5
Goals: HH – Ally Eutermoser, Grace O’Neill, Sophia Liott (O’Neill), Eutermoser, O’Neill (Emily Thomas); A – Maura Day, Casey Touey (Day), Casey Touey (Camille Mugnier), Grace Quinn.
