Friedman, Ryan push Wissahickon past Upper Dublin in extra time
LOWER GWYNEDD >> Natalie Ryan and Kylie Friedman consider their senior teammates on the Wissahickon girls soccer team role models.
So on their teammates’ Senior Night and with a possible District 1 playoff bid at stake, Ryan and Friedman made sure their role models would go into their final regular season game with something to play for. It meant surviving another typical battle with next-door rival Upper Dublin but it was just another test for the resilient Trojans.
Friedman made sure Ryan’s corner kick late in the first overtime made its way into the back of the net, lifting Wiss to a 3-2 win over the Cardinals on Tuesday night.
“We knew this game was important, we knew we had to win this game to have a chance,” Ryan said. “It’s Senior Night, that always gets everybody emotional but it really is just about being there for each other and being fighters for each other and going out there and doing it for us.”
The night started with senior Brooke Berry, a starter in every other game this season, taking a ceremonial start and touch before exiting due to an arm injury she picked up last Friday against Radnor. She may be able to return for the postseason, but only if the Trojans get there and that was an example of what drove every player on the Wiss roster Tuesday.
Upper Dublin hasn’t seen the kind of success it hoped for this fall, but the Cardinals senior class hasn’t stopped fighting either and has left a really good legacy and standard for the wealth of underclassmen talent coming back. One of those seniors, winger Julia Eustace, put her team out on the front foot about seven minutes in when she volleyed a shot off the crossbar and in for a 1-0 lead.
“We’re deep, we saw a lot of seniors put in good minutes tonight but also some younger girls who have done a good job on the practice field and JV field come up and get some minutes,” UD assistant coach John Topper said. “We’re very pleased with what we saw from top to bottom. We’re going to fight the next couple games and try to finish strong.”
Wissahickon, which went into overtime for the sixth time on Tuesday, has been behind in games before. It’s a season that’s asked a lot of the players like Ryan, normally a wide player who started in Berry’s fullback spot and Friedman, a freshman forward who’s battled older and stronger defenders all fall.
Just past the midway point of the first half, Ryan and Friedman connected for the first time on the night. Ryan scorched a free kick service to the far post, where Friedman held her ground and tapped it in right on the line to level the score.
Ryan, who takes most of the team’s set pieces, would rattle the post on a free kick late in the half but the sides settled for a 1-1 score at the break.
“We’ve been in all these close games and knew we had to put this one away,” Friedman said. “We wanted to do it for our seniors. We set Natalie up, we crossed the ball and we had a couple great finishes.”
Upper Dublin, powered by senior forward Mia Wright, freshman forward Alex Devers and a score of underclassmen in the midfield, traded blows with Wiss for much of the second half. Wiss senior Carly Amato was a workhorse up top, while Ryan and Friedman continued to create chances as well.
Upper Dublin thought it had gone ahead with six minutes left when Anna Desch found Karolina Bocul, who then set up Devers but the goal ended being called offside.
With 2:40 left, Amato drew a foul on the edge of Upper Dublin’s penalty box and Ryan again stepped over the ball. The sophomore hit it excellently, bending the service around the Cardinals’ wall of defenders and tucking in it just inside the far post for a 2-1 lead.
It would have been too easy to end it there and Wissahickon’s defense broke down on a counter a minute later, allowing Desch to fly down the right side and cross in a ball for a Wright finish.
“We had a lot of emotional ups and downs at the end of the game but I liked the way they responded,” Topper said. “We felt like we had the game, then they get one and we get one so it’s a difficult end to tonight. We’ve had a few like this but I think the way we’ve played hasn’t been indicative in the results we’ve gotten.”
Just last week, the Trojans gave away a lead on the road at Abington before rallying to win in extra time. Backed into a corner again, the Trojans decided to dig down and fight their way out of it.
“We’ve been in this situation so many times and it’s just about desire at this point,” Ryan said. “It’s repetition really but this time, you could tell we really wanted it.”
“We did not want to lose this game,” Friedman added emphatically.
Wissahickon drew a corner in the final minutes of the first overtime, with Ryan driving it toward the near post. A Cardinals defender flicked it up where it seemed destined to go in anyway before Friedman got up and nodded it fully over the line to cause a field storming of jubilant Trojan players.
The Trojans, who entered play in the No. 23 spot in the District 1-4A rankings Tuesday, finish the regular season at Upper Moreland on Thursday night. Ryan and Friedman didn’t think there would be a letdown, mainly because their seniors wouldn’t let them have one.
“They’re our biggest role models, we all really look up to them,” Friedman said of the senior class. “They got 110 percent every time they step on that field. We want to grow up and be like them.”
WISSAHICKON 3, UPPER DUBLIN 2 (OT)
UPPER DUBIN 1 1 0 – 2
WISSAHICKON 1 1 1 – 3
Goals: W – Kylie Friedman (Natalie Ryan), Ryan, Friedman (Ryan); UD – Julia Eustace, Mia Wright (Anna Desch)
