Birchler, Great Valley overtake Owen J. Roberts 2-1 in District 1 first round

EAST WHITELAND >> The Great Valley girls soccer team has shown it can handle the unexpected.

The Patriots did from Day 1 of the season when they found they’d be without head coach Jen Michewicz while on maternity leave, elevating nine-year assistant Tom Doyle to head coach.

Tuesday night, Great Valley, with its 14-4 record and Ches-Mont American Division championship, couldn’t have expected to be dominated in the first half of its District 1 Class 4A first round playoff game against Owen J. Roberts.

But with senior goalkeeper Lauren Birchler keeping the Patriots in it through 40 minutes, No. 16 seed Great Valley got the break it needed on Rose Bleahan’s 44th minute goal and rode the momentum to a 2-1 win over No. 17 Owen J. Roberts.

Senior Thea Howard’s high-arcing hit from 30 yards was the game-winner in the 58th minute for Great Valley (15-4 overall), which was without injured all-state forward Emma Gray. The Patriots advance to face top seed Pennridge (16-1-1) on Thursday.

“We’ve been a second-half team all season so I knew we just needed to get through the first half and then we could start moving,” said Birchler, a four-year starter. “It feels really good, really proud of the team for the way we came back in the second half.”

There’s no better time to have an experienced, capable goalkeeper than a rainy postseason game, and Birchler (nine saves) was a difference-maker.

“Lauren came up big,” said Doyle. “The last time we went deep in the playoffs it was a goalkeeper that took us there. I told Lauren in the beginning of the year, ‘We’re going to go as far as you can take us.’”

OJR freshman Alexa Vogelman, assisted by senior Hannah Delahaye, headed in the opening goal in the 28th minute. But the Wildcats (11-5-3 overall) experienced their second straight gut-wrenching loss in a District 1 playoff opener, albeit under different circumstances. Last year, the Wildcats fell in penalty kicks as the No. 1 seed; this year’s loss looks less painful on paper, but will carry a similar sting after conceding only two real scoring chances and controlling the game for the majority.

“We had the game well under control and we let it slip out. And we never regained our composure,” OJR coach Joe Margusity said. “We should have had another two goals in the first half in my opinion, but their goalie played well. We needed to finish some of the easier chances.”

With half the lineup underclassmen and freshmen, the Wildcats’ future is secure though they say goodbye to seniors Delahaye, Veronica Roach, Sophia Bono, Melissa Orr and Sophie Marks.

“Our seniors did great,” Margusity said. “I feel bad for our seniors to lose in that way.”

Great Valley’s seniors have taken the reins of their own season.

“I told the seniors, ‘This is your team.’ It’s not my team,” Doyle said. “There’s eight of them (Birchler, Veronica Yonce, Leigh Chamberlain, Howard, Emma Banister, Kasey Ayre, Emma Gray and Katey Coffey) and they all play important roles.”

Michewicz was on hand Tuesday to watch both her teams: the Great Valley coach is a 2001 Owen J. Roberts graduate and former All-American defender and two-time Mercury All-Area Player of the Year.

Aside from OJR’s goal, its best chances came on a 16-yard rip from Vogelman that forced Birchler into a strong diving stop to her right, while freshman Gabbi Koury’s blast from 22 yards forced a strong tip over the crossbar. While not allowing a single shot on the other, OJR led 1-0 at halftime.

The Patriots caught a break early in the second half when a scuffed clearance on a Libby Cogan pass sent the ball the wrong direction and allowed Bleahan in on goal with only OJR junior keeper Olivia Kqira (four saves) to beat. Great Valley leveled and grew in momentum. The winner came with 22 minutes to play when Howard, from 30 yards out, lashed a high-bouncing ball straight in the air and somehow had it plop into the top left corner of goal, but they all count the same in postseason soccer.

The Patriots stayed on the front foot down the stretch to return to the District 1 second round for the second straight season, just the stage Birchler enjoys.

“This is where I get excited,” she said.