Spring-Ford staves off Wissahickon, 3-2, in District 1 first round
ROYERSFORD >> Spring-Ford appeared to be on the way to an easy win after scoring twice in the first three minutes of Tuesday night’s District 1-4A girls soccer opener.
But it took a late goal by Vania Mokonchu and some tense moments on defense down the stretch before the Rams finally secured a 3-2 win over Wissahickon at rainy Coach McNelly Stadium.
No. 11 seed Spring-Ford (16-5) advances to the round of 16, where it will play No. 6 seed Downingtown East Thursday at 7 p.m. at Downingtown West. The season came to an end for the No. 22 Trojans (11-8).
Ella Curry scored 30 seconds into the match and Emily Higgins added the second goal just 2:44 in for a quick 2-0 advantage.
“We had a good start,” said Ram coach Mo Hadadi. “We told them to press right away at the beginning. We got the through balls.”
“It took us three minutes to get into it,” said Wissahickon coach Chris McDaniels. “The first (goal) is a fantastic strike. The second, we got pulled apart. It crept into the back of my mind, is this going to be six or seven?”
But that was far from the case as Kylie Friedman brought the Trojans (third-place finisher in the Suburban One American Division) to within a goal with 19 minutes to go until the half.
“Kylie and Carly (Amato) started getting the ball in dangerous spots,” said McDaniels. “That was a boost of confidence our attack players gave us.”
Wissahickon started fast in the second half, earning a corner kick just 30 seconds after the halftime break and knotting the score 30 seconds after that on a goal by Anna May.
Then Spring-Ford, coming off a loss in the Pioneer Athletic Conference championship game, put on the pressure for the next 10 minutes. Alison McVey placed a couple of good balls right out in front of the goal, but those two opportunities and two others ended with shots that sailed over the crossbar and another failed when Trojan goalkeeper Quinn Klessel made a two-handed knockdown of a point-blank blast.
“These games, you can’t make mistakes,” said Hadadi. “The game is 40 minutes each half. You try to assess the opponents’ game in the first 40 minutes. Then you make adjustments in the second 40 minutes.”
Mokonchu came into the game for the first time midway through the second half. Not too long after that, the Rams were awarded a free kick from 40 yards out and Caitlin Norwood lofted it over the defense to Mokonchu, who headed home what proved to be the game-winner with 15:39 to go.
“Vania knew exactly where she should be and she was calm,” said Hadadi.
The match was far from over, however, as the Trojans went back to work and applied the pressure. Ram keeper Riley Wallace was forced to make a lunging, one-handed save with four minutes to go after a strong run down the right side by Amato, who also pushed a dangerous free kick through the box a minute later.
Then Wissahickon hurriedly took a corner kick from the left as the final few seconds ticked away, but Wallace batted it down and then gathered up the ball to wrap up the win.
McDaniels credited his seniors for the Warriors’ comeback after the inauspicious beginning.
“We have really good senior leadership,” he said. “We have five seniors this year. All of them played a role for every minute of that game. We played in tight games all year. We lost five one-goal games, three in overtime.”
“They gave us a good game,” said Hadadi. “Then you know what level the girls are. These are district games. You expect a team to be at that level. We’re trying to apply different things they’re not used to. The girls are doing great.”
