Upper Dublin edges Wissahickon in latest rivalry classic

LOWER GWYNEDD >> For a few games early in the season, it felt like Upper Dublin was never going to score.

The Cardinals’ girls soccer team, cast on the road for the first half of its season with its home field wrecked, had a robust defense but the attack just couldn’t put anything away. It really didn’t make sense, because it certainly wasn’t for a lack of talent. But that was then and now, Upper Dublin seemingly can’t stop scoring.

UD’s attack had enough to help the defense outlast Wissahickon in a classic battle between the rivals, with the Cardinals edging out a 3-2 win on Senior Night at Gwynedd Mercy University on Monday.

“We were still new at first,” junior forward Lili Kleiman said. “We needed to get to know each other, know our playing styles and our roles and once we did that, it became a lot easier for us. That’s really all it took once we started clicking.”

Kleiman was a menace on Monday, with her blistering speed and technical ability on the ball leading to a goal and the assist on senior Ava Constanzo’s eventual game-winner. The junior has blossomed into part of a deadly triangle of attacking players along with classmates Alex Devers and Regan Rubin, who also bagged a goal and an assist in Monday’s important win.

They may each have their own big games, but none of the three juniors or anyone else who features in an attacking role for the Cardinals (11-3-3, 11-2-2 SOL Liberty) really cares who gets the goals either. Rubin, who has a dozen assists on the year, had to adjust to a role as the team’s main facilitator while Kleiman figured out how to time her runs and use space and Devers found her confidence to take on defenders and get into the box instead of settling for longer shots.

“We all have a lot of confidence in each other,” Rubin said. “We know we can give the ball to somebody else and every single time, they’re capable of putting in the back of the net or playing up a super-nice assist. Everyone on this team is very, very talented.”

With the stadium lights at Upper Dublin still out of commission following September’s devastating tornado damage, Gwynedd Mercy University stepped up to offer a terrific environment for the team’s Senior Night. Getting to play on a beautiful new college surface with all that extra width was a nice perk as well.

“They enjoyed space in our PW game and I encouraged them to keep running at people, so the width of this field definitely plays to that,” UD coach Chuck Gesing said. “They play for each other. They’ve been friends since they were little and that’s the great part, they may not be on club teams together now, but they grew up playing together and we sorted it out earlier in the year it can’t be one person.”

Wissahickon (13-3-1, 12-2-1 SOL Liberty), which was playing shorthanded with starting center backs Margo Kasenchar and Serena Harris out with injury, was denied a chance to claim its first SOL title since the 2012 season. The Trojans needed either a win or tie to lock things up, but will now turn their attention to doing so in their regular season finale Thursday at Plymouth Whitemarsh.

Monday’s setback wasn’t for a lack of effort on the visitors’ part. Wiss went ahead early when a handball on a UD defender following a corner kick gave the Trojans a penalty kick. Kylie Friedman had her initial take saved off the post by Cardinals keeper Rachel Adelman but the Wiss junior punched home the rebound nine minutes in.

“We knew, we had the confidence we could play with them, play our game and put the ball in the back of the net,” Rubin said. “We knew if we kept our heads in it and our confidence high, we’d be able to put balls in the back of the net.”

Rubin certainly had no problem with that, playing a long ball that hit off a defender’s head off one bounce and ripping a left-footed shot just inside the post to tie it 1-1 with 17:50 left in the first half. Not even three minutes later, it was her turn to play set up, hitting a beautiful long ball up the pitch that caught Kleiman on the run.

Kleiman’s first take hit a bit of the keeper and a lot of the post but the speedster was able to control the rebound, get a touch around the scrambling keeper and slam home the second effort for a 2-1 lead.

Early in the second half, it was then Kleiman’s turn to set up a goal. Taking a pass to the right corner, Kleiman slipped a defender on the end line and played a cross on a rope to Costanzo, who only needed to run her foot through the ball to bury the shot for a 3-1 lead with 35 minutes to play.

“We know our defense is super-strong and it allows us to take some risks,” Kleiman said. “It lets us play with more confidence up top.”

UD’s defense would prove it the rest of the way as Wissahickon switched to an attack-minded formation and started throwing everything it had at the Cardinals to try and chase the result it needed to win a conference title. Closing in on the midpoint of the second half, the Trojans really made it interesting to the end off a fantastic goal from two-thirds of its own offensive triumvirate.

Friedman was able to work a defender on the right and played a perfect cross into the box, where senior Margaret Wilde soared in for a majestic, crushing header that cut the lead to 3-2 with about 24 minutes to play.

The Cardinals’ defense has only allowed two opponents to score more than two goals against it all fall and the group wasn’t eager to let their rivals be the third. Wissahickon put a lot of pressure on into the final minute, but senior Rachel Adelman and the team in front of her were able to turn away every attempt at an equalizer.

“I felt like we wanted it more,” Kleiman said. “We came in really wanting to win, for our team but especially our seniors and we just kept telling ourselves ‘we can do this.’ We just connected and found a way.”

The Cardinals still have a path to a division title if they can beat Hatboro-Horsham on Thursday and Wissahickon either loses (outright) or draws (shared) against PW. After a 2020 season where it felt like nothing went right and the team won just one game, all the Cardinals are focused on is keeping this fall’s good feelings continue through the playoffs.

“It gives us a little bit more confidence and just helps prove we can play against these big teams, I mean (Wissahickon) was fourth in the district and their record stands for itself,” Rubin said. “We can play against these teams, we can beat these teams. We can create really awesome goals and chances and shut down their offenses so we should play like we know that.”

UPPER DUBLIN 3, WISSAHICKON 2
UPPER DUBLIN 2 1 – 3
WISSAHICKON 1 1 – 2
Goals: UD – Regan Rubin, Lili Kleiman (Rubin), Ava Costanzo (Kleiman); W – Kylie Friedman, Margaret Wilde (Friedman).