Devers scores PK, Upper Dublin shuts out West Chester Henderson in District 1-4A 1st round

UPPER DUBLIN >> Alex Devers and the Upper Dublin girls soccer team already know the disappointment of a quick exit from the District 1-4A playoffs

Last season, the Cardinals came into the tournament as the 11th seed and were one-and-done after getting knocked out by visiting No. 22 Hatboro-Horsham.

Tuesday night, that motivation along with strong defensive effort and Devers converting on a first-half penalty kick had Upper Dublin moving on, the 16th-seeded hosts edging No. 17 West Chester Henderson 1-0 for a first-round victory.

“I think just believing in ourselves and remembering that last year we lost to a team that we should’ve played harder against and beaten,” Devers said. “And so this year it really (was) we had the fight in us to really win and we played for each other tonight. And it’s really good for the seniors because our season’s extended.”

Devers scored what ended up being the contest’s lone goal after a foul in the 18-yard box with 7:05 remaining until halftime. The Warriors had a few quality chances at pulling level – including a shot on goal in the last minute – but the Cardinals held on to earn their first district victory since 2017.

“Both teams fought very hard,” Devers said. “West Chester Henderson fought really hard and they had a couple special players but really we played together and we were able to shut down their opportunities.”

Upper Dublin (11-6-1) advances to face top-seeded Conestoga in the second round 6 p.m. Thursday.

“This is a talented bunch and they wanted a playoff win,” UD coach Chuck Gesing said. “And to be honest, they want a playoff run. We want to take down Conestoga, we want to say ‘Hey, you’ve beaten us the last few years we had you on our schedule, you’re off we’re a new team, it’s a new year, let’s play.’”

Henderson, which was looking for its first district win since 2016, ends its season at 11-7-1.

“We did everything we wanted to do in that game,” Warriors coach Stephen Norris said. “Honestly, we had the ball in the majority of their half moving forward, we had really good chances on goal, it just didn’t turn our way. And we get some calls that go here, go there but most importantly I’m so proud of every single one of them.

“We established a game plan, we executed really well. It just didn’t turn out well but I’m extremely, extremely proud of everything they did tonight.”

The shutout was Upper Dublin’s eighth of the season and the third in its last four games with Gesing praised the defensive effort of a multitude of Cardinals, including the work in the middle done by the senior trio Alaina Sanders, Olivia Hoffman and Regan Rubin.

“Three of them really disrupted a lot of their flow in the midfield, they couldn’t get much going,” Gesing said. “And then big shout out to Maddie McManus who came on late on the right side and did a great job. And my backline’s always quality. Abby O’Meara and Emeline Bell have formed a partnership that’s great.

“Allie Stenstrom, I got a tip that she could play left back in the beginning of the season from another coach I know and she’s just grown into the position and made it her own. I’m thrilled with those kids and the way they’ve embraced what we’re preaching. And they’re warriors and they battled hard today and it paid off.”

Upper Dublin received its penalty kick after a foul in the top left corner of the box. Devers stepped up to take it and the senior sent a shot into the lower right corner just out of the reach of the goalkeepers’ dive to break the scoreless tie.

“We just practiced PKs yesterday and right as they called the foul I knew that I was going to take it,” Devers said. “And just staying cool at the spot. And just where I’m going to go because I practiced thousands of PKs and just following through on that.”

Devers came close to tallying a second goal after the break on a long-range shot denied from finding the right side of the net by a diving save from Henderson keeper Kennedy Stark.

“They’re goalie and defense was really good,” Devers said. “And after scoring in the first half it was important that we didn’t sit back in the second half and that we kept going at them and I felt that we really did well.”

The Warriors’ Morgan Chiazza got down the sideline and delivered a ball towards the front of the net that Olivia Bradley shot just wide of the left post.

Chiazza later made a run through the UD defense but her shot also was wide left.

“We executed what we wanted, we had a game plan going into the second half to push players forward and we did, just there wasn’t too much we could do when we’re down one and we’re chasing the game,” Norris said. “They can sit back and they played really good defense. They held the line well and they cleared the chances they needed to and their goalie made some big saves.”

The Cardinals were not content to sit on their 1-0 advantage and pushed for another goal. Stark stopped a shot by Meg McMeel while Lilli Kleiman looked to have gotten behind the defense late in regulation but was whistled for offsides.

“We didn’t want to go in a defensive shell,” Gesing said. “We wanted to make sure we pressured higher up the field and when we did that, they played the same game we did, they had heavy legs and we were able to get some opportunities.”

In the final minute, Henderson’s Kaitlyn Miller put a shot on goal but UD keeper Jordyn Levine made the save at the left post.