Upper Dublin’s defense shuts down Boyertown in second half
UPPER DUBLIN >> From late in the first half until the final three minutes of the game, Upper Dublin surrendered just one goal to Boyertown Thursday afternoon.
The Cardinals offense did a good job possessing the ball and, when they didn’t, the defense applied pressure to force turnovers. When the Bears did manage to put shots on goal, UD goalie Erin Darcy stopped five of the six shots she faced during the stretch that covered 22 minutes and 18 seconds.
No. 3 Upper Dublin scored five goals during its defensive dominance to extend a three-goal lead to seven and secured a 13-8 win over No. 19 Boyertown in the second round of the District 1-3A playoffs at Upper Dublin High School.
“We knew who their scorers were and obviously (Boyertown’s Hannah) Adamski knows how to go to goal and knows how to fire the ball,” UD coach Dee Cross said. “We just needed to figure out how to neutralize her. Abby O’Meara did a great job just putting pressure, stepping up on her and making everyone else around her work hard. That’s the difference. The defense – I always say they’re telepathic… They know where each other are. They’ve worked together for two years now and you can just absolutely see it.”
“Our defense, we all just communicate,” UD senior Paige Dinkel said. “In practice we work on getting slides. If someone’s sliding to ball, we know to get their cutter. We just communicate. The biggest impact is talking on the field.”
Boyertown scored with 1:07 left in the first half to trim its deficit to three, 8-5. Reagan Harner’s goal with 4:23 remaining in the third quarter was their only goal until the final 2:49 of the fourth.
“Upper Dublin just did a really good job of applying some more pressure and forcing us into some poor decision-making,” Bears coach Pam Wernersbach said. “We just did not do a good job of making up for those mistakes or those difficulties when it happened.”
Upper Dublin’s Anna DiMartile, left, tries to advance the ball against Boyertown’s Nicole Shimukonas during a District 1-3A second-round playoff game Thursday, May 16, 2024. (Ed Morlock/MediaNews Group)
Harner’s score was the first of the third quarter and got the Bears (13-6) within two, 8-6. Dinkel scored less than two minutes later to get the Cardinals (17-2) advantage back to three and Bridget DiMartile added another in the final minute of the third to send the game to the fourth quarter with Upper Dublin in front 10-6.
DiMartile, Dinkel and Shannon Connaughton scored the first three goals of the fourth to put Upper Dublin ahead by seven, 13-6, with 3:02 to go and essentially sealed the win.
DiMartile finished with five goals for UD while Dinkel added four and Anna DiMartile had two.
Adamski scored five goals for Boyertown. She put the Bears up 1-0 to start the game and had three goals in the second quarter alone.
Boyertown goalie Teagan Tyson kept the game within reach. She made four saves in each of the first two quarters and stopped 13 shots in total.
“She just played out of her mind,” Wernersbach said. “She was really, really focused. She was seeing the ball well, she was trusting her defenders to do their job as well. I couldn’t be happier with the way she played today.”
The win sends the Cardinals to the district quarterfinals for the first time since 2011. They’ll host No. 6 Penncrest, a 17-3 winner over No. 22 Spring-Ford, Tuesday.
“This is such a fun group,” Cross said of why this team was able to break through. “They’re really nice girls, but they’re so competitive and they listen. If we make adjustments in a game, they do it. At least they try it. Even when we get down or we’re throwing the ball away, they can reset and they trust each other. I think that makes the biggest difference, especially on defense. When they came up with some of those knockdowns, groundballs – they’re working together. As a coaching staff we couldn’t ask for anything more. They’re just a really great group to coach.”
“It’s really exciting because we work really hard in practice,” Dinkel said. “Our coaches are always telling us how we can get better. It’s really good because it’s paying off and we’re seeing it.”
Boyertown’s season ends with the loss.
“These girls are, No. 1, wonderful young women,” Wernersbach said. “They have worked really, really hard to get to this point. We had a huge senior class last year. No one really expected us to be able to compete for the league, be able to compete for districts, and they worked together and trusted each other enough to get us to this point and really have nothing to hang their heads over. It was a really good season as far as the amount of growth they made as a group.”
Upper Dublin’s Shannon Connaughton, left, tries to get past Boyertown’s Mady Dewiler during a District 1-3A second-round playoff game Thursday, May 16, 2024. (Ed Morlock/MediaNews Group)
Upper Dublin 13, Boyertown 8
Boyertown 1 4 1 2 – 8
Upper Dublin 4 4 2 3 – 13
Goals: B: Hannah Adamski 5, Alina Friz, Reagan Harner, Kristin Huffman. UD: Lily Buckius, Bridget DiMartile 5, Paige Dinkel 4, Anna DiMartile 2, Shannon Connaughton.
