Little Flower and Lansdale Catholic set the pace in Catholic League girls’ soccer
The Sentinels and Crusaders have both won eight of nine league games, but Archbishop Ryan and Archbishop Wood are in pursuit.
Little Flower soccer is blooming again. The Sentinels, a traditional Catholic League powerhouse, faltered a bit last season, winning just four league games and losing to Hallahan in the first round of the playoffs.
This year, as the postseason draws near, Little Flower is back at the top of the league standings among the other usual contenders.
"So far it's been an unbelievable season," Little Flower coach Markos Pittaoulis said. "Hopefully we can keep it up this year."
Little Flower and Lansdale Catholic are atop the pack with 8-1 league records. Archbishop Ryan is 7-1, and Archbishop Wood is 7-2.
The Sentinels showed their comeback is real by winning their first 10 games. Junior striker Brenna McCarry scored several big goals in wins over Lansdale Catholic and Archbishop Carroll, and Allie Bofinger accounted for the goal in a 1-0 overtime win over Cardinal O'Hara.
Sophomore goalie Taylor Iarosis and her defense didn't allow a goal until Sept. 27 against Bishop McDevitt, and Molly Killion, Maura Kilkenny, Haley Waring, and Caitlin Garlick have done an outstanding job in front of Iarosis.
Little Flower suffered three straight defeats last week — to St. Basil (nonleague), Conwell-Egan, and Souderton (nonleague) — but the Sentinels still have outscored their opponents, 46-9.
Next up for Little Flower are defending Catholic League champion Ryan on Monday and Wood on Thursday.
LC’s tough tests
Lansdale Catholic, which has lost in the league championship game three years in a row, battled through a tough nonleague slate with games against talented teams from Penn Charter, Pennridge, North Penn, Owen J. Roberts, Souderton, and Gwynedd Mercy.
"In the preseason, we focused a lot on our performances and finding positives in our play regardless of results," Crusaders coach Bree Benedict said. "We scheduled a lot of very tough nonleague games that helped us face adversity early and work on problem-solving different situations by playing multiple formations and changing shape."
Leading goal scorer Emily Schall and teammates Kellie Gillen, Sarah Fitzpatrick, Lauren Edwards, Keira O'Sullivan, Colleen Viereck, Kris Finkelston, and Caroline Cleary have the Crusaders keeping pace with Little Flower. Goalkeepers Abby Shuster and Grace Cooney have done their share by making big saves late in victories over Ryan and Wood.
"Our biggest challenge came from a disciplined Little Flower team that was able to create set-piece opportunities and capitalize," Benedict said. "As we go into the playoffs, our mentality will not change. We will try to spread the ball out, change up our formation and shape to be unpredictable, and continue to rely on our strong senior leadership to pick us up when needed. While we know there is pressure to live up to the past success at LC, we are purely motivated this year to play every playoff game for our seniors."
Lansdale Catholic and Ryan met in last year's league final, with Ryan taking a 1-0 victory. In their initial meeting this season, the Crusaders defeated the Ragdolls, 2-1.
Ryan adapting
Ryan, which has won five of the last six Catholic League titles, is led by leading goal scorer Gianna Monaco and sophomore goalie Emma Joyce.
"We are a young team and making improvements every day," head coach Jonathan Geist said. "Hopefully these small adjustments allow us to tighten our defensive shape and allow the creative players more freedom on the ball through the playoffs."
Lauren McDonnell, Baylee Santos, Hannah Follmer, Ashley Peffer, Kaitlyn Geiger, Sarah Szychulski and Emily Deluisi have aided Monaco with the scoring. The team has also received contributions from Samantha McCurry, Kiersten Montag, Luca Verello, Kylie Davis, Grace Joyce, Molly Kain, Cait Stackhouse, Paige Geiger, Kaitlyn Brace, and Keri Gontz.
Wood is explosive
Led by first-year coach Tom DeGeorge, Wood has averaged close to six goals per game in league play.
Paige Hoeger, coming off a hat trick against Cardinal O'Hara on Oct. 1, leads a talented group of Vikings that includes Leah Brzezicki, Gabrielle Fasti, Elizabeth McCloud, and Maggie Cliggett. The 2016 Catholic League champs have lost league games to Ryan and Lansdale Catholic.
C-E coming around
Conwell-Egan sits fifth in the league standings with a 5-3 record. The Eagles received goals from Alexandra Chalmers, Annie Corrigan, and Olivia Gentile in a key 3-1 victory over Little Flower on Oct. 4. Chloe Grabowski and Theresa Richardson have also been key contributors, and goalkeeper Anna Esposito has been solid in net
"As a young team we struggled a little bit in the beginning of the season. But, with a few changes and five wins, the girls are playing on all cylinders," Conwell-Egan coach Andrzej 'Andy' Adamiec said. "Only time will tell how far we will go this year. … Semifinals or even a final would be nice."
Last year, the Eagles advanced to the Catholic League semifinals before falling to Ryan.
John Hallahan (4-4), Archbishop Carroll (3-5-1), Cardinal O'Hara (2-4-2), Bonner-Prendergast (2-6) and St. Hubert (1-5-1) round out the top 10. Bishop McDevitt (1-8) and Neumann-Goretti (0-8) are looking up. The first round of the Catholic League playoffs is scheduled for Oct. 15.