October 4, 2007 Issue
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Classified Chestnut Hill Local Don't Miss an Issue, Tell us what you see or Winner of Two |
A win and a draw for PC booters and sticksters
Penn Charter cruised to a 3-0 win in soccer over visiting Springside School last Tuesday afternoon, but a few fields away the Quakers and Lions battled to a 1-1 standoff in field hockey. A 2-1 winner over Agnes Irwin in its Girls Inter-Ac hockey debut two weeks ago, Springside left Charter with a record of 2-2-1 overall and 1-0-1 in the league, while the Quakers had a record of 2-3-1 against all opponents and 0-1-1 in league play. PC had been edged by Notre Dame, 1-0, in its first Inter-Ac contest. Charter’s soccer team had also succumbed to the Irish (2-1) on opening day in the Inter-Ac, but Tuesday’s win over Springside brought the Quakers back even in the league, 1-1, and into winning territory overall, at 3-2-2. Springside continues to struggle on the soccer pitch; coming after a 4-1 loss at Agnes Irwin in the league opener, the setback at Penn Charter lowered the Lions’ record to 0-5-1. Assessing his soccer squad, Penn Charter coach Eddie Mensa observed, “We’re young, we’ve got some good speed and we’ve got good depth [of talent], but our intensity has to get a little better. In the Notre Dame game, they were a more physical team than we were and we didn’t react really well to it. We’re still trying to develop that finishing touch, that killer instinct. It’s getting better over time, and today was a good step forward.” Sophomore Liz Thom scored what would prove to be the gamewinning goal against Springside, and with about 15 minutes left in the first half junior Laura Kurash added an insurance point off of an assist from senior Gaby Badawy. The Lions’ Courtney Caputo made a run with the ball into the Penn Charter box near the end of the period, but Charter keeper Liz Carpino took the ball off her feet at the last second to preserve the 2-0 count. Carpino, a junior who made three saves, was later replaced in the cage by senior Katherine Diaz, who stopped one shot. It didn’t help Springside’s cause when starting goalie Tori Baggio left the field with a bone contusion in her wrist during the second half. The Quakers capped off the scoring in the match with a goal deposited by sophomore NaTasha Prentice off an assist from freshman Lauren Rhine. On the hockey field, Springside made a few rushes into the Penn Charter circle in the first half, but the Quakers had possession of the ball the majority of the time. “They put a lot of pressure on us in the first half,” admitted Springside coach Susie Macciocca. “We didn’t play our usual Springside game today; we typically try and attack the cage a lot more. Their defense did a really nice job suffocating us.” Nevertheless, the score was still 0-0 at the intermission. “This is a hardworking, committed group with good senior leadership, but right now we’re just struggling a bit to put the ball in the cage,” explained Charter’s Natasha Pronga, who’s moved up from assistant coach to head coach of the team this year. “We’ve been working on connecting, moving the ball with stick-to-stick passes. We’ve done that well this year; our problem is finishing when we’re in the circle. We’ve actually outshot most of our opponents this year.” One of Charter’s efforts bore fruit about five minutes into the second half, when a drive from outside the circle was tipped in by Caroline Wilkes. Later on, Springside’s Nina Testa set up a goal by fellow senior Tori Roebuck, tying the match 1-1. After that, the 12 minutes that remained in regulation play expired without further scoring, as did a seven-on-seven overtime period. According to Girls Inter-Ac rules, the game then went into the books as a tie, without a round of penalty strokes. The Quakers took seven penalty corners to Springside’s three during the bout, and in goal Lions junior Sami Pulley made six saves while senior Sara Henley made three stops for Penn Charter.
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