November 6, 2008 Issue
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Classified Chestnut Hill Local Don't Miss an Issue, Tell us what you see or Winner of Two |
Cougars trip up Tigers in Friends League final
This fall, the girls’ soccer team at Germantown Friends School won every league game they played – up until last Friday afternoon. The sole blemish on their Friends School League ledger came in the playoff finals, as visiting George School claimed a 2-1 victory and the FSL title for 2008. The Cougars pounced once in each half to gain a 2-0 advantage, and when GFS sophomore Lyles Swift-Farley put the host team on the board, only one minute and 58 seconds remained in the contest. Throughout the match, the Cougar defenders kept close tabs on high-scoring GFS senior Lydia Kring, and the visitors often sagged back and forced the Tigers to settle for shots from the outside. “They played pretty deep off of us and we couldn’t find a way to get behind them,” said Sam McIlvain, wrapping up his second season as GFS coach. “They had a good game plan and they stuck with it, and I think we got frustrated. But I think it speaks to our character that we kept fighting, and it was nice to see us score that one at the end.” Germantown Friends (11-2 overall) had made an 8-0 run through the league during the regular season, a mark that included a 2-0 win over George School on Oct. 3. The Tigers had to come from behind to win their semifinal match, though, giving up an early goal to fourth-seeded Friends Central, then rallying with markers by Kring and fellow upperclassman Maura McInerney-Rowley. George School, 7-1 in regular-season FSL matches, carried a little more momentum into the finals; the second-seeded Cougars dispatched No. 3 Westtown, 3-1. On Friday, while the GFS bench often seemed more subdued than a Quaker meeting for worship, an almost evangelical stream of chatter poured from the George School reserves. “They had more fight than us,” Lyles-Farley admitted afterward. “We definitely weren’t prepared for how well they were going to play.” In the last 20 minutes of the game, the sophomore added, “We finally seemed to realize that we were down 2-0 and it was the championships.” Early offensive activity on the Tigers’ part included a shot from the middle of the box by McInerney-Rowley and a long serve by freshman Iris Williamson, but both times Cougar keeper Kaitlin McElwee (five saves) pulled the ball in successfully. About 14 minutes in, GFS senior Nina Voith hit a promising cross from out along the right endline, but the ball came back off the outside of the near goalpost. At the other end, Cougars’ junior Aly Passanante passed the ball from right to left in the GFS penalty area and it got by both a GFS back and George School freshman Priscilla Wiggins. Wiggins was closer to the rolling ball, however, and she was able to overtake it, turn, and shoot it into the right side of the Tigers’ cage with 21:05 remaining in the first half. GFS mentor McIlvain commented, “They drew first blood, and I think that got in our heads way too much.” Last season, GFS lost a play-in game that determined the fourth seed for the playoffs, while George School went through to the FSL finals before falling to Shipley. “They may have been a little more ready because they’d been here,” McIlvain said. “They’d had a taste of losing in the finals, and this time they wanted to taste the victory.” Germantown junior Alfia White took a shot from the middle of the box with about a minute to play in the first half, but the Cougars’ McElwee was right there to make the stop. As the second period got underway, the George School keeper had to charge out to slide the ball away from the feet of GFS’ Kring, who was tracking a pass from the right side by Voith. Instead of cheering a tying goal, GFS fans watched the Cougars score a second time with 10:30 elapsed. It was another Passanante-to-Wiggins sequence, this time an airborne cross from the right that was headed in at the left post. A few minutes later a strong GFS throw-in from the left by senior Jasmine West found Kring near the middle of the 18. Kring settled the ball with her back to the goal, but when she spun to shoot, George School fullback Liz Stevens was there to block the ball. A subsequent header by the GFS senior was saved by McElwee, and later Kring and McInerney-Rowley fired outside shots to no avail. A pair of corners with 12 and eight minutes remaining also failed to produce a high-percentage shot. Williamson, who’d been moved from midfield up to the front row, dribbled the ball across the Cougar 18 on the right side as the two-minute mark approached. Swift-Farley and her 10th-grade classmate Theresa Shropshire were both headed for the far post. As Swift-Farley described it, “Iris crossed it in and Theresa got in the way of the goalie and I was able to tap it in – but it was mostly Theresa.” When play restarted from midfield the Cougars immediately booted the ball up to their offensive end, preserving their 2-1 lead. “All the credit goes to George School,” McIlvain said. “They’re very athletic, they played hard, and they kept us out of rhythm all day long.” Molly Tow, Germantown’s junior goalkeeper, was officially credited with six saves, but she was also kept busy all afternoon gathering up through- balls and serves into the box before scoring plays could develop. Sophomore Sarah Bergman was also very active on defense in the losing cause.
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