By Mark Zimmaro
BRYN ATHYN - Molly McCabe wasn’t going to let a broken nose keep her out of the first Friends School League game of the season. After all, she’s a hockey player.
The Academy of the New Church (ANC) sophomore forward was sporting the protective face mask to help protect her nose, which had been struck by a follow-through a week earlier. She took some time off to let it heal, but she wasn’t missing the opener.
“I got hit with a stick but I’m good now,” McCabe said. “My team makes it fun and I wasn’t really scared. They had my back.”
And McCabe had theirs. Academy of the New Church found itself in a struggle on Friday as Moorestown Friends had played them to a scoreless tie through regulation in a pretty balanced game. Moorestown Friends had a penalty corner in the extra sessions and the Lions broke it up. Junior Ellery Johns sprung McCabe on a long breakaway pass and McCabe buried it for the dramatic 1-0 win with 3:24 left in OT.
Academy of the New Church sophomore Molly McCabe suffered a broken nose a week ago, but returned to score the overtime winner in a 1-0 victory over Moorestown Friends. Photo by Mark Zimmaro
“It was something,” McCabe said. “I couldn’t do it without Ellery with a beautiful pass. All I was thinking was if I miss this, it’s not going to be good. I just had to get it in the net so I was really lucky.”
Luck is one thing. The incredible hustle by Johns to set it up during an exhausting overtime is another.
“I went in to fly on the corner and right when that ball got hit on the set-in, I sprinted right at it,” Johns said. “It popped off my stick. Luckily I had forwards sprinting up so I played it around their last defender and it was a nice goal.”
ANC Sophomore Molly McCabe
The victory was a good start for the Lions who went 7-1 in FSL last year before falling in the championship game to Shipley.
The Lions are no strangers to being near the top, having won eight FSL crowns, with their last coming in 2018.
ANC has been a participant in the championship game eight out of the last 10 times, winning six of them.
ANC junior Ellery Johns
“First league game is definitely a big step,” McCabe said. “It shows us how it’s going to be heading into the season. This was a good game to show how we can adjust our team and figure out what we need to do at practice.”
The FSL road will be tough as Academy of the New Church has just two seniors on its roster. But McCabe is an example of ANC’s toughness that will be on display each time they take the field.
“She’s one of the toughest players,” Johns said. “Her resilience is outstanding. She has one little setback and doesn’t treat it like that. She goes out and works harder.”
Moorestown Friends at Academy of the New Church
ANC defeated Moorestown Friends, 1-0 in overtime to open league play for both teams. Photos/Mark Zimmaro
Great Wall of Zarah
Speaking of resilience, ANC’s senior goaltender Zarah Synnestvedt has been known to hang in there herself. In an August 31 game against highly-touted Springside Chestnut Hill Academy, Synnestvedt made an incredible 47 saves, including a penalty stroke save in a lopsided loss.
“Obviously you don’t ever want to lose but when I get a lot of action, it’s really fun,” Synnestvedt said. “Halfway through you realize it’s going to be really tough to get back into the game and you see the level your team is fighting. I don’t know if it was the high level of play that I just stepped up to, but it was really, really fun and I got to make some epic saves.”
“It can be stressful being in a 0-0 game,” Synnestvedt said. “In this overtime there was a lot of play in my circle so my job was really encouraging my team because they were getting really tired because it was back and forth in the midfield. I know that I’m not physically tired but my voice gets a little hoarse but that’s my job to be a cheerleader. They worked really hard and I’m really proud of them.”
ANC Senior Zarah Synnestvedt
ANC's Zarah Synnestvedt gets ready to play overtime after a scoreless regulation. Photo by Mark Zimmaro
Once McCabe potted the winner, a huge celebration occurred around Synnestvedt. They remembered how she made a pair of huge saves in the final 20 seconds of regulation to push it to OT.
“She is amazing,” McCabe said about her goalie. “She is so good and she’s aggressive. On defense, I’m not even worried. On corners, I know Zarah’s got it. She’s so good.”
Germantown Friends breaks streak
The ANC-Moorestown Friends game was originally scheduled as the league opener. But Germantown Friends and Friends' Central pushed their game up to Thursday to officially open Friends League play. Germantown Friends took the 1-0 win and the upstart Tigers had their first FSL victory in seven years thanks to the lone goal scored by Halle Smoger.
Oddly enough, the Tigers’ victory broke a crazy streak of meetings between the two teams that had tied 1-1 the last four times they met during the regular season. The last time there was a winner in the matchup was a 1-0 Friends' Central win on Sept. 28, 2017.
Falcons Flying High
Friends Select has started its season in dynamic fashion, winning its first three non-league games without allowing a goal. The Falcons won home games over Bristol, Benjamin Rush and Central by a combined 18-0 score and will open up league play against Friends Central on Tuesday.