By: Jeremy Goode
PHILA.,--With three matches left in the Inter-Ac and the Springside Chestnut Hill Blue Devils (SCH) up one game in the standings to Episcopal Academy, the Blue Devils have one goal: win out.
In their way were the Penn Charter Quakers, a team that the Blue Devils beat earlier in the year 3-1, but since then the Quakers posed a new threat after traveling to Episcopal and beating the Churchwomen 3-2. But the Blue Devils took care of business and never allowed any doubt, beating the Quakers convincingly 5-2.
“The mindset going into this game was to come in as strong as the team could,” Alex de Beaulac said. “We really picked up the intensity and were able to show that we were the better team.”
de Beaulac could not have said it better in terms of the Blue Devils’ intensity.
How intense was SCH?
Less than two minutes into the match, the Blue Devils scored their first goal. de Beaulac took the ball to the right side, dribbled up the backline to goal, and passed it out to Ryleigh Bakley right outside the box, who sailed a shot that was well placed inside the crossbar but out of the reach of Penn Charter’s goalkeeper, Mia DiBenedetto.
It was the second time the Blue Devils started fast against the Quakers, setting the tone early on and giving some breathing room for the entire team as they were able to ease into the match with Bakley’s quick score.
“That’s something that we wanted to work on because sometimes we start off slow,” Bakley said. “I knew when Alex had laid it off I had to finish it to get the intensity up and get us off to a good start.”
Not relaxing and picking up intensity was a consistent theme that SCH players mentioned focusing on during training and before their match at Penn Charter.
After all, it is those concepts that are often most responsible for the difference between winning and losing, so the additional stress and focus on executing early paid dividends.
The quick start only made the Blue Devils more prepared to execute what they wanted to do; put teams away. Their efforts were rewarded early on as they continued to push offense after going up a goal.
“We don’t relax, I think it picks up the intensity,” de Beaulac said. “We had a talk with Aaron (head coach), about how we really needed to get the goals early to make the energy of the other team lower and to get our confidence up to keep playing as well as we were.”
That’s goals -- plural. One goal often does not determine the outcome of a match. Penn Charter would score two of their own during the match. And while SCH could have game-planned to stay back and play defense for the next 78 minutes…that is a strategy easier said than successfully done.
So for SCH, their mission was to score early and frequently. They nailed the early part, but would have to wait towards the end of the half to tally another goal. In fact, the Blue Devils scored to go up 2-0 with just under eight minutes left until the half. Fortunately, they would score in bunches, adding their third by de Beaulac off a rebound in front of the net only one minute and four seconds after their second goal by Emma Schweizer.
The first half concluded with SCH up 3-0 over Penn Charter.
“Going up 3-0 at half solidified the game a little bit,” Bakley said. “Going up 2-0 [at half] is a different game because if they get one, the intensity is fully shifted their way.”
The Blue Devils do not only bring intensity to start a match; they try to maintain it throughout the entire 80 minutes of play. And after being able to recharge at halftime, they pride themselves on pushing the intensity early in the second half.
And they would be rewarded again for their aggressive mindset.
This time, it would only take SCH a minute and 18 seconds into the second half to score, giving them a commanding 4-0 advantage. Penn Charter would attempt to pass the ball back to net for a goalie clear. de Beaulac would have other ideas, reading the play from the start and scoring based on her heads up play as she intercepted the pass to goal and scored.
“I could read it because I could see her [defenders] hips moving; turning back, and I could hear the goalie calling for it,” de Beaulac said. “So, I made sure to read the pass that was going to happen and hit it one time into the net.”
For the remaining half, SCH traded a goal against one for Penn Charter. The Quakers were able to add pressure and score a few times through aggressive and consistent offensive play.
Ultimately, SCH’s play was too strong for the hosting Penn Charter team, and the Blue Devils checked off another challenge they had in front of them as league play is wrapping up.
“We have a big game Friday and just have to take it one game at a time,” Bakley said. “We have two left, so as long as we focus on our next game and our style of how to play and not worrying too much about the other team, but being aware of who they have and what their kind of style is, we’ll be fine. I’m excited.”
Bakley could be referring to SCH’s match at Episcopal on Fri., Oct. 25, a match that will influence the top seed in the conference in one way or the other.
A Blue Devils win at Episcopal would make SCH the 2024 Inter-Ac champions, returning the trophy to Chestnut Hill for the fourth time in 6 years.