By: Josh Abrams
Photos: Zack Beavers
Bryn Athyn, PA - If you are an avid and passionate supporter of the Academy of the New Church field hockey team, you start to really look forward to this point of the season.
For the third year in a row, the Lady Lions have taken home the Friends School League championship - their 3-1 defeat over Westtown School caps off the first three-peat for the program since the early-to-mid-2010's, when the Lions won five in a row from 2012 to 2016.
Lion senior Olena Abakah-Williams opens the scoring in the 2025 FSL title game (Video by Josh Abrams)
ANC senior Isabel Waelchli reflects on what she and her teammates did to come away victorious against Westtown (Video by Josh Abrams)
Tuesday night was more than jam-packed across the entire FSL; five championship games were played in the span of just a handful of hours. The night cap provided the most exciting and thrilling environment, however, as family, friends and peers from both schools represented with utmost pride and passion on a brisk and chilly evening at Terry & Eileen Glenn Field on the campus of ANC.
"It was just so electric on the field," said senior captain Isabel Waelchli. "I could feel all of my teammates supporting me and helping me, and once we got that first goal it was magical. It was so amazing just playing the game."
That first goal she is referring to came within just minutes of the opening frame. An early penalty corner for ANC is all they needed to get the scoring started, as senior Olena Abakah-Williams found the back of the net after junior Olivia Sweigard fed her the ball.
With the first goal happening so quickly, one would assume a high scoring affair was bound to take place. After all, the two teams scored eight combined goals in their first meeting this season on September 30th, when ANC topped WT by a score of 5-3. This match would play out a bit differently.
It wasn't quite as tightly contested as last year's thriller between the two schools, but this version and chapter of the rivalry still had its significant moments.
After Williams' tally early in the first quarter, Westtown controlled the ball for most of the rest of the first half and the majority of the third quarter. In total, the Female Moose recorded 12 penalty corners and created plenty of opportunities to even the score. But a stellar and impressive defensive effort from the Lady Lions would not allow Westtown to find paydirt.
With the score still showing 1-0 and ANC clinging to a one-goal lead heading into the fourth quarter, it started to get awfully close to "next goal wins the game" territory. 10 minutes remained in the game, which is plenty of time to generate a spark offensively. But with both defenses playing at a high level, scoring seemed to be at a premium.
Insert another senior captain for ANC, Molly McCabe.
As the clock ran under 10 minutes, Waelchli advanced up-field with the ball on the right side of the net with McCabe to her left. Isabel passed it forward to Molly who, with her back turned to the goalie, fired a beautiful backhand bouncer that squeaked past the Westtown goalie and gave Westtown a crucial 2-0 lead.
Huge fourth quarter goal from McCabe gives ANC a two-goal cushion heading into the final ten minutes (Video by Josh Abrams)
Lions senior captain Molly McCabe details what led to her tally in the fourth quarter to give ANC a two-goal lead (Video by Josh Abrams)
McCabe was as selfless as anyone could possibly be after scoring such a big goal.
"I couldn't do it without my teammates," she said. "One of them (Waelchli) passed it into me off of the right corner right outside the circle. And then I just stopped and I had two defenders on me, and I just reversed (the ball) in. It was very exciting."
A little over a minute after McCabe's tally, sophomore Lily Odhner extended ANC's lead to three, as she stuck with the play and batted the ball into the net off a rebound. Westtown junior Toni Loetgers recorded the Moose's only goal shortly thereafter, but it was too little, too late for the visitors.
Three of Szafran's saves from FSL championship game, including stellar diving denial in the fourth quarter (Video by Josh Abrams)
ANC junior goalkeeper Abby Szafran on her stellar performance in net for the Lions (Video by Josh Abrams)
What absolutely should not go unrecognized from this game is the superb and spectacular play in net from ANC goalkeeper Abby Szafran.
For the second year in a row, the junior netminder allowed just one goal from Westtown in the FSL championship game and was the last line of defense for a unit that held off a ferocious Female Moose team that did everything it could to get back into the game.
"I think we have a lot of teamwork with everyone," Szafran said. "This whole season we've been working on having a collaboration with each other, and that really helps."
Even when it seemed like Westtown was about to break through and either tie it up or cut it to a one-goal game, Szafran would not be phased one bit.
"I don't really feel a lot of stress at all, usually," Abby said. "But it definitely felt good when we were up by two goals. There was less pressure on the whole team to waste time and keep it up."
Similar to 2024, this is not the last time that both teams will be seeing each other in the 2025 season. A little over a year ago, these FSL foes met up in the semifinals of the Commonwealth Cup, where ANC took down Westtown by a score of 4-0 before ultimately falling to Penn Charter in the CC title game. This time around, the rematch is taking place in the form of an opening round game in the PAISAA tournament. Westtown, the nine seed, will once again travel to Montgomery County to ANC's campus and look to extract their revenge. The game will take place on Monday, November 3rd, at 3 PM.
