FORT WASHINGTON, PA – On a clear fall Tuesday afternoon, the second round of the PAISAA Girls’ Soccer Tournament kicked off between host Germantown Academy and Springside Chestnut Hill Academy.
For the majority of the first half of the game, both teams struggled on the offensive side of the ball. Springside Chestnut Hill’s defensive unit found a way to halt Germantown’s explosive offensive. That was until a shot fired by GA senior, Emilia Doloway, deflected off of one of SCH’s keepers and found its way into the net putting the Patriots on the board 1-0.
Senior, co-captain Emilia Doloway celebrates with her teammates after scoring the first goal for the Patriots - PSD Photo
“The first goal was a total freak goal and it helped us in the sense that we relaxed a little bit and they (SCH) had to press a little bit more,” said Christopher Nelson, head coach of Germantown Academy.
Relaxed and powerful GA became in the remaining minutes of the first half. Freshman, Allison Clark, added in another goal to extend the Patriots lead 2-0 with only a few minutes remaining until halftime.
Germantown’s commanding offense continued into the second half with sophomore Mackenzie “Mac” Pluck sailing a shot in the net off an assist from teammate Bailey Gilmore. The Patriots led 3-0 with 29 minutes left to play. Five minutes later, Mac scored again increasing her teams’ lead 4-0.
With 16 minutes left on the clock, GA senior Caroline Sloane scored the final goal for the Patriots, making the score 5-0. However, Megan McCool, a SCH senior, was not going to send her team home without a goal and scored with 12 minutes remaining. McCool’s late second-half goal was her 41st of the season.
Despite the 5-1 loss, SCH’s head coach John Westfield expressed how proud he was for his team’s effort throughout the entire season.
“Since, taking over the program last season, we continue to take steps in the right direction,” said Westfield. “Over the past two seasons, I have told my teams that they are the foundation to something bigger than wins and loses. They are responsible to bring relevance back to the girls soccer program at Springside Chestnut Hill both in our league, and the surrounding Philadelphia area. This was an extremely high expectation for my girls to live up too both on and off the field. They never wavered from that and were successful in completing the task. For that, I am extremely proud of this team.”
Looking ahead, Westfield explained that his team has a very young core, composed of 7 freshman and 5 sophomores. However he is losing two very impactful seniors, Meghan McCool and Ashley Carabajal.
“Meghan is our all everything. She is a University of Virginia signee, a two-time Inter-AC MVP, High School All-American, US National team player, as well as the Inter-AC league and Springside Chestnut Hill leading scorer with over a 140 career goals,” said Westfield. “Ashley Carabajal is our other senior, who has been a mainstay in our midfield, since transferring from St. Basil's Academy last season. She has lead our team in assists the past two seasons and whose leadership will be tough to replace.”
Nelson agreed that SCH has taken the steps in the right direction and added that his team’s main focus was finding a way to stabilize McCool and rising sophomore Emily McNesby.
“John has done a really great job with them. Meghan and Emily up top are so dangerous,” said Nelson. “Defensively I thought in the second half we were much more balanced, we didn’t stab very much, especially with Meghan, other than when we left her alone and she scored that beautiful goal, we really did a good job standing her up and making her slow down.”
Next season, Westfield is hoping his trio of sophomores will step up to the plate and fill the leadership gap McCool and Carabajal are leaving behind.
“Emily will fill the goal scoring role. The past two seasons Emily scored 25 and 27 goals, respectively,” said Westfield. “Also part of that trio is Grace Rorke and Marissa Brown. Grace and Marissa are interchangeable. Both have keen abilities to defend or attack. Throughout the year, they were the heart of our midfield. My expectations for this group are extremely high going into next year.”
This Thursday, Germantown will move forward to the PAISAA Semifinals hosting Westtown at 2:15PM. Nelson explained his game plan facing Westtown is all about creating spacing on the field.
“Offensively we will try and continue to spread out the field, I thought in the second half when we got some sort of spacing, we became really really dangerous,” said coach Nelson. “If we can maintain that offensively I think we will be in good shape going into the next round.”
Win or lose next round, Nelson couldn’t help but express his appreciation and joy that the team has brought him this season.
Mackenzie Pluck & Allison Clark talk about their win and preparing for Westtown
“They are just an awesome group of girls to work with,” Nelson said. “They are hard working, they’re fun and they take care of each other. It’s such a treat to come out at the end of everyday and spend the last part of my school day with them.”
Scoring:
GA - Emilia Doloway, Allison Clark. Mac Pluck (2), Caroline Sloane
SCH – Meghan McCool
(Click on photo gallery to look at all 71 pictures taken at yesterday’s game)
