‘O’Reilly Formula’ works again for Haverford
UPPER DUBLIN >> The formula has been pretty simple for the Haverford girls soccer team.
Annalena O’Reilly will get a chance, turn it into a goal and a stout defense will find a way to make it stand up. It worked pretty well in the regular season, so there wasn’t any need for the No. 17 Fords to change when they visited No. 16 Upper Dublin in the first round of the District 1 Class 4A playoffs Tuesday.
The All-Delco O’Reilly got the goal, and the defense held off a determined Cardinals side for a 1-0 win.
“We warmed up really well, then in the first half, they were taking it to us, especially in the midfield and they were the better team,” said Fords coach Jeff Jackson, whose team moves on to face top-seeded Owen J. Roberts. “We talked at halftime that there needed to be another gear and I thought they found it right off the bat, and our star player changed the game like she always does.”
O’Reilly bagged her 15th goal of the fall. Weigh that against the total goals allowed by the Fords, which currently stands at 14, and it becomes more clear why Haverford’s formula works so well. Still, Upper Dublin presented problems in the first half.
“From what we’d heard about (Haverford) we knew it would be tight,” UD coach John Topper said. “We knew they were stingy defensively and we knew O’Reilly was a dangerous player. I was very happy with the way we came out tonight and the first 20-25 minutes, we had the better of play. But we know if you don’t capitalize when things are flowing your way, it becomes a little more difficult.”
Upper Dublin’s wins have started with a commanding effort in the center midfield and the Cardinals got that out of seniors Lexie Moss, Priya Kaneria and Tina Haig and junior Laura Pendleton, or at least when she wasn’t playing center back. Up top, Anna Desch, Julia Eustace and Emily Booth gave the Fords fits with their pace.
The only thing the Cardinals lacked was a finish. Alison Durfee made two saves and back Brooke Snopkowski threw herself in front of a shot destined for the back of an open net to make sure of it.
Haverford knew it had to ramp things up, but senior center back Rebekah Cunningham noted the Fords have been a second-half team all season. Off the second half tap, they attacked with renewed enthusiasm and put Upper Dublin’s backs under some early pressure.
The Cards defense was very strong but Haverford would cash in the one that mattered. A textbook counter put the ball at O’Reilly’s foot just outside the box.
“She put it right to my foot and I was able to chip the keeper,” O’Reilly said. “There wasn’t much of an angle low, so I figured chipping it would be the best option.”
O’Reilly hit the ball perfectly, the shot curling up into the night but staying low enough to duck under the bar with 29 minutes left in the contest.
Haverford didn’t bunker behind the ball after the goal, but the Fords knew they had gotten the first half of the formula down.
“The first 20 minutes of the game, that wasn’t our team and we knew we had a lot more potential,” O’Reilly said. “We kept it tied 0-0, so there was no reason we couldn’t come out on top of it.”
Upper Dublin wasn’t going away and Cunningham complimented the amount of fight and resolve the Cardinals showed up to the final whistle. The senior defender felt her team managed to maintain the lead thanks to good communication and some help from the players in front of the back line.
“We had to have a lot more people helping back, Annalena really helped us a lot,” Cunningham said. “The defense’s job is to keep the ball up, but we definitely needed at least one more player back to help us out.”
“It came down to more communication and staying together,” O’Reilly added. “We were very spread out in the first half and (UD) did that to us but we did a lot better in the second half.”