North Penn keeps rolling at Garnet Valley’s expense

LANSDALE >> While there are definitely advantages to a first-round bye in the District I soccer tournament, in some cases it’s not all bad playing the first night.

For the North Penn girls’ soccer team, the latter was most certainly true as the Knights rode into the 4A bracket with plenty of positive momentum. A win over topseeded Pennridge in their regular season finale gave the Knights a home game and they took advantage on a rain-soaked night against Garnet Valley.

No. 13 North Penn struck early and controlled the game as it topped No. 20 Garnet Valley 3-0 Tuesday night.

“We came out like we did against Pennridge,” North Penn midfielder Becca Richardson said. “We didn’t have out heads too high or think we would just win; we knew we had to work harder than they were going to.”

“We came out here for a game, nothing was going to be easy and we weren’t just expecting to win,” co-captain and holding mid Emily Schurr said. “We were going to come out here and earn it. We all wanted to win it.”

Seven minutes into the contest, Emily Varilla put her speed on full display to give North Penn an early rallying point. A perfectly hit early ball by Liv Urban found Varilla over the top and she outran the Jaguars’ back line, pulling keeper Lauren Dorf off the line before powering a shot off the gloves and into the back of the net.

North Penn controlled the middle of the field and possession, with the holding midfield tandem of Richardson and Schurr making a living off winning 50/50 challenges and moving the ball around. Even with Garnet Valley playing three in the back to put more bodies in the midfield, it didn’t slow down the Knights.

GV certainly played with a terrific effort, with sophomore forward Alyssa Wert and senior Chenai Kaminski able to take on defenders and play in some good services. What undid the Jaguars was a lack of connections in the offensive third and an inability to put shots on target.

Having just three returning starters from last year, GV coach Paul Costa had an overall positive message postgame. He credited the seniors for being the “leaders of the family” and fostering an inclusive team culture.

“One of the things we talked about was the seniors giving us a foundation for the coming years and while we lost to a better team tonight, there was nothing wrong with our effort,” Costa said. “We owe it to our seniors to use this as a foundation going forward.”

The visitors managed just one shot on target but did have some opportunities, including a superb free kick by Sophia Latella that bounced through the box without a GV player able to get to it before skimming painfully wide of the far post.

Up 1-0, Schurr created a sliver of space and unleashed a monster of a shot that darted into the upper 90 with 24 minutes to play.

Varilla helped make it 3-0 when she was tripped up in the box with 3:44 left, allowing Sheehy to step up to the spot and bury the penalty kick. Knights co-head coach Mike Rio said what makes the forward so dangerous isn’t her speed, but the work rate she displays on the field.