OJR falls to Conestoga in district playoffs
Conestoga blanks Owen J. Roberts to advance to district final
TREDYFFRIN » A few minutes after Conestoga’s 6-0 win against Owen J. Roberts in the PIAA District One Class 3A semifinal at Teamer Field Tuesday afternoon, Pioneer head coach Kerry de Vries, while pleased with a victory, reflected on her team’s need to keep improving, particularly as it prepares to play top seed Downingtown West in the championship final.
“I don’t think our team has peaked at all yet,” said de Vries, whose squad outscored its opponents 107-19 during the regular season. “We played some really good games at mid-season, where I think we had better passing than we did today. We need to string better passing combos together.”
The No. 3 seed Pioneers (183) started slowly Tuesday, building a small 2-0 lead by halftime against the seventh-seeded Wildcats (16-7).
“You know, coming back to coach high school again this year, I guess I had forgotten that getting focused for an afternoon game can be a real challenge for these players,” said de Vries. “They have to get to school at 6:45 a.m., then they eat just a small lunch because the cafeteria is packed, and then they have to come out here and suddenly focus on a game at three or four in the afternoon - that’s a challenge.”
In the first half, Conestoga junior Charlotte de Vries tallied twice (the second goal assisted
by senior midfielder Grace McEvoy) to give the hosts a 2-0 halftime lead. The Pioneer junior now has 43 goals scored for the season.
In the second half, the Pioneers started to take charge. Senior forward Emma McGillis scored the first of her two goals six minutes into the second half with an assist from Charlotte de Vries, then McEvoy tallied on a rebound with 16:30 left to make it 4-0.
“Owen J. Roberts is a block tackling team, and I think we waited for the ball too much in the first half,” said Coach de Vries. “In the second half, we went after the ball more.
“I really thought Grace McEvoy was a hard-nosed player both on offense and defense today. Emma McGillis was a force on the right side for us, and (senior back) Dani Dittman had a good second half.”
With 6:56 remaining, McGillis scored her second goal of the afternoon with an assist from Kiley Allen, then Allen tallied on a rebound to complete the day’s scoring.
The Pioneers were facing an Owen J. Roberts squad that had defeated No. 10 seed Central Bucks West, 1-0, then edged 15th seed Central Buck South, 2-1, to get to the district semifinals. Tuesday, the Wildcats were outshot, 124, and did not get their first corner until 11 1/2 minutes were left.
Owen J. Roberts head coach Amy Hoffman said, “We tried to cut off the lanes to No. 10 (Charlotte de Vries). After Conestoga went ahead 2-0, I thought we played a little stronger. We had some chances to score in the first half, but then Conestoga took over in the second half. We needed to take care of the ball more, play smart defense. In our last two wins, our defense was a little less frantic, and we played with more ball control.”