Rams roll at PAC singles tourney
Girls Tennis
Day 1 of the Pioneer Athletic Conference Singles Tournament was dominated by Spring-Ford as three Rams make up the four semifinalists for Saturday’s final day.
Cady Krause, Isabel Mejia and Riley Burke, Spring-Ford’s Nos. 1-3 singles players in the regular season, all reached the final four. They are joined in the semifinals by Pope John Paul II’s Veronica Marinari.
Burke’s breakthrough came with a 6-4, 7-6 (4) victory over Perkiomen Valley No. 1 Nadja Townsend in the quarterfinals. Mejia was the most dominant in her quarterfinal, downing Pottsgrove’s Mya Krueger, 6-2, 6-0. Krause, the freshman Rams’ No. 1, needed three sets to defeated Upper Merion’s Rhea Desai, 6-0, 2-6, 6-1. Marinari downed Pottsgrove’s Jaelynn Kennedy, 6-2, 6-4, in their quarterfinal.
Burke and Mejia meet in the semifinals Saturday at 9 a.m., while Krause and Marinari face off in the bottom half of the bracket. All four semifinalists have qualified for the District 1 tournament.
In playbacks for fifth place, it will be Townsend versus Krueger and Desai versus Kennedy. BOYERTOWN 7, POTTSTOWN 0>> The Bears swept the understaffed Trojans in Thursday’s PAC match, headed by Abbey Greene’s play at first singles.
Greene won her match 6-0, 6-0. Pottstown’s best individual showings came at second singles and first doubles, where Naomi Parson and the team of Megan Robie and Emily Plowfield extended their duel to three sets.
Field hockey
POTTSTOWN 4, NORRISTOWN 0 >> Winni Weng and Onjelay Nixon both scored two goals for the Trojans in their shutout PAC win. Destri Roye finished with four saves in goal. BOYERTOWN 2, POPE JOHN PAUL II 0 >> Remi Lloyd and Alyx Morgan were the goal scorers for the Bears in their PAC Crossover win on Friday. UPPER PERKIOMEN 3, METHACTON 0 >> Freshman Ashlyn Gatto led the way for Upper Perkiomen, scoring twice in the PAC win. Senior Jenna Fiorito also netted a goal and Aiyi Young finished with an assist. Upper Perkiomen stays unbeaten in the league (6-0) and 8-3 on the season.
Sarah Woolston recorded nine saves for the Warriors. UPPER PERKIOMEN 3, CENTRAL BUCKS EAST 2 >> Scoring twice in the second half Thursday, the Indians broke out of a deadlocked nonleague game with the Patriots for victory.
Takoda Wells scored off a corner play in the first half before Jenna Fiorito and Bella Carpenter tallied in the second, the latter off a corner play. Colleen Crenti, Kylene Gooch and AiYi Young were credited with assists for UP, with Lynnsi Joyce contributing 23-save goaltending. FLEETWOOD 2, DANIEL BOONE 0 >> Casey Lynn Dewald scored both the Tigers’ goals Thursday to lead their Berks League victory over the Blazers.
Ashley Finkbiner came up with six-save goalkeeping for Boone (1-4, 2-6). OWEN J. ROBERTS 10, POTTSGROVE 0 >> The Wildcats went on a scoring tear in the first half of Thursday’s PAC divisional crossover game with the Falcons, collecting nine of their goals to set the tone.
Julia Lamb netted a hat trick and Maddi Koury added two for Owen J, with other scores provided by Jenna Kirby, Maggie Kilgallon, Rylee Laloup, Makenna McCourt and Raina Sonolij, who was also credited with three assists. Makenzie Johnson had nine goalie saves for Pottsgrove, and Tori Keener three. SPRING-FORD 4, UPPER MERION0>> Kate Crist figured in on three of the Rams’ goals Friday as they blanked the Vikings in their PAC divisional crossover game.
Crist capped the scoring at the 17:30 mark of the second half. She also assisted on goals by Alexa Collins and Angelina Pinciotti, with Alysia Collins adding a goal at the 8:57 mark of the first half.
Anandeep Singh had a 17-save day in goal for UM.
Boys soccer
HILL SCHOOL 3, EPISCOPAL ACADEMY 0 >> Sophomores Sam Beckett and Noah Toole led the Blues to a three-goal victory over reigning the Inter-Ac champions on Friday. Junior Ty Keller also found the back of the net to give Hill their third score of the night. Hill keepers Blake Groff and Alan Kim put forth a combined effort to preserve the clean sheet. SPRING-FORD 5, UPPER MERION1>> Colin Trainor’s hat trick fueled the Rams’ offense Thursday on the way to a PAC divisional crossover win over the Vikings.
Brett Gulati and Connor Lynch also scored for Spring-Ford — all goals in the second half — with Brandon Duke (two), Nick DiNenna and Tommy Bodenschatz getting credit for assists. Tommy McPoyle had three goalkeeper saves for the Rams, with Nathan Dallas turning away nine shots at the UM nets. METHACTON 2, UPPER PERKIOMEN 0 >> Michael Cinelli and Brayden Ahlum scored goals to lift the Warriors over the Indians in Thursday’s PAC divisional crossover game.
Methacton’s first goal came with 15 minutes left in the first half. The second came late in the second half. OWEN J. ROBERTS 6, POTTSGROVE 0 >> A first-minute Kyle Storti goal was a sign of good things to come for the Wildcats in a one-sided PAC crossover win over the Falcons Thursday.
OJR was up 4-0 at halftime after goals by Storti, Pierce Marks, Gavin Zorn (assist) and Ryan Angelo (assist), while Ethan Gawlik and Zorn finished the scoring the second half. Julian Funaro also had an assist.
Zeb Smith and Andrew Keddie combined for six saves in the shutout. Pottsgrove goalie Luke Kaiser had five saves. PERKIOMEN VALLEY 2, PHOENIXVILLE 1 (OT) >> Alfredo Grimaldi netted the gamewinner in overtime to give the Vikings an overtime win over the Phantoms in PAC crossover play Thursday.
PV led early when Luke Speers finished an Alex Chamorro delivery. But Phoenixville answered when Clay Kopko caused a turnover and assisted Brendan Flick for the leveler. PV goalie Josh Moyer and Phoenixville goal Gavin Perillo each had four saves.
Girls Soccer
BOYERTOWN 3, SOUDERTON 0 >> The Bears were by a well balanced offensive attack that featured three different goal scorers in the non-league victory. Kayleigh Mattis, Camilla Kuever, and Samantha Goffice all found the back of the net off of assists from Madison Monka, Mikayla Moyer, and Samantha Devlin, respectively. SPRING-FORD 3, UPPER MERION 1 >> Hope Flanegin scored twice Thursday, sparking the Rams to victory over the VIkings in their PAC divisional crossover game.
Flanegin opened the spring-Ford scoring, then capped it by converting a corner assist by Molly
Thomas. In-between, Emily HIggins connected on an 18-yard shot. UPPER PERKIOMEN 1, METHACTON 0 >> Bryanna Marinari converted a pass from Kyra Lesko with 18 minutes remaining Thursday, giving the Indians victory over the Warriors in their PAC divisional crossover pairing.
Despite being outshot 9-4 and having far less possession, UP rode a strong defense and stellar goalkeeping from Hannah Landis (nine saves). It was the team’s fourth consecutive shutout and seventh on the season, PERKIOMEN VALLEY 2, PHOENIXVILLE 0 >> A pair of second-half goals provided the Vikings their margin of victory over the Phantoms in Thursday’s PAC divisional crossover action.
Julia Quinn scored off a diagonal ball from Dorothy Chesshire to break the deadlock, and Mya Gelet added insurance, finishing off a cross from Nikki Foller-Moll. Riley Hill needed to make just two saves in goal to record the clean sheet while Ella Stout had eight stops for Phoenixville. DANIEL BOONE 1, FLEETWOOD 1>> Lily Ferguson scored a first half goal for the Blazers, and Alexis Baez did the same for the Tigers as their Berks League game ended up in a tie after two overtime periods.
Jenna Heasley gave Boone 14-save goaltending.
Girls volleyball
UPPER MERION 3, PHOENIXVILLE 0 >> The Vikings won their sets in scores of 258, 25-9, and 25-15, sweeping their way to a PAC Frontier victory. The Game Leaders for Upper Merion were Alexa Grammerstorf with one Ace, four kills, and 20 digs, Avery Stackhouse with two kills and 14 digs, Hayden Perrone with four kills and nine digs, Maria Coll with 13 digs. BOYERTOWN 3, PERKIOMEN VALLEY 1 >> The Bears earned this PAC Liberty victory with set scores of 2325, 20-25, 25-19, and 23-25. Emma Ludwig was the top performer for Boyertown with 37 assists, 15 digs, and three blocks.
Naomi Clauhs was the top performer for the Vikings recording 10 kills, four blocks, 12 assists, 13 digs, and three aces in the loss. POPE JOHN PAUL II 3, POTTSGROVE 0 >> The Golden Panthers swept their PAC Frontier Division match with the Falcons Thursday by set scores of 25-10, 25-8 and 25-14.
Statistical stars for PJP were Haley Spotts (eight kills), Bella Ricevuto (six kills), Heather Lesinski (four kills), Caroline Regan (three kills), Lexi McMonagle (eight assists, three kills, four aces), Erin Dychdala (11 asstists, two kills, two aces) and Jessie Donovan (six digs).