Sense of relief, joy for teams as season opens
Last year, a Freedom program without a championship in its history earned the seventh seed among a nine-team field for the District 11 Class 4A tournament.
Coach Bob Eaton’s Patriots upset the No. 2 seed in the quarterfinals a team that just knocked them out of the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference playoffs. The Patriots survived the No. 3 seed in OT in the semifinals, then upended a team in the finals that they’d lost to during the regular season.
Their championship run was equal parts exciting and unlikely. And it was perhaps the perfect example of what make sports great.
This year, for a long time, it appeared no team would get the opportunity to do what the upstart Patriots did a year ago. The coronavirus pandemic that’s swept the nation threatened to cancel scholastic sports in Pennsylvania this fall.
But the EPC and Colonial League will begin the soccer season (and other sports as well) this week. There are four Colonial League games on the schedule for Monday and nine EPC contests set for Friday.
“Ironically,” Easton coach Tim Hall said, “in some ways COVIDhas created a much greater appreciation of being able to simply interact as a team, train as a team, and it’s made us realize again what is truly important.
“Personally, I was absolutely thrilled to get our first practice in, then I was thrilled for us to make it through the week. It was gut-wrenching wondering if wewere even going to have the season. Needless to say, we are looking forward to our first game.”
This season, though, will look different than most.
EPC teams will play a condensed 10-game division schedule. The divisions are arranged geographically. There will not be an EPC championship tournament, but there are both district and state tournaments on the schedule.
The Colonial League will play eight games that count toward the league standings. Athletic directors are still conferring about a possible league championship tournament.
COVID-19 has certainly impacted what will happen on the field this fall. It’s also impacted what happens off the field, according to coaches Al Haddad of Parkland and Sarah Oswald of Emmaus.
“I think the biggest change is the team-building and off-field activities we do,” said Haddad, who enters his 15th season with eight conference and six district titles.
“That is changing the overall experience, but we are playing. So that tradeoff this year is acceptable.”
“Our team is taking the one-day-ata-time approach,” Oswald said. “They recognize that at any point the season could come to an end due to factors that are uncontrollable. I think they also recognize the other off-the-field activities that would normally occur are not able to be done, so they are enjoying each other on the field and having fun doing something they commonly love.”
Acloser look at the girls’ season in the Lehigh Valley:
5 players to watch
1. Haley Gschrey, Freedom: EPC’s most prolific scorer enters her senior season with 94 career goals. She fueled the Patriots to a surprise District 11 4A title a year ago and was The Morning Call Player of the Year as a junior. She is a LaSalle recruit.
2. Abby James, Nazareth: Explosive, talented senior midfielder topped the Blue Eagles with 21 goals and 59 points last year. She will be counted on for consistent offense, as well as leader
ship, in 2020.
3. Raine Korpics, Northampton: She excelled as a sophomore with 15 goals and six assists playing her first season of high school soccer. Part of a Konkrete Kids’ high-scoring offense, she will have lots of help as a junior.
4. Quinn Wittman, Salisbury: Burst onto the scene as a sophomore with 23 goals and 12 assists. The junior is on pace to become the Falcons’ No. 1 career scorer. She also excels on the basketball court.
5. Kylie Zentz, Northwestern Lehigh: Tigers’ top scorer (20 goals, five assists last year) on a District 11 2Achampionship team. A senior, she is one-half of a dynamic duo alongside Lexi Bleam (19 assists).
Best of the rest: So. F Aminah Baruwa, Easton; Sr. D Jocelyn Fowler, Parkland; Sr. M Alex Martsteller, Parkland; Jr. G Samantha Merklin, Pleas
ant Valley; Jr. F Chloe Oudin, Moravian Academy; Sr. F Carly Pyatt, Pocono Mountain East; Sr. M Bella Touzeau, Southern Lehigh.
4 teams to watch
1. Nazareth (EPC): Coach Copeland “Ziggy” Lewis’ Blue Eagles were hot and cold last year en route to a District 11 4Afinals appearance. They went 12-10 overall but pulled off the season’s biggest upset by stunning top seed/four-time defending champion Parkland 1-0 in the district quarterfinals.
Many top players return, including James, classmate Anita Vera and juniors Kayley Hynes and Skyler Jordan.
2. Northampton (EPC): Konkrete Kids enjoyed a successful turnaround last season, improving by six wins (13 last year from seven in 2018). Coach Michael
Missmer’s team was a play away from qualifying for district’s 4A final. There is a lot to like in 2020 with eight starters back, including seniors Korpics, Becky Galicki, Isabella Nota, Alex Benedict and Kyleigh Straub.
3. Northwestern Lehigh (Colonial): Tigers return six starters, including top point producers in Zentz and Bleam, from a team that captured league and District 11 2A championships and reached the state quarterfinals. Coach Kelly Bleam, whose squad opened with 1-0 loss to Palisades in a nonleague contest, also brings back Kayla Bardonner, Sophia and Olivia Motolese, Bailey Scheffler and goalkeeper Naomi Glassberg.
4. Parkland (EPC): Al Haddad remains in charge of District 11 s premier program, and the highly successful coach welcomes the return of three starters from a team that went 20-0-1 a year ago until it suffered an upset defeat in the District 11 quarterfinals. The Trojans have won the past six EPC championships and four of the past five District 11 crowns. Seniors Maeve Leonzi, Jocelyn Fowler and Alex Marsteller are the returning starters.
Best of the rest: (EPC) Central Catholic; Easton; Emmaus; Freedom; Pocono Mountain East; (Colonial) Palisades; Salisbury; Southern Lehigh.
3 storylines to follow
1. Fresh faces in new places. There was plenty of turnover among Colonial League head coaches in the offseason, as five programs welcomed new leaders. They are: James Ellison at Saucon Valley; Tim Houghton at Palisades; Derek Saltgiver at Catasauqua; Dave O’Brien at Palmerton; and Ray Canevari at Wilson.
Ellison and Houghton both won District 11 titles as boys team coaches.
In the EPC, three new head coaches were hired: Andrew Uhler is at Liberty, Tara Hyland at Pleasant Valley, and David Lester at East Stroudsburg North.
2. Can Freedom ring again? The Patriots are the defending District 11 4A champions and they return the area’s top offensive player in Gschrey. But coach Bob Eaton’s squad lost a couple of extremely important contributors from last year.
Freedom should be very competitive in a tough EPC. Consider Parkland the 4A favorite (as usual), with both Nazareth and Northampton as legit threats along with Easton and Freedom.
3. Forecast for repeats and threepeats. Freedom in 4A, Southern Lehigh in 3A, Northwestern in 2A and Moravian Academy in Class Aall captured District 11 titles a season ago.
The two main preseason questions are: Will we survive the coronavirus pandemic this fall and get to enjoy a postseason? Will any of these programs celebrate championships again this fall?