Strokes propel PV past Methacton

WORCESTER >> Neither Perk Valley or Methacton spend any practice time working on penalty strokes, but two flicks played a huge role in the Pioneer Athletic Conference Liberty Division meeting between the two rivals Thursday evening.

Within 77 seconds late in the second half, the Vikings converted a penalty stroke to take the lead and saved one to maintain it in a 2-1 win over the Warriors at Methacton High School.

Senior captain Danielle Hamm scored the game-winning goal for Perk Valley. She took the penalty

THE SCORE

Perk Valley 2, Methacton 1 Up next for PV: The Vikings host Boyertown on Tuesday. Up next for Methacton: The Warriors visit Norristown on Tuesday. stroke with 11:09 remaining in the game and put her shot into the bottom corner.

“I knew that I had to make it,” Hamm said. “I was just thinking what corner that I wanted to get. I heard the (Methacton) coach say, ‘You know where it’s going.’ So I decided to switch it up and go left.”

Just over a minute later, Liz Chipman tried to tie the game with a penalty stroke of her own. She elevated her shot, but Vikings goalie Ashley Derrick was there to turn it away.

“Ashley made a phenomenal save,” PV coach Erik Enters said. “That was the back-breaker for them. Danielle just totally faked the goalie out.”

Methacton coach Amanda Fuertsch didn’t think the penalty strokes were the deciding factor in the game. Her team had plenty of chances — eight shots on goal and nine penalty corners — but only found the back of the cage once.

“We had really great intensity the entire game,” Fuertsch said. “We had good attacking opportunities the entire game. The deciding factor was just that we couldn’t put the ball in the goal.

ED MORLOCK — MEDIANEWS GROUP Methacton’s Alexa Kratz hits the ball while Perk Valley’s Cristina Dougherty defends.