Pennington draws Pennsbury, 2-2
PENNINGTON >> The girls soccer teams from the Pennington School and Pennsbury High have developed a nice little rivalry over the last few years.
After trading victories in each of the previous two seasons, the sides played an entertaining 2-2 draw on Saturday evening that came to a strange conclusion following a long discussion to decide their wouldn’t be an overtime played since this was an inter-state matchup.
The referees are supposed to meet with the coaches before the game if it’s against an out-of-state opponent to determine what to do in case of a tie after 80 minutes. In this case, that didn’t happen and Pennington didn’t want to play an overtime and Pennsbury did.
The referees got in touch with an NJSIAA rules interpreter and decided the decision rests with the home team.
“Ultimately, we’re playing it to just play a good opponent, which they are,” said Pennington co-coach Dr. Bill Hawkey, who added his team doesn’t play overtime against other Pennsylvania schools. “It’s early on in the season, so you don’t want to risk injuries and kids are still kind of getting into game shape. Our understanding going in was we’re here to play and not go into overtime. They weren’t happy with that. They figured that they would play.”
The 80 minutes that were played produced an a tense contest, especially in a wild second half that saw the teams combined for three goals in a span of 2:02.
Pennsbury (4-1-1) came from a goal down to take the lead after Evie Ciaccia and Kendall Palatine scored 1:06 apart midway through the second half.
The Red Raiders (2-0-1) only trailed for 56 seconds before Kylie Daigle worked the ball onto her sweet left foot and curled home a long-range effort.
“We knew it was going to be a very hard game and they were going to come back for blood,” Pennington senior forward Kelli Collins said. “We showed our all on the field. The season is just starting and we’re beginning to show our soccer and what Pennington is.”
Pennington started quickly when Collins his the outside of the post on a shot four minutes in. Eventually, that pressure paid off when Stephanie Balerna collected a wayward clearance at the top of the box and scored with her left foot in the 32nd minute.
Pennsbury, however, grew into the game and began closing the space and making it more difficult for the Red Raiders to play against the physical style required to compete in the Suburban One League.
The Falcons grabbed a deserved equalizer Ciaccia slipped inside her marker and knocked the ball into an open goal. Palatine had the visitors believing in a second victory over the Mercer County powerhouse in three seasons when Rosie Bostian’s free kick landed on her foot at the back post.
“I think we felt like we had it in the bag and they’re a good team,” Collins said. “They’re a fast team and they came out of nowhere. But we brought it back and Kylie Daigle did what she does.”
Collins was encouraged by the response as Penning had the better of the play after Pennsbury hit a post with 16 minutes remaining.
“It’s great playing these big public schools because they have a very strong program,” Collins said. “We respect them as a team just for their program. It’s great to play high-level soccer.”
Pennsbury (4-1-1) 0 2 — 2 Pennington (2-0-1) 1 1 — 2
Goals: Ciaccia, Palatine (Pbury). Balerna, Daigle (Penn); Assists: Bostian (Pbury); Shots: 9 (Pbury). 14 (Penn); Saves: Hansen 8 (Pbury). Kavulich 3 (Penn).
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PDS 3, STEINERT 0 HAMILTON >> Ariana Jones grabbed a hat trick and the undefeated Panthers (5-0) picked up a second victory over CVC opposition by blanking the Spartans (2-1). Grace Romano and Brianna Astbury had assists for PDS and Riley Felsher got the shutout.
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