Souderton stops conference winless streak
GrDFH 0LRrHOOL finDOOy SuW an end to the Souderton girls soccer team’s two-plus seasons of frustration in Suburban One League Continental play.
Miorelli scored after a run through the middle of the North Penn defense with less than four minutes left and the visiting Indians snapped a 34-game conference winless streak by defeating the Maidens 1-0 Thursday afternoon.
“It feels great, especially EHFDusH LW’s Rur firsW wLn Ln two years in our league,” said Miorelli, a senior midfiHOGHr. “AnG LW’s Rur firsW (conference) game, this re- ally just gives us a lot of FRnfiGHnFH JRLnJ LnWR Rur next games and everything.”
Neither side created many scoring chances, but Souderton (2-0-0, 1-0-0 SOL Continental) gained some moPHnWuP ODWH Ln WKH firsW KDOI and carried it into the last 40 minutes.
“There was like a 10-minute period where I thought we were back on our heels and then we kind of took possession back and got some good opportunities and then one that resulted in the goal,” Indians coach Joe Duffy said.
Souderton’s last SOL Continental win came when the Indians were still competing in the spring, with the Big Red defeating HatboroHRrsKDP 1-0 Rn ASrLO 26, 2010. Since that victory, the Indians went 0-32-2 in conference contests before 7KursGDy — finLsKLnJ 0-131 in the fall 2010 season and 0-14-0 Ln 2011, DuIIy’s firsW year as coach.
“We’ve gotten better,” DuIIy sDLG. “A ORW RI WKRsH sophomores were freshman last year and that’s a hard way to start a high school season with a lot of freshman. But they have a year under their belt and the senLRrs DrH EHWWHr. AnG RYHrDOO we’ve improved.”
North Penn (1-1-0, 0-1-0), wKLFK KDG wRn fiYH sWrDLJKW over Souderton, pushed for a goal early on corner kicks, but was never able to create many real threats on Indians goalkeeper Jaclyn Parry.
“There weren’t many scor- ing chances both ways. We had more corners than they did and we didn’t capitalize on them,” Maidens coach Jim Dehner said. “Obviously, we have some things to work on. We have a lot of new faces on our team.
“Souderton is a way better team than they have been in the past. Give them a lot of credit. I think they wanted the game more as the game progressed. vou could tell it was swinging to their end.”
Miorelli broke through wLWK 3:56 rHPDLnLnJ Ln the second half, evading the Maiden defense in the PLGGOH RI WKH fiHOG WKHn unleashed a low shot that got past North Penn keeper Laura Leonard.
“I saw that they were pulling up to trap us on offside, sR , MusW fiJuUHG , sKRuOG MusW take it,” she said. “And I saw the keeper came out and I just placed it.”
Both teams are back in DFWLRQ DW 3:30 S.P. MRQGDy with conference matchups. Souderton hosts HatboroHorsham, while North Penn visits Central Bucks South.
“There’s no teams in this league that you can look past, which is good and bad,” Dehner said. “It makes you that much better, but every game we have to be up for it mentally and physically. And I think just as the game wore on, we just kind of lost it.”