Brooke Pavlow and Lylah Day scored in each half as Council Rock South defeated rival Council Rock North in a battle for the Patriot division lead. Five days removed from their 0-0 tie over the weekend, South (7-1-1, 6-1-1 SOL) took advantage of the narrow field to assert a physical presence against North (5-1-1, 5-1-1 SOL) and made the most of their opportunities to win 2-0 and claim the top of the table before the second round of division games begin in two weeks..
Since suffering an opening-season loss to Pennridge (2-1), South has yet to concede a goal, extending their shutout streak to eight games. North tested South keeper Madison Hyams several times, but the junior made two great stops in each half and controlled the box enough to prevent North from putting away a number of dangerous corners that could have turned the game at any moment.
Like many North-South games in the past, both teams came out with a high level of energy, running through challenges in the midfield and spraying long balls over the top in hopes of catching the other off guard. North’s Isabel Diaz and Sarina Igval combined a number of times off striker Keegan Terry, but South interrupted their flow, with defender Krissy Phillip doing a fantastic job shutting down North’s attack on the wings.
South had the first dangerous chance twelve minutes into the game when Riley O’ Halloran chased down a ball into the channel on a counter. But with her body drifting away from goal, O’ Halloran didn’t get enough power on her shot, and North keeper Sophia Mills saved it at the near post. Four minutes later, Terry and Diaz combined off a throw in, and Diaz sent a dangerous cross into the box. Bella Lanza put her header on frame, but Hyams made the save.
In the 19th minute, South nearly had their first goal on a counter when Anna Horn slipped a ball across to Day, who was all alone against Mills at the penalty spot. Mills came off her line and cut the angle, making a point-blank save to keep the game scoreless. In the 26th minute, Claire Vizza had a chance from another South counter, but her volley off an awkward bounce pushed wide.
In the 28th minute, South finally found the back of the net on Pavlow’s corner. The junior midfielder’s inswinger from the left side caught Mills off guard at the near post and slipped through her fingertips and over the line before the North defenders could clear it away.
The goal woke up the hosts, who stormed down the field after the restart and almost scored the equalizer. Igval beat her defender down the right and crossed the ball to Diaz, whose header fell to Darcy McCullough, who then set up Terry with a cheeky backheel flick toward goal. Terry turned at the top of the six and lined up a volley, but Madison Mohr got a foot on the ball to steer Terry’s shot over the bar. On the ensuing corner, Phillip made a well-positioned block at the near post and dribbled the rebound away from danger. Igval found some space a minute later and sent a cross toward goal that hit South’s Lianna Shikhvarger’s arm at the edge of the box. Some controversy ensued as it appeared the South defender was partially inside the box, however a VAR may have ruled her arm to be in a natural position upon contact, the referees had a difficult decision to make that did impact the game. Either way, Igval sent the free kick toward the back six where North had numbers, but Sophia Milich’s header bounced just wide.
With five minutes remaining in the half, Terry had a free kick from thirty yards out that beat the three-person wall and forced Hyams into a diving save. Hyams recovered in time to stop Diaz on the rebound from a tight angle. On the next play, Igavl served an in-swinging corner that Milich headed on goal, but Hyams grabbed the ball off the bounce to keep North from capitalizing on their strongest moments of pressure in the game.
North came out in the second half with more of the ball and created a number of opportunities in the South end off of free kicks, long throws, and corners. South rose to the occasion and defended with a tremendous amount of tenacity, relieving pressure with mini-counters or deep clearances over the top. Three minutes in, Addison Martin nearly got on the end of an Igval corner, and five minutes later Terry sent a cross to Igval at the top of the six that was well-defended by Phillip, who stopped the North striker from getting to the ball first before clearing it away.
In the 64th minute, Igval whipped in a free kick from out wide that fell just inside the six, but South’s Kaitlin Hickey cleared it out with a header, and Phillip made sure the ball was gone with a volley toward the sideline.
Then in the 67th minute, South doubled their lead when Day put the North defenders under pressure on a long ball over the top, forcing an errant back pass. She ran onto the loose ball and slipped it past Mills to extend South’s lead.
In the final ten minutes, North had two more chances to get a goal back. Diaz followed up a scramble after a North free kick and turned a shot on goal that Hyams saved diving to her right. Two minutes after, O’ Halloran almost made it three on a counter, McCullough sent an in-swinger toward a packed six yard box that Hyams punched away to seal the win.
Playing the second game against their rivals within a week, South played with a high level of energy throughout the eighty minutes, and that effort paid off with two opportunistic goals and another clean sheet. “We’ve always preached that we want to be a program that’s really hard to outwork,” South coach Nick Heim said after the game. “And this group has really bought into that.”
Heim was pleased with the way his team responded to North’s intensity after the break and said he can always rely on his team’s defensive work rate from all of his positions, including his strikers, which eventually led to South’s second goal.
“The most important part for me is that we kept a clean sheet,” Heim said. “We’re lucky we brought all four starting backs back from last year. None of them are seniors, so it’s a group that’s growing together as they come through the program. They answered the bell again tonight because they [North] have some really dangerous pieces. Diaz, Terry, and Igval, they’re nightmares.”
South has extended their shutout streak to over 640 minutes since Gabrielle Howley’s second-half winner for Pennridge on August 28th. And as Heim’s team prepares for next Monday’s battle against defending district champs CB South, they’ll be ready for the challenge of keeping that streak going.
“We pride ourselves on defense first.”
Council Rock North had a streak of their own come to an end Thursday night. North hadn’t given up a goal all season until Pavlow scored, snapping their run at 508 minutes.
“We played better after they scored,” North coach Gavin Flanagan said after the game. “You’re chasing the game at point, and it’s hard. They can do they want to do, which is sit a little bit more and drop players back. They have the lead, so it’s up to us to find a solution, and we didn’t tonight, which is unfortunate.”
North lost for the first time this season, and they are still very much in the hunt for a Patriot division title and a top spot in the District 1 playoffs.
“There’s some perspective involved here,” Flanagan said. “Today wasn’t the end of our season either way whether we won or lost. It’s up to us to take on board what happened today and get better from it.”
North will host Pennridge on Monday, one-loss Plymouth Whitemarsh on Wednesday, and CB West next Saturday with an opportunity to put the South game behind them rather quickly and remain on South’s heels for the division title.
