Photo courtesy of Carl Gulbish
CB East 1, Council Rock South 0
Kiera Sleicher scored with less than two minutes remaining in overtime to lift No. 1 CB East to a 1-0 victory over No. 4 Council Rock South in the PIAA District 1 girls semifinal Tuesday night. In an end-to-end battle between two teams with distinct game plans that frustrated the opposition, the Patriots finally found the back of the net on a quick counter just as the two sides were headed to a second extra session.
With the win, CB East (19-1-1) will now play in the district final, seeking its second district championship in three years. Saturday’s championship matchup will be against No. 2 Downingtown West, who defeated Council Rock North 2-0.
“We have high expectations for our group,” East coach Jake Nesteruk said after the game, “Council Rock came in with a really good game plan and a really good battle. I think we created enough to deserve this one. It was a fun game to be a part of.”
Council Rock South (17-2-2) gave East everything they had, but despite coming up short, proved they could compete with the best. “The first thing I told them was I’ve never been more proud of an effort of a loss,” South coach Nick Heim said. “We put in a unique game plan to try to handle a unique beast, and we had one practice to do it, and they executed it flawlessly. The girls gave it everything they had.”
In what can arguably be Suburban One League’s two-best teams playing head-to-head for the first time since a preseason scrimmage in late August, East started the game with their possession and build style, while South asserted a disrupt and counter tactic that proved effective once the opening minutes settled. Both teams played with an incredible ability to lock their opponent into their own end, yet each team used different methods. East attacked the flanks with Mia Forney and Mattie Williams down the right and Taylor Roumy and Mackenzie Peters down the left, controlling the ball for minutes at a time with recycled attacks and multiple switches across the field, making it difficult for South to break out. But when South won the ball and countered, they did so with force through Lylah Day, Giulianna Connetta, and Riley O’Halloran, then filled in the spaces through the midfield and suffocated East with pressure from the backs to pin the Patriots inside their own end, something unfamiliar to the defending state champions this season.
As East and South jostled for control of the game’s early minutes, the scoring chances came from distant shots or from wide angles. South’s Brooke Pavlow tried to beat East keeper Maddie Thompson from distance, and Roumy found the target at the other end on a shot from near the endline, testing South’s Madison Hyams with a routine save, but it wasn’t until the game was fifteen minutes old that the first strong chances began to materialize. Roumy spun a defender at the top of the box and fired a shot on goal that Hyams saved, then scrambled for the rebound before East’s Riley Leedy could get to it. Two minutes later, Roumy sliced through multiple South defenders then slipped a pass to Sleicher in front goal, but Hyams charged out with immediate pressure and made a strong sliding save.
Midway through the half, South began to control play for a stretch of time and had several good looks on corners. Ruby Bross almost connected on a Pavlow corner, but the East defenders swarmed all over the rebound attempt, and on another corner less than a minute later, Claire Vizza had two shots blocked from close range.
Late in the half, East defender Addie Langlois won a header off a Sleicher corner, but Hyams once again made the stop with a diving save.
After both teams went into the break scoreless, East tried to jump on the visitors early. Roumy was effective again down the left side, this time building up steam as she dribbled through three defenders before cutting inside to her right and hitting the frame. But Hyams made another stop and held onto the ball while falling to the ground with Leedy ready for her to spill it. A minute later, East nearly scored the game’s first goal on Sleicher’s free kick. After testing Hyams from deep on several previous free kicks, Sleicher’s next one from thirty-five yards out dipped just under the crossbar. Hyams tipped the ball off the bar, and Roumy reached the rebound first, but the ball bounced up and grazed her arm before she put it into the back of the net, and the linesman put up his flag to signal no goal. Two minutes later, Sleicher sent an in-swinger from a right side corner that sailed just over Hyans’ hands and missed Williams by inches. Roumy put the ball back through the middle, but Kaitlyn Hickey cleared it away.
As the teams battled late into the game, Roumy appeared to find another gear. She split several defenders again and created a combination with Delaney Ralph and Liz Mooney, but Mooney’s cross just missed Forney in front. Meanwhile, South was dangerous again on the counter, with Day always on the verge of something big. She almost hit O’Halloran on a quick strike, but Langlois made a key stop to keep South away.
After eighty minutes of scoreless soccer, East and South entered overtime with a breather, knowing the next goal would be the winner. The sides didn’t deviate from their structure, and as East pressed forward more in search of a winner, Roumy once again shined as the likeliest to find the back of the net. Two minutes in, she beat her defender at the top of the box, but Hyams made the save, and shortly after Sleicher sent a shot toward goal from deep that Hyams also saved. Roumy again demanded the ball with space and attacked forward with another chance that the South keeper saved.
Perhaps the best chance of the second half and overtime came midway through the overtime period when Williams returned a failed clearance off Sleicher’s free kick and blasted a shot on target, but Hyams again was in a good position to make the save.
The game’s defining moment came with just under two minutes from the end of the first overtime. As South pushed out following a well-defended free kick, on the transition, Roumy hit Sleicher on the right side running toward goal with two defenders to beat. Sleicher pulled up from twenty-five yards out, and her shot dipped over Hyams’ out-stretched hand for the winner.
“We were definitely getting a lot of chances, especially in the second half,” Sleicher said after the game. “We missed a couple in the first half, too, so being able to finish one of them in the game was really awesome.”
Sleicher had the first two goals in East’s 5-0 win over No. 9 Garnett Valley on Saturday and also scored in the 3-0 win over CB South in the Round of 16. Though she came close in the early minutes and had a few free kicks that almost stretched the net, she said she felt East was going to find one, whether it was her or a teammate, as the front-three attacking players began to click.
“In that little bit of overtime, we were really moving off each other well. There was a couple of chances that we got where we’d have some combinations, get it out wide to Taylor. She’d take her space, and it wasn’t just falling yet. But I have a lot of trust in our team, so I know someone will do it.”
Nesteruk, who led his team to a district title in 2024 and last season’s state title, spoke about how bad his team wanted to win more trophies this year after missing out on league and district titles last season, all while handling the pressure of being every team’s target. “We’ve been playing with pressure and relishing it since day one,” he said. “The freedom of knowing you’ll be in states helps a little bit, but this team doesn’t change the way they play. I can only coach one way. They only play one way. So I think in the moment they want this one. They know how important a second trophy is to the season and their legacy. I just think they rose to the occasion and dealt with the pressure accordingly.”
East and Downingtown West will play for the District 1 title at 1:00 at Garnet Valley High School. The winner will enter states against the third place team from District 3, while the runner up will face the second place team of District 3.
South fell to rival CR North 1-0 in the third place game and will travel to the northern part of the state to face the champion from District 4.
Abington 2, Lower Merion 1
Owen Gesing scored a stunning volley minutes from penalties to give No. 5 Abington a 2-1 comeback victory over No. 1 Lower Merion Tuesday afternoon in the PIAA District 1 boys semifinal. The win for Abington, the state’s defending champion, sets up a one versus two matchup Saturday afternoon against No. 2 Conestoga, who beat Wissahickon 3-0 in the other semifinal.
Abington (15-1-5) reaches the district final for the second consecutive season. Abington fell to Haverford 2-1 last season before their historic run to the state championship. With the win, Abington also extended their unbeaten streak to 10 games.
Lower Merion (16-1-3) lost their first game of the season, but the Aces had the champs on the ropes in the game’s early minutes, coming close several times before scoring the game’s first goal. Daniel Orova just missed a side volley in the game’s first minutes, but shortly after Theodore Kim finished off his chance to put the hosts up 1-0. Caden Arnold sent a free kick from midfield deep into the Abington penalty area, and Tymon Orybkiewicz kept the ball alive, sending it back toward goal where Kim slipped through the backline and finished it beyond Dom Veitz’s reach.
For several minutes after the goal, Lower Merion continued to stifle the Abington attack, and for a large part of the first half, the game turned into a midfield battle. But as Abington created more opportunities up the field, their greatest threat was the long throw in from Carter Shannon. Just after the halfway mark, Jaza Vasquez won a header in traffic of a throw in that hit the bar. Owen Burkett got enough of the rebound to clear the ball away, then Benjamin Bradway blocked Kyle Kretschaman’s follow up to maintain the one-goal advantage.
Lower Merion continued to create the better chances, and almost added a second from a long throw in of their own in the latter stages of the half with several headers missing the target by the slimmest of margins.
In the second half, Abington started to gain more momentum, yet still had trouble finding the right combinations between Vazquez, Gesing, and Kretschman as Lower Merion’s defense continued to stifle their attacks. Bradway had a turning shot that tested Veitz at the other end, and another Shannon throw in caused the Lower Merion backline to scramble, clearing the ball over the bar in front of goal.
Eventually, Abington found the equalizer with minutes remaining in regulation. After Kretschman was pulled down at the top of the box, Vasquez took a quick free kick while the Lower Merion wall was still being set, picking out the top corner to send the game to overtime.
The overtime period was fast and frantic as the game opened up through middle. Yet both defensive units played well to prevent any time or space in front of goal. Lower Merion keeper Watson Roberts pushed out another Shannon deep throw, and at the other end, Orybkiewicz picked out Bradway in the box with a cross from a deep position, but Veitz saved Bradway’s header. Then, with the first overtime winding down, Veitz made two spectacular saves to keep the game tied at 1-1, first denying Jude Ibrahim’s blast from close range then stopping Orova’s volley on the rebound.
The game was finally decided on a Shannon throw in late in the second overtime. Lower Merion won the header deep inside the box, but Gesing stood alone at the top of the arc and volleyed the clearance into the back of the net for a sensational goal to send Abington to the final.
“It feels like a dream,” Gesing said after the game. I haven’t wrapped my head around it. I’m in shock. I’ve scored some goals here and there but none big time like that. That was something special for sure.”
“The thing about Owen is he’s this unbelievable midfield player linking possession,” Abington coach Isaac Pitkow said. “When we play on our field, you don’t see the best version of Owen. When you play on a big, wide open turf field, you can see exactly what he can do. He’s not known for scoring tons of goals, but when he scores a goal like that, it’s just a reminder of how big of a performer he is.”
Though Abington came into the game as an underdog on paper, Pitkow said his team was prepared for the battle against the top seed. “They’re just an unbelievable program,” he said, “so we knew that we weren’t going to be able to run all over them like we ran all over teams this year. We had some adversity early, and it definitely hit us a little bit. But we stayed with it.”
Abington will now return to the district finals, this time facing a Conestoga team that is undefeated on the season with a 17-0-3 record. Conestoga won the district and state title in 2023 and reached the district final in 2024. They also lost to Lower Merion in the 2022 final and won the 2021 title. But Gesing believes Abington is also building onto a winning tradition.
“Abington soccer is a dynasty,” he said when asked about what a second-consecutive trip to the district finals means for the program “It’s our eight year in a row winning the league. Pitkow says it all the time, we have the experience, and there’s no reason we can’t win this year.”
“Whoever we play, they’re not going to be much better than that team [Lower Merion],” Pitkow said. “We can beat whoever’s in front of us. We win Saturday, and we’re just going to have all the emotion behind us and the momentum behind us, so we can go back and do it in states again. It feels like things are lining up again.”
Abington and Conestoga will kick off at 3:00 p.m. from Garnet Valley High School for the 4A District 1 boys championship.
