In an up and down, back and forth emotional rollercoaster ride of a game, the Central Bucks East girls soccer team ended up on the down side.
Knotting the score at 2 with just a minute left in regulation on the second goal of the game by Gwyn Krystkiewicz, 14th-seeded CB East (16-8) watched in dismay as fifth-seeded Neshaminy (23-0-2) tallied the game-winner 15 seconds later and came away with a 3-2 victory Saturday, Nov. 5 in the PIAA District One Class 4A championship game at Spring-Ford High School in Royersford.
Unfortunately for the Patriots, their season ended three days later on Tuesday, Nov. 8 when they dropped a 2-0 decision to Central Dauphin in the first round of the state 4A playoffs.
In the district title game that was scoreless at halftime, Neshaminy seized a 2-0 lead in the second half before Krystkiewicz scored twice to equalize things with regulation time almost gone.
With just about everyone in the stadium thinking overtime, the Neshaminy players had a different idea. Moving the ball quickly into scoring position, the Skins’ Aidyn Tierney provided the game-winner on a short shot off a cross that didn’t elude CB East goalkeeper Aralynn Patterson by much. The score came with only 45 seconds left in regulation.
“I give a lot of credit to them,” Krystkiewicz said. “Their front line is just phenomenal. They work very well together, but I also want to give a lot of credit to our back line. We stuck with them. It definitely wasn’t our best soccer, but we still managed to stay in that game and keep it going.”
After goals from Kylie Maxwell and Bri Garyah gave Neshaminy a 2-0 lead, Krystkiewicz got her first goal when she was in the right spot after a hard shot by Cam Williams deflected off Neshaminy goalkeeper Hannah LaBadie. Krystkiewicz got her second goal when a cross sailed over teammate Mikayla Gray’s head and landed at the feet of Krystkiewicz.
Williams, as usual, was very active the entire game in trying to create scoring chances for CB East. Teammate Elliot Forney, one of the East captains, had a couple of shots on goal off hard left-footed efforts.
“Neshaminy has a great group that is very well coached, and they did a lot of things that really threw us off our game,” CB East coach Jake Nesteruk said. “You could see it. We just weren’t as clinical and technical and possession oriented as we usually are.
“But still, we found a way to keep it 0-0 going into halftime and bounced back in the second half to tie it. Our team is incredibly resilient.”
Neshaminy is so far meeting the high expectations it started the season with.
“We knew we had a very good team and the players have put in all the hard work and done everything we’ve asked of them,” Neshaminy coach Josh Van Reed said. “They have really bought in.”
After the first-round state playoff loss to Central Dauphin, Nesteruk said the team was disappointed but that a district runner-up finish and another berth in states is a season to be proud of.
“We said a couple of days ago that winning a league and making it to states last year could’ve been an anomaly,” he said. “But to get ourselves back here and play in a district final as well, has made it a program standard.”
Neshaminy toppled Penn Manor, 3-0, in its state playoff opener Nov. 8 and advanced to a Saturday, Nov. 12 quarterfinal against Conestoga, the third seed from District One.
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