The Pennridge field hockey team is off to a quick start.
The Rams opened up the Suburban One League Continental Conference season with a 2-0 win over Quakertown at Pennridge’s Helman Field at Grand View Health Stadium last Thursday.
Pennridge scored on its second corner of the day four minutes into play when Maddie Bross took a ball from Emily Amsden in the first half.
The Rams added an insurance goal with 5:50 remaining in the game when Payton Muth found the cage with an assist from Macy Price.
“It’s always exciting to play them because they’re one of our rivals,” said Bross, a junior. “It’s nice to start off the league season with a win. This give us confidence as we get into the rest of our games. We scored pretty early in the game so that was good but then we had trouble scoring after that. I wish we could have scored more but we had good hustle.”
The Rams ended the day with 23 corners to three for the Panthers.
“Quakertown didn’t quit,” Bross said. “We’re in a tough league so that was good for us that they didn’t let up.
“Our team has a lot of potential. We have things to work on. We had a lot of corners in this game and we only scored one so that’s something we have to work on. I thought our corners were a little rough but once we get into the season we’ll be all right. This just shows us what we have to work on.
“I feel like we need to pick up our intensity and work more as a team and that really showed in this game. We had some lapses out there.
“But I’m so excited for the rest of season. We’re in such a tough district and I hope we can move up.”
Bross has high hopes for the program.
“I feel good about our team and I think we can do well,” she said. “Our goal is to just be a family and work together. In the past we haven’t been as close as we’d like to be and I feel like this year we’re really stepping that up. We still need to work more together instead of individually; we have to work as a whole.”
She is a member of the Ski and Snowboard Club at Pennridge.
“I’ve been snowboarding since I was 8,” Bross said. “It’s an adrenaline rush. My parents were always skiers and my dad took us snowboarding and I’ve been doing it ever since.
“I used to play soccer but I don’t do that anymore and I’m hoping to do unified track.”
She hasn’t chosen a college but would like to play hockey and would like to go into the dental field. She currently attends the tech school for dental studies.
Pennridge coach Becky Spahr saw room for improvement.
“In our past two games we finished well,” she said. “In this game we weren’t finishing and we got frustrated. I think Quakertown did a good job of helping to clean up their keeper after she made a save but we’ve got to do better at getting the rebounds. When we have that many shots we should have more goals but a win is a win and I’m OK with that.
“We’ll figure it all out. Our defense is experienced but we’ve got a freshman goalie and we’ve got some freshmen up front so we’re kind of working on bringing our program along. We also have some experience so we’re sorting all that out. It’s early but the goal for us is always playoffs. We’re in a tough conference but we’ll be all right. We just need to keep shooting. Some of them are bound to go in.”
Sophomore Kylie Lerch was in goal for Quakertown, making 18 saves on 28 shots.
“I did my best,” Lerch said. “This was a big game for us.
“I’m used to the pressure because there’s a lot of pressure in every game. The more I play, the more I get hyped up.
“This is good experience for the future for me. Hopefully I’ll get better.”
She sees a good future for the Panthers.
“There’s a lot of time left this year and we can improve,” she said.
“We’re working better together and talking a little more. This was a good team and we only lost 2-0 so that’s a pretty good result for us.
“I feel good about our team. I can see our team bonding more.”
This is her third year of playing hockey and her second year as a goaltender.
“I started out as a field player,” she said. “Goaltending just looked like fun so I tried out as goalie and I like it better, so that was a good move for me. I also play goalie in lacrosse so field hockey influenced lacrosse.”
