Every team wants to start the season out strong.
The Pennridge field hockey team crushed that goal, scoring on the first shot of the season off the first corner of the season to kick off a 4-0 non-league win over host Quakertown on Friday.
Sophomore Liz Frisch netted the first varsity goal of her career on the play, taking a ball from Hannah Capo and finding the back of the cage just 1:45 into play.
Brynn Wenger got her stick on a rebound and scored with 1:37 remaining in the first quarter to give Pennridge a 2-0 lead that extended into halftime.
Frisch netted her second goal of the day on a corner off a rebound from the pads of Quakertown goaltender Kylie Lerch early in the third quarter, and Hayley Borneman capped off the day with a goal on a corner in the fourth period with an assist from Lindsey Campione.
“It was super important to start off strong,” said Frisch, a midfielder. “Our team doesn’t always do that, and we needed to change that. We came here to start off with a win and we did it.
“As the game went on, we got more confident. We have a really young team but we’ve bonded really well and I think that will definitely help us this year.”
She was thrilled to get the first goals of her varsity career.
“It was really exciting to get out there are get a couple of goals,” she said. “It was really a good way for me to start the game.”
She is a member of the Future Business Leaders of America and the Snowboarding Club at Pennridge.
While this was a nice beginning, the Rams still feel they have work to do.
“I think we definitely made a statement with this game but we still have a lot of improvements to make,” said Capo, a sophomore. “We could have played stronger in this game but I think we’ll bring it in our next game. The first game you always have some jitters and some things to work out, but I think we got a lot figured out in this game. We’re working together as a team.
“We scored really quickly and I think that was really important. That’s one of our goals this season, to get on the board first for at least half of our games, so it’s really good to start off the season doing that.
“Our goal is to make it to playoffs. That’s a big goal this year. Last year it was so limited but this year there’s a lot of opportunities and I think we can be in there.”
Pennridge outshot the Panthers 13-1, and had a 10-3 edge in corners.
The Rams open up Suburban One League Colonial Division play at defending champion Central Bucks East on Friday at 3:30 p.m.
The Panthers saw good things despite the loss.
“Everyone wants to open up the season with a win and that didn’t happen for us, but at the same time, I think our team played better than the score shows,” said Quakertown’s Maureen Healy, a senior captain who also plays basketball.
“Pennridge is a strong team, they’re our rival, and we knew this was a tough opponent, but I think we played much better than we thought we were going to.
“That’s something that we have to get out of our heads, that we’re going to play badly all year. This game really showed us the potential that we have and that’s a confidence boost for us. To play well is a good building block for us, no matter what the score.”
Lerch made eight saves in the net for Quakertown.
The Panthers are back in action on Thursday when they play host to defending champion Plymouth Whitemarsh for a Suburban One League Liberty Division opener at 3:30 p.m.
Join our readers whose generous donations are making it possible for you to read our news coverage.
Help keep local journalism alive and our community strong.
Donate today.
