The early stages of Saturday’s girls soccer game proved to be a physical battle between Saucon Valley and host Freedom. However, sophomore Appoline Neveu and senior Brooke Riefenstahl changed that with 8:11 remaining in the 1st half. Neveu air-mailed another perfectly-placed corner-kick into the box. Riefenstahl created a little space and was able to head the ball just inside the far post. Saucon Valley took a 1-0 lead.
However, with only :21 seconds left to play in the 1st half, the referee called a tripping penalty against Saucon in the box, allowing a penalty kick to be awarded to the Patriots. Freedom took advantage of the called penalty and hit a sharp roller just past the diving Panther goalkeeper, Zoe Zaharakis. Freedom’s timely goal made it 1-1 at the half.
The Panthers came out after the half on fire. After taking possession from the Lady Pates and moving to the attack, Appoline Neveu let loose a cannon of a shot that hit sharply off the center of the crossbar. The Panthers’ Lauren Giles was in the box and jumped to hit a header. Giles was able to redirect the ball, but it deflected wide toward a crashing Jorryn Kyra who was able to body the ball into the back of the net. Less than one minute into the 2nd half, the Panthers reclaimed the lead and made the score 2-1.
Seven minutes later sophomore Sophia Riehl flashed a little razzle-dazzle by putting some fancy footwork on display. Riehl was able to beat her defender and then freeze the Freedom goalkeeper before nailing a shot low to the short side that hit the target. Riehl’s goal finished all scoring. The Saucon Valley Panthers defeated the Freedom Patriots 3-1.
Saucon Valley improved to 13-1 overall (11-0 in Colonial League), while with the loss, Freedom fell to 8-5-1 overall.
Up Next: The Panthers look forward to a 7 p.m. contest Monday at Quakertown under the lights. Then, Saucon will be set for a 4 p.m. regular season finale against rival Palisades on Wednesday, Oct. 10.
About This Series: Andrew & Sonya Hughes of Hellertown are sponsoring girls soccer coverage on Saucon Source to help recognize the achievements of female high school athletes here in Saucon Valley, and in tribute to their own daughters, who were both stand-out student athletes at their high school, where they played softball, soccer, basketball and field hockey. Between the two of them they earned 14 varsity letters in high school. “Female athletics was a big part of our family life for many years, but that journey ended at the high school level six years ago,” Andrew Hughes says. “Through those amazing experiences we also noticed that females don’t seem to have the same level of exposure and support as their male counterparts. So we are very sensitive to situations where we perceive an imbalance of exposure of female student athlete participation in competitive high school sports. We also like to encourage greater involvement of young people in athletics. We would like to help the girls gain more exposure at your news source by adopting some girls high school teams.” Saucon Source thanks Andrew & Sonya Hughes for their thoughtful and generous support of our local sports coverage.
