The side of Saucon’s soccer field was decorated in support of the senior members of the girls varsity team before Wednesday’s game vs. Palisades.
Saucon Girls Soccer Coach Stevie Ochse and her staff paid tribute to the nine Panther seniors at their final regular season game vs. Palisades Wednesday as part of Senior Night.
Each senior also honored a Saucon Valley teacher with a “Shirt Off Their Back” recognition.
The teachers were in attendance cheering the team on while wearing Saucon Soccer T-shirts.
Photo by Chris Christian
The nine Saucon Valley senior soccer players and the teachers they recognized are:
Audrey Holland (Mrs. Chisesi, Math)
Seri Johnstone (Mr. Svitilla, Science)
Allison Martins (Mrs. Diehl, Spanish)
Ava Mondschein (Mr. Gordon, Art)
Katherine Naiburg (Mr. Kittek, Social Studies)
Kimmy Polefka (Mrs. Roberts, Phys. Ed)
Brooke Riefenstahl (Mr. Evancho, Math)
Kiele Riefenstahl (Mrs. Ellis, Phys Ed.)
Zoe Zaharakis (Mr. McHugh, History)
The nine senior members of the Saucon Valley High School varsity girls soccer team.
The game itself was meaningless in the sense that Saucon (11-0) already had the #1 seed in the Colonial League tournament locked up. Likewise, the Pirates with their 9-1-1 record were firmly settled in as the #2 seed.
The first half was a see-saw battle, however neither team could find the back of the net.
The Panthers did score first as Sophia Riehl, a sophomore, connected for a goal at 23:23. It was Sophia’s 11th goal of the season.
Palisades continued to fight and were rewarded for their efforts with the equalizer at 11:24.
The game moved into an abbreviated overtime where the two teams agreed to participate in two, one-minute periods. Because the outcome of the game could not alter the League seedings, both coaches agreed to limit the extra play putting player safety above all else.
The game ended in a 1-1 draw.
Saucon Valley finished the regular season with a 13-2-1 overall record (11-0-1 in Colonial League play) and Palisades finished 9-1-2 in league play.
Up Next: The 2018 Colonial League Tournament. Tuesday’s semifinal will pit #1 Saucon Valley against #4 Southern Lehigh and #2 Palisades against #3 Northwestern Lehigh. The winners will then battle it out on Thursday for the Colonial League Championship.
For more photos of the game by Chris Christian, please scroll down. To purchase any of the photos, please visit his photography website.
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.
