Photo by Chris Christian
The neighboring Quakertown Panthers (0-1 Suburban One League, 3-2 overall) finished over the Saucon Valley girls soccer team (3-0 Colonial League, 3-2 overall) on Monday afternoon by a pair of goals.
Scoring early on a lofty high roller, the visitors went up 1-0. Despite Quakertown’s sustained pressure, Saucon Valley outside midfielder junior Jorryn Kyra capitalized on a tackle with a fast break up the left, slamming a ball toward the net that was barely saved by Quakertown’s keeper with 5:39 left in the first half. Threatening 1:33 before halftime, Quakertown fired a bullet that was deflected by Saucon Valley goalie junior Jackie Barbera. Defense battled fiercely as Quakertown got off a second effort, body-blocked by senior sweeper Lexi Guerrieri. The score at halftime remained 1-0.
In the bottom half, a Quakertown corner kick at 36:35 shot to the far post was swiftly saved by senior defender Rachel Starr. Gaining momentum, senior striker Lauren Giles pulled the trigger from 18 yards out, just skimming the top bar of the goal with 25:00 remaining. Quakertown found the net once more in the last 12:00, bringing the final score to 2-0.
“Playing against bigger schools like Quakertown will test us in ways many of our league opponents will not. The girls played with grit and determination and we could see individual players improve as the game progressed. That will help us when we return to league play,” commented Coach Stevie Ochse on the match-up.
The Lady Panthers play back-to-back conference games this week, hosting the Palmerton Blue Bombers on Thursday, Sept. 12, at 3:45 p.m. and playing at Northwestern Lehigh on Friday, Sept. 13 at 4 p.m.
All photos by Chris Christian. To see more please scroll down or visit his website, where you can purchase these and other Saucon sports photos.
About This Series: Andrew & Sonya Hughes of Hellertown are sponsoring another season of girls soccer coverage on Saucon Source to help recognize the achievements of our female high school athletes and in tribute to their own daughters, who were both stand-out 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,” says Andrew. “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 sincerely thanks Andrew and Sonya Hughes for their thoughtful and generous support of our local sports coverage.
