Perkiomen Valley holds off Phoenixville
Before each game, Erik Enters scrawls on a card and puts it in his pocket. Patting down his blue jeans Friday beneath a white tent, which sheltered him from a ceaseless downpour, the Perkiomen Valley field hockey coach couldn't find the card. But he knew what he'd written.
Before each game, Erik Enters scrawls on a card and puts it in his pocket.
Patting down his blue jeans Friday beneath a white tent, which sheltered him from a ceaseless downpour, the Perkiomen Valley field hockey coach couldn't find the card. But he knew what he'd written.
Score early.
"In a game like this, they can call it at halftime, so I knew we had to score quick," Enters said after Perkiomen Valley topped host Phoenixville, 4-2, in a Pioneer Athletic Conference game.
Perkiomen Valley standout Kelsey Giese opened the scoring 13 minutes in, and Kelly Gray added a pair of goals in the final four minutes of the first half to give the Vikings a 3-0 halftime lead.
Gray's second marker came off an assist from Giese with 53 seconds to play in the first half. Gray positioned herself well and directed the ball into the back of the goal.
Phoenixville opened the second half stronger on the defensive end, limiting the Vikings' attack, and Katie McErlean scored Phoenixville's first goal with 11 minutes, 44 seconds left to play to make it a two-goal game.
Phantoms head coach Dani De Leo called her team's effort its best in a long time despite the outcome.
"It all came together, and in these conditions," De Leo said.
"I told my girls, if we can play like this every time it rains, we're in good shape."
De Leo's goalkeeper, Caroline Costello, stood tall in goal all afternoon as she battled the rain. She turned away 16 shots, including a sprawling save on Giese midway through the second half, to keep the Phantoms alive.
But a fourth Perkiomen Valley goal from Gabby Martini padded the Vikings' lead, and as the rain eased in the second half, they held off the Phantoms for the victory, their eighth conference win of the season.
After the final whistle blew, Enters told his players there would be no junior varsity game, and the orange-and-black Vikings cheered, grabbed their bags, and sprinted through the rain to their savior, an idling school bus.
On a day like this, you score early, and then you leave early.
Perkiomen Valley 3 1 - 4
Phoenixville 0 2 - 2
Goals: Perkiomen Valley-Kelly Gray 2, Kelsey Giese 1, Gabby Martina 1. Phoenixville-Katie McErlean 1, Rose Moore 1.
Saves: Perkiomen Valley-Kerri Hanshaw 4, Miranda Wesley 6; Phoenixville-Caroline Costello 16.