Thurs. Pa. girls and boys: Nazareth blanks Merion Mercy

Ashley Hunter briefly transformed herself from goal-stopper to goal-creator on Thursday afternoon.

During the second half of her eight-save shutout, the Nazareth Academy goalie booted a punt all the way downfield to assist on a crucial insurance goal as the Pandas held off visiting Merion Mercy, 2-0, in a Catholic Academies soccer game.

Madison Joynes scored both goals for Nazareth.

Elsewhere in the Catholic Academies:

Erica DeCandido scored off an assist from Maggie Cameron in double overtime to send Gwynedd Mercy to a 2-1 victory at Mount St. Joseph.

Jules Bradbury paired a goal with two assists as Villa Maria defeated visiting St. Basil, 4-1.

Central. Olivia Mancarella scored a late goal to secure a 2-1 win for Penncrest at Lower Merion.

Jess Lyons scored six minutes into the second overtime to clinch Haverford High's 2-1 victory over visiting Radnor.

Olivia D'Antonio went on a breakaway and fed Lexi Dixson for a goal with 6 minutes, 23 seconds remaining in overtime to send Avon Grove to a 2-1 Ches-Mont League win over visiting Octorara.

Suburban One National. Rebecca Markham scored eight minutes into the second half, Maeve Hughes scored two minutes later, and visiting Abington held on to top Truman, 2-0.

Nonleague. Margaux Paolino had a goal and two assists as Episcopal Academy crossed the border and won at Tower Hill (Del.), 3-1.

Unranked Penncrest stunned visiting Lower Merion, the No. 7 team in The Inquirer's Southeastern Pennsylvania rankings, 3-0, in the Central League behind a pair of goals from Drew Hanna.

In other Central League action:

Sasha Abadi stripped the ball loose from the goalie and shot it in at a sharp angle with two minutes remaining to send Radnor to a 1-0 victory over visiting Haverford High.

Freshman Josh Mason scored his first career goal with 10 minutes remaining to secure a 2-1 victory for host Strath Haven over Upper Darby.

Kyle Gaeffke put in a rebound with 10 minutes to go to give host Harriton a 1-0 victory over Ridley.

Catholic. Ryan O'Neill scored off an assist from Sean O'Connell in the 96th minute to clinch a 1-0 double-overtime victory for Bonner-Prendergast at Cardinal O'Hara.

Musa Al-Sulaimani dropped the snap, recovered, then rolled right and connected with Shawn Williams on a desperation, 41-yard touchdown pass with 2.3 seconds remaining to give Simon Gratz a 33-28, Public AAAA Liberty victory at Bartram.

The Bulldogs led, 20-0, at halftime, but Bartram stormed all the way back and took a 28-27 lead when Makai Sheed took a swing pass 54 yards with 1:14 remaining.

Christopher Dock announced the resignation of boys' basketball coach Matt Dolan.

Dolan, who coached the Pioneers for two seasons, accepted an assistant coaching position at Dickinson College.