Tigerpalooza: GFS athletes in three-sport homestand

Posted 10/24/16

Going after the ball in Friday's important FSL match, Germantown Friends freshman James Hobbes-Pifer is mirrored by Friends Central's Lucas McGrann. (Photo by Tom Utescher) by Tom Utescher Tigers …

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Tigerpalooza: GFS athletes in three-sport homestand

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Going after the ball in Friday's important FSL match, Germantown Friends freshman James Hobbes-Pifer is mirrored by Friends Central's Lucas McGrann. (Photo by Tom Utescher) Going after the ball in Friday's important FSL match, Germantown Friends freshman James Hobbes-Pifer is mirrored by Friends Central's Lucas McGrann. (Photo by Tom Utescher)

by Tom Utescher

Tigers fans had to have their heads on a swivel at the Germantown Friends athletic fields last Friday afternoon, when the school hosted three different Friends School League opponents in three varsity sports.

GFS supporters saw easy victories for the girls' soccer team against Friends Select (5-0) and for the girls' tennis squad over Westtown School (4-1). In a battle for FSL supremacy in boys' soccer, the Tigers and visiting Friends Central played to a draw, with neither team able to score during 80 minutes of regulation play and 20 minutes of overtime action.

In soccer, the lads of GFS and Friends Central had established themselves as league leaders, but each team had been upset once. FC fell to Shipley School, and just last Wednesday the Tigers, who had been unscored upon in league play, were edged 2-1 by the Academy of the New Church, which should be the third seed for the four-team FSL tournament.

At GFS on Friday the FC Phoenix displayed skilled ball movement and generated numerous scoring changes, but never got a ball past Germantown's junior goalie, Pietro Berghella.

In front of him, Tigers' head coach Sam McIlvain pointed out, "Our senior center backs, Jeremy Berman and Ray Hill-Cristol, did a fantastic job, as always."

McIlvain also gave kudos to a younger player who helped keep the Phoenix at bay, saying "Jacob Sternberg-Sher [a sophomore defensive midfielder] was an unsung hero for us. He breaks up so many plays of the opposing teams and helps start counterattacks with his work rate and his desire for winning balls."

As the game progressed far into the second half with no points up on the board, it became clear that a single strike might very well decide the issue.

Although Friends Central forward Asa Bell had left the field with an injury in the first half, the Phoenix still had serious scoring threats in Matt Blackman and Matt Nguyen. On the other side, the GFS offense was still feeling the absence of high-scoring junior Isaac Myran, who suffered a broken collarbone in the first week of October.

With five minutes left in regulation play, the Tigers saw a shot by freshman Liem Kleitz deflected wide of the cage, and with two minutes remaining sophomore Sam Webber hit a nice through ball but FC goalie Nolan McGrann charged out to grab it away from charging Tigers freshman James Hobbes-Pifer.

Senior Lilly Dupuis gets of an early shot for the Tigers against Friends Select. (Photo by Tom Utescher) Senior Lilly Dupuis gets of an early shot for the Tigers against Friends Select. (Photo by Tom Utescher)

At the far end, the hosts' Hill-Cristol was able to block a shot from the right of the box by the visiting Blackman, and with the score still 0-0 the contest progressed into overtime. This consisted of two 10-minute periods, played in full with no "golden goal" provision.

There weren't many threats by either team in the first 10; GFS senior Noah Gansallo headed away a ball served into the box from the right wing, and a cross hit on the ground from the left by the Phoenix was intercepted by Berman.

In the second extra session, Kleitz sent an aerial in from the left, but it was volleyed out of the box by a defender, and a little later an FC back reached a pass across the 18 before the Tigers' Webber. Later, the visitors had one shot deflected out of danger by Germantown junior Elliot Barr, and in the final minute another Phoenix shot tracked wide to the right.

On the resulting GFS six-yard kick the ball was won by the Phoenix, but their final shot, taken by Nguyen, was repulsed by Berman of the Tigers. The tie held up and left the two teams still sharing first place in the league, with the first and second seeds for the FSL tournament to be determined by a coin toss.

In contrast to the boys' bout, there was quite a bit of scoring in the girls' soccer match, all of it done by GFS. There certainly could have been more than five goals if the Tigers had not chosen to be gracious hosts to the Friends Select Falcons, who remained without a win in the league.

At the start of the season, speedy junior twins Portia and Teasha McKoy were the offensive engine for GFS, but unfortunately a broken leg sidelined Teasha a month ago.

"Aside from Portia, we've had a lot of different people contribute at various times," explained first-year head coach Cailin DiGiacomo.

After senior Hannah Hanson and McKoy quickly gave the Tigers a 2-0 lead last Friday, GFS began to get some subs into the game. McKoy scored two more times to make it 4-0 at the half, and after that she spent time playing goalie. The regular keeper this season, senior Lila Sternberg-Sher, saw some action at forward in the second half, when her classmate Lilly Dupuis put in the final goal of the day.

Sternberg-Sher and McKoy each needed to make just one save against the Falcons as they combined for the shutout.

In front of whatever goalie she deploys, Coach DiGiacomo said, "Our starting back line has been incredible."

This defensive quartet consists of junior Celia Meyer, sophomore Sophie Henisz, and freshmen Curran McLaughlin and Lauren Milbourne.

The lynchpin in the midfield is the tall, athletically gifted Hanson.

"She is just a playmaker who goes all over the field dictating the game," commented DiGiacomo. "She is a very good athlete and we trust her and rely on her a lot. We are definitely going to miss her next year."

The Tiger's new mentor noted that Friday's relatively low-pressure game allowed the team opportunities to do some fine-tuning.

"We were really able to work on possession," she said. "We focused on working out of the back and finding feet. We got to see some people in different positions than they're accustomed to, and we began to get some ideas of things to try for next year."

The outcome against Friends Select gave Germantown a 2-4 mark in the league and a 4-6 record overall.

"The team has more wins right now than in all of last season, and we have more shutouts," DiGiacomo pointed out. "We've taken some small steps that will pay off next season, and this year's seniors have really helped to move the team forward."

GFS junior Alice Daeschler gets off a backhand in the third singles match last Friday. (Photo by Tom Utescher) GFS junior Alice Daeschler gets off a backhand in the third singles match last Friday. (Photo by Tom Utescher)

Germantown Friends' tennis team has been a fixture in the league tournament and will be there again this season, climbing to a 6-1 FSL record with Friday's shutout of Westtown. Even with 2015 number one Helen Ruger migrating to the cross country team (and other players graduating), only Friends Central has gotten the better of the Tiger racquetwomen in regular-season league competition this fall.

Against the visiting Moose last week, junior Caroline Kavanagh and sophomore Marlie Golden gave the hosts a quick victory at first doubles, 6-0, 6-1. The initial singles victory came in the third flight courtesy of junior Alice Daeschler, who rolled through a pair of 6-0 sets.

The senior combo at second doubles then clinched the team win for GFS, as scores of 6-2, 6-3 were turned in by Emily Kastenberg and her partner Marion Standefer.

Marlie Golden's older sister, junior Lindsey, furnished the fourth "W" for the home team with her 6-1, 6-2 performance in the second singles spot. The last match to finish was first singles, where Tigers 10th-grader Malana Li captured the first set, 6-4, and talented Westtown freshman Claire Burke ground out a 7-5 decision in the second.

Because Germantown Friends had already clinched the team victory, instead of a full third set a super-tiebreaker decided this contest, with Li prevailing 10-7 to complete a Germantown Friends sweep of all five bouts.

In all, it was a successful 2-0-1 afternoon for the three Tiger teams.

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