November 6, 2008 Issue
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Classified Chestnut Hill Local Don't Miss an Issue, Tell us what you see or Winner of Two |
Local SportsCougars trip up Tigers in Friends League final
This fall, the girls’ soccer team at Germantown Friends School won every league game they played – up until last Friday afternoon. The sole blemish on their Friends School League ledger came in the playoff finals, as visiting George School claimed a 2-1 victory and the FSL title for 2008. The Cougars pounced once in each half to gain a 2-0 advantage, and when GFS sophomore Lyles Swift-Farley put the host team on the board, only one minute and 58 seconds remained in the contest. Throughout the match, the Cougar defenders kept close tabs on high-scoring GFS senior Lydia Kring, and the visitors often sagged back and forced the Tigers to settle for shots from the outside. “They played pretty deep off of us and we couldn’t find a way to get behind them,” said Sam McIlvain, wrapping up his second season as GFS coach. “They had a good game plan and they stuck with it, and I think we got frustrated. But I think it speaks to our character that we kept fighting, and it was nice to see us score that one at the end.” Germantown Friends (11-2 overall) had made an 8-0 run through the league during the regular season, a mark that included a 2-0 win over George School on Oct. 3. The Tigers had to come from behind to win their semifinal match, though, giving up an early goal to fourth-seeded Friends Central, then rallying with markers by Kring and fellow upperclassman Maura McInerney-Rowley.
Last Friday, the boys’ soccer teams from Germantown Friends and Shipley School squared off in the Friends School League championship game for the third year in a row, as the top-seeded Shipley Gators hosted the No. 2 GFS Tigers. Shipley won the match-up in 2006 and Germantown prevailed last season. But this year the FSL crown went back over to Bryn Mawr as the Gators recovered from an early 1-0 deficit to secure a 4-1 victory. “They’re a very strong team,” GFS coach Matt Zipin remarked, “and against a strong team you have to play well, you have to get some breaks, and you have to capitalize on the opportunities that you have, and we missed some shots that we could’ve scored on.” In the regular season, Shipley edged the Tigers, 4-3, to hand the Germantown squad its only loss in Friends League play. Shipley went into the playoffs 8-0 against league rivals, but the Gators struggled in last Wednesday’s semifinal round, going into overtime at 0-0 before finally beating fourth-seeded George School on penalty kicks, 4-3. Although only one seed separated GFS from third-ranked Westtown, the Tigers dominated the other semifinal match, 4-0. The bout had been pushed back a day due to Tuesday’s unseasonable snowfall. The only goal the Tigers would need for the “W” came five minutes into the contest, when a skillful assist by junior Marcelo Osorio-Soto set up a strike by senior Caleb MacTavish.
Springside sticksters stumble at Baldwin While Notre Dame and Episcopal battled for Girls’ Inter-Ac field hockey supremacy last week, and while Germantown Academy and Penn Charter occupied the middle ground, Springside School, Baldwin, and Agnes Irwin continued to act as spoilers for one another in the lower reaches of the league.
GFS cross country finals
The boys’ and girls’ cross-country teams from Germantown Friends School each put an exclamation point at the end of their 2008 seasons. At the Friends School League Championships on Oct. 21, the Tigers won both the boys’ and the girls’ team titles for the seventh year in a row.
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