At Nazareth Academy, PC freshman Lauren Anderson (center) is pressured by a pair of Pandas. (Photo by Tom Utescher)

by Tom Utescher

In their final non-league soccer match before the start of Inter-Ac competition, the girls of Penn Charter travelled to their coach’s alma mater last Wednesday and returned from Nazareth Academy with a 3-0 victory and a 4-0 record on the season.

Sophomore Janae Stewart, who had scored both goals for PC in a 2-1 win over South Jersey powerhouse Pennington School the previous Saturday, chalked up the Quakers’ first and third markers at Nazareth. Her first goal was followed by a successful penalty kick by junior Sara Shipon, making it 2-0 at the half.

Occasional light rain at Nazareth didn’t hinder the proceedings, but when lightning was spotted in the middle of the second half the game was suspended and was never resumed. Stewart had scored again for the visitors before the stoppage.

Penn Charter head coach Darci (Borski) Spencer, now in her sixth season with the Quakers, remains the all-time leading scorer for her own high school team, Nazareth. She went on to play for the University of Virginia and for several pro teams in Europe. Her longtime coaching sidekick Ashley Maher is back on the sidelines at PC, along with Chelsea Czarnik and Jill Strumfels.

The only seniors on the Charter roster this year are five-year varsity player Ally Paul and team captain Emma Maley. Only three players graduated from last season, but two of them were five-year starter and former Inter-Ac MVP Gi DeMarco (now playing at Wake Forrest) and four-year varsity goalie Mackenzie Listman.

Experienced junior Riley McDade is the Quakers’ starter in goal this year, and her back-up is classmate Kait Carter, a basketball standout in the winter season.

These two, along with Shipon, are part of a large junior class on the squad. The other 11th-graders are India Barnes, Maggie Boyes, Vanessa Ewing, Anne Flemming, Toni Linus, Irish McCuen, Molly McMahon, Kaylee Murphy and Olivia Primerano.

In addition to Stewart, the sophomore class includes Kait Haughey, who’s been starting since eighth grade, along with Kaitlyn Hnatkowsky and Camille Weiss. Kayla Bradby is a freshman who was already a varsity player in 2017, and one of the incoming ninth graders is Emma Maley’s sister, Kelsey. Lauren Anderson, Charlotte Hodgens and Kaila Rahb round out the promising 9th-grade class.

Many players saw action for Penn Charter at Nazareth, where the Quakers performed well overall. Their only shortcoming was a low conversion rate on scoring chances; PC was pushed up on offense for long stretches and corner kicks were plentiful.

Quakers junior Sara Shipon goes up for a head ball. (Photo by Tom Utescher)

On a corner restart from the left about 14 minutes in, Shipon kicked the ball short to Stewart, who drove it home from the same side of the cage. Eight minutes later Shipon rang up an insurance goal by converting a PK, aiming inside the right post.

Early in the second period the Pandas’ keeper made a difficult save on a strong outside shot by Charter’s Haughey. Off a corner kick taken by Bradby a little later Linus appeared to score on a header, but the umpire called PC for a push as the players jostled in front of the goal.

Five minutes later a header by Stewart struck the right post, but the Quakers didn’t let the Pandas clear the ball out of the offensive third and Stewart scored with her feet soon after that.

Nazareth came up their field to generate some offense, although on the Pandas’ best look at the cage their shot went over the crossbar. The officials cleared the field when they spotted lightning off to the west. The proceedings were already behind schedule due to the late arrival of the Penn Charter team bus, and it was decided that play would not be resumed.

UPDATE – Penn Charter was 4-0 and visiting Springside Chestnut Hill Academy owned a 2-0 record when they met for their Inter-Ac League opener last Friday. The Quakers and Blue Devils would remain undefeated when their clash ended in a 1-1 tie.

PC’s McDade gave a strong performance as she went the distance in goal for the hosts. As usual, Springside Chestnut Hill had senior Sena Houessou-Adin start and play the first half before turning over the goal to sophomore Julia Wilbekaitis.

The count was still 0-0 at the intermission, then early in the second stanza a corner kick by Emma Maley found the noggin of Linus, who head-butted Charter to a 1-0 lead. The Quakers still led as the clock dropped under 20 minutes to play, and the visitors called a time-out with 16 minutes remaining.

SCH pressed the attack when play resumed, and after a few minutes eighth-grader Bella Torres was dribbling the ball down near the right endline when she was taken down by a defender just inside the penalty area. A PK was awarded, and Blue Devils’ sophomore JoJo McShane fired low to the left to level the match at 1-1.

The tie held up through the remaining 13 minutes and 25 seconds or regulation, and through ten minutes of overtime, as well, leaving each team with one point in the Inter-Ac standings.

At the same time in Fort Washington, Germantown Academy picked up three league points thanks to a 2-1 overtime victory against defending Inter-Ac champion Episcopal Academy. An opening goal by EA in the second half was matched by Patriots senior Ally Clark to send the contest into OT, then freshman Lilly Funk netted the game-winner for GA.