ROYERSFORD — The Boyertown field hockey team had suffered a one-goal loss and then had to rally late for a tie in its previous two contests. Consequently, the Bears were apparently not in the mood for another close match that could end up going either way when they faced Spring-Ford Friday afternoon at Coach McNelly Stadium.
Boyertown came out hot with three goals in less than seven minutes and kept the pressure on in a 6-1 Pioneer Athletic Conference Liberty Division win. Emily Ulrich, Kendal Gilbert and Peyton Shellaway each scored twice for the Bears (5-2-1 Liberty, 8-2-1 PAC, 10-4-2 overall), who tied Methacton for first place in the division with two games to go. Marissa Cagliola scored for the Rams (4-3-1, 7-3-1, 10-5-1), who fell into a tie for third place with Upper Perkiomen.
“We pounced early and we continued to apply the pressure,” said Boyertown head coach Alicia Terrizzi.
“The past couple of games, it’s been really rough,” said Gilbert. “Our coaches also say to act like it’s 0-0 and keep the momentum up.”
Ulrich scored off a pass from Shellaway just 67 seconds into the contest. Then Shellaway scored on an assist from Ulrich and Ulrich scored off a rebound to make it 3-0 with only 6:32 gone.
“We knew we had to control the ball in our offensive end,” said Spring-Ford head coach Jennie Anderson. “Our defense has been wonderful all season, from our goalkeeper all the way up the line. For some reason, we let up three goals in the first quarter.”
Gilbert (assisted by Ulrich) and Cagliola scored in the second quarter for a 4-1 game at the half. Then the Bears put the match away for good with a goal by Shellaway, assisted by Elise Eves, in the third and one by Gilbert off a rebound in the fourth.
“I feel like offensively, we had really good cuts and worked really well together,” said Ulrich.
“Today was obviously a good performance from our team,” added Terrizzi. “We battled some illnesses this week. Everybody has. It’s that time of the year.”
Spring-Ford goalkeeper Norah Kirsch, who made 23 saves in a 1-0 loss to the Bears earlier in the season, stopped five shots. Boyertown keeper Addison Galianese came up with two big saves early with the Bears up by only a 1-0 score at the time. The Bears earned six penalty corners to five for the Rams.
Boyertown was coming off a 3-3 tie against Methacton after falling behind 3-0 and scoring twice in the last seven minutes to knot the score. The Bears did not want the reverse to happen on Friday after jumping out to the early advantage.
“When we were up 3-0, we said, guys, this is not enough,” said Terrizzi. “They can strike very, very quickly.”
The two PAC losses for Boyertown came by a 1-0 score to Upper Perkiomen after beginning its league schedule with four straight wins and a 2-1 defeat against Owen J. Roberts last week.
“Hopefully, we learned from that,” said Terrizzi. “I think those losses helped us. We cleaned some things up. We’re ready to keep going forward. We would like to end our season like this.”
The Bears made it to the PAC championship final the last three years, winning in 2022, and have all but clinched another playoff berth.
“We don’t want to rest on our laurels,” said Gilbert. “We want to just do our best every game. We have a really good team this year. We have great chemistry.”
“We just always work as a team very nicely,” added Ulrich. “I think everyone has had their fair share of goals.”
Anderson was happy with the way her team continued to play hard after falling behind by three early.
“Today we had some lapses and we didn’t get to the ball,” she said. “Boyertown was great. They were quick to everything. We got down 3-0 early in the first quarter, but our girls just focused one at a time. They never gave up.”
Despite the loss, Spring-Ford is still in good position to make the PAC semifinals.
“We have to win the last two games, whether it gets us into the Final Four or not,” said Anderson.
