Overtime goal lifts Agnes Irwin over undefeated Springside Chestnut Hill

An overtime goal from Hope Chang lifted Agnes Irwin over previously unbeaten Springside Chestnut Hill on Tuesday afternoon in a tense Inter-AC match in Villanova.

Chang, a sophomore midfielder, had spent most of the game marking talented senior midfielder Ryleigh Blakley so she wasn’t able to get involved as much as she usually does in the attack but after a shot hit the crossbar and the follow up was saved, she was able to finesse a shot into the back of the net to break open a scoreless draw with 3 and a half minutes left in the second overtime period.

“I was playing more defensively the whole game so to get that goal at the end was really fun,” Chang said. “Our team worked really hard together and the bench brought the energy to help us through the game.”

The Blue Devils, which entered the match 11-0 and 6-0 in league play, poured on the pressure late in regulation and had a few brushes with potential winners that either missed the target or were cut down by Agnes Irwin goalkeeper Tatum Quinones. After sustaining the pressure created by SCH’s talented senior attacking trio of Blakley, Cali Smith and Alex de Beaulac, the Owls flipped the script at the start of the two five-minute overtime periods winning 50-50 balls and making things difficult for the Blue Devils.

“I think as a team our defense played really well and we just stayed tight on the players we knew going into it were their stronger attackers,” Chang said. “We stuck to the game plan.”

Agnes Irwin improved their league record to 5-2 and their overall record to 9-3 with the victory.

“The tenacity the girls showed there to win the first and second balls is incredible,” first-year head coach Ryan Griffith said. “Kudos to them to really stick into the process of the game plan today and making it happen. That was incredible.”

Junior midfielder Olivia Bongiorno, an ECNL All-American, started the game-winning play with a steal near midfielder and drove forward through the defense before cutting to her right and hitting a shot toward goal that caromed off the crossbar to Colby Costa whose header was stopped by Anna Qawasmy. Costa went flying into the net and Chang pounced on a long rebound and floated a shot through traffic that hit the net inside the post.

Agnes Irwin still had time to run down to finish the job and the Blue Devils didn’t make it easy, earning several dead ball chances on long throws and set pieces to try and find an equalizer.

“We know who we are and we stuck to our identity today,” Griffith said. “And that identity is strong right now.”

Matthew Ralph

Matthew Ralph is the managing editor of Philadelphia Soccer Now. He's covered soccer at all levels for a decade in the Philadelphia region and has also written for TheCup.us, NPSL, PrepSoccer and other publications. He lives with his wife and two young children in Broomall, Pa., but grew up in South Jersey and is originally from Kansas.

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