Youth/High School Soccer
Garnet Valley ride strong second half to victory over Lower Merion
After weathering a first half where it looked like Lower Merion would be the team taking a lead, Garnet Valley turned the tide in the second and found a game-winner from senior captain Jade Delcollo off a feed from Sara Hadzic with 18 minutes to play in a 1-0 victory to advance to the quarterfinals of the PIAA District 1 Class 4A playoffs.
Kicking off at 1 p.m. due to Arnold Field not having lights and a boys game afterwards at 3 p.m., the Aces started on the front foot and forced Garnet Valley goalkeeper Danica Fean into a couple of early stops.
After the early salvos, Garnet Valley’s stout defense strengthened their resolve with holding midfielder Gwen Parker covering ground in front of the back line and center back Dylan Strulson stepping up to make some key tackles the times Lower Merion was able to get past the midfield. Just before halftime, Hadzic sent a shot from distance that just went over the bar. The near miss gave the Jaguars some momentum and belief going into the break that continued into the second half.
Hadzic provided the pass that set up Delcollo off a throw-in.
“Zero, zero it goes to penalties and you don’t want that so we knew we had to make something happen fast,” Delcollo said. “There was a throw-in and someone hit it back out toward the sidline and Sara Hadzic comes in, gets some space to the endline and crosses it back to me at the six and I score.”
The 1-0 win avenged an earlier loss in Central Athletic League play at Arnold Field.
“We won the league two years ago and they were the only team to beat us so we wanted to sort of get that monkey off our back,” head coach Joe Brangiel said. “Coming out against that team you have to play harder and it’s almost impossible to do because they play so hard but if you look at 50-50 balls in the second half we were on everything, especially as the game wore on.”
Parker, a junior, was responsible for a lot of the 50-50 wins but junior midfielder Raelyn Smith was also active patrolling the midfielder and connecting the defense to offense. Delcollo typically plays centrally but Brangiel said he shifted her out wide so she could have more space to run into. With Delcollo on one side and Taylor Bryan on the other, the Jaguars were able to stretch the Lower Merion defense and find the winner that sets up a meeting with No. 1 seed Central Bucks East, the defending 4A state champions.
CB East beat Garnet Valley 2-0 early in the season but it was a much different team that lined up for Garnet Valley that day.
“We were missing four starters that day,” Brangiel said. “We have tremendous respect for them and they’re state champions for a reason but the way we’re playing right now I think we have a shot against anyone.”
Saturday’s quarterfinal at CB East kicks off at noon.
