Phantoms Fall Short of Final, Drop Semi to Bears 5-0

When coach Jason Short and his Lady Phantoms squad where enduring the blazing August sun while preparing for the rigors of a Pioneer Athletic Conference season, they had three goals at the top of their “to do” list.

Goal one: qualify for the Pioneer Athletic Final Four, goal two: make the district playoffs and the would-be pinnacle of the season, goal three: qualify for the PIAA state tournament. 

“We wanted to make the final,” said freshman Lauren Benner following a win over Upper Perk. “We want to be the best team that has ever played for Phoenixville and to do that we have to first make the league playoffs, then get into districts.“ 

Boyertown’s Hollie Garber had a different plan as her Bears traveled to Washington Field Monday night representing the Liberty division as the two seed to take on the Frontier regular season champion Phantoms.

Unfortunately for Phoenixville, which has posted a 9-6-2 record thus far, Garber eclipsed her regular season goal tally by posting four goals in a 5-0 Boyertown win, advancing the Bears, who improved to 13-2-2 overall, into Thursday night’s final with Owen J. Roberts, a 4-0 winner over the Frontier number two seed Upper Perk.

The Phantoms, led by Benner and fellow freshman Cecilia Knaub had two great scoring opportunities early on as Benner missed the Bears' net just wide of Megan Janderchick 10 minutes into the tilt, but back-to-back goals by Garber shifted the momentum in favor of the Bears en route to a convincing win for the second straight year in the Final Four.

Lindsay Waller, who was outstanding defensively all night, made the save of the game for the Phantoms. Goal tender Sara Gilbert, who made a sprawling save, was still stretched out on the turf, and Waller cruised in and immediately blasted the ball out of harm's way, clearing the zone and starting a rush in the direction of the Boyertown end.

The Phantoms will now have to play the waiting game, as the district seeding meeting will take place following this week’s league tournaments throughout the area. However, thanks to a few key wins over class AAAA teams, Phoenixville should be rewarded with a decent draw for district playoff action next week and could very well make some noise in the ranks of the District One class AAA bracket.