Soccer: Benner's Hat Trick Lifts Lady Phantoms to 4-1 Win Over Tribe

The Lady Phantoms, who were led onto the new turf at Washington Field by senior co-captains Liza Schanzenbach and Ali Thomas, wasted no time in christening their new digs in grand fashion as Phoenixville posted four second-half goals to emerge with a 4-1 over Upper Perkiomen.

After playing a “lack luster," to be kind, first half, it was a duo of freshman who fueled the home team's come-from-behind win, with attacker Lauren Benner recording a natural hat trick, scoring three goals in the final minutes of the game with Cecilia Knaub assisting on two of the tallies.

After allowing the Tribe to control the pace of play for the entire first half, in which Phoenixville surrendered a goal by Kayla Smith with 11:34 left to play giving Upper Perk a 1-0 advantage at the intermission, the Lady Phantoms looked like a different squad in the second half as they executed the game plan installed by head coach Jason Short, during the break, to perfection.

“We focused at half-time of shutting it down defensively,” said Thomas. “We cut down on their opportunities and kept it much tighter up the middle. We made sure there were no gaps and took away the passing lanes, which is the strategy we discussed at half. This is amazing to be able to play our games on this field at our school in front of our fans.”

Bailey Stover got the Lady Phantoms (2-0-0) on the board as she ripped a corner kick in front of the Indians' goal that senior Lindsay Waller was in perfect position to head into the net. Stover was awarded the goal, as the ball deflected off an Upper Perk defender and caromed into the goal, knotting the game at one with 30:38 left in regulation.

“We are so jacked up to be able to play in the stadium this season,” said senior Liza Schanzenbach. “We have really tried to set the tone as seniors that even if we are down like we were at half today, we stay positive and keep working. The chemistry on this team is unbelievable we all have so much fun playing together. If we stay healthy and work every game on getting better, we will have a chance to do some greats things this year.”

With the score deadlocked at one, it was time for freshman Lauren Benner to steal the show. The speedster took a feed from long-time playing partner Knaub and blasted a right-foot shot into the corner of the Upper Perk net to give Phoenixville its first lead of the game.

Less than four minutes later it was Benner again racing up through the middle of the Indians' defense and again wasting no time putting another great pass from Knaub into the wide-open twine.

“That’s about as good as it gets,” said Knaub. "With three plays up the middle and three goals, Lauren [Benner] did a great job of finishing the play. We wanted to attack them up the middle in the second half and we executed it pretty well, I think. We want to be the best girls' soccer team that has played for Phoenixville, ever. With the seniors we have and our energy it is going to be so exciting to get to play on this field for four years.”

Benner again used her speed to give herself a break away for her third score of the contest, but for good measure she teed it up with her left foot as she booted the ball past the Upper Perkiomen goal tender with less than five minutes left, closing out the scoring and recording her first career high school hat trick.

“I have score three goals before in middle school, but this was awesome,” said Benner. “This is such a great group of girls. We are having so much fun so far, and even in camp when we were practicing all day we still had a blast and have gotten really tight as friends.”

“Our defense and back line played outstanding in the second half,” said Short, in his post-game critique. “We came up with a plan to attack the middle at the half and did a great job staying committed to it. We played much smarter and utilized much more patience in the second half.”

Upper Perkiomen            1            0            -1

Phoenixville                  0            4            -4

First Half-

11:34   UP            Smith                unassisted

Second half

30:38   PX            Stover             unassisted

21:11   PX            Benner              assisted by Knaub

13:33   PX            Benner             assisted by Knaub

  4:58   PX            Benner             unassisted