High School Soccer:
Lenape Comes From Behind To Tie Lady Cougars

Wednesday, October 21, 1998

By Forrest Robleto
SJSports Staff Writer

It was one of those games where two top notch teams go head to head. The Lady Cougars of Cherry Hill East battled the Lady Indians of Lenape to a scoreless first half. These two evenly matched teams then put a few points on the scoreboard in the second half. The Cougars took the lead but Lenape would not give up so easily. When the final seconds ticked off the clock, it was a 3-3 tie game.

A hard shot from the left side started the game and Carolyn Snyder made the first save of the day. After a long series of mistakes, Cherry Hill was not able to transition to offense. Although Lenape had the better part of the play for a while, there was not another shot in on the East goal. The ball was bouncing from player to player more like a ping-pong ball back and forth than a soccer game. On a really nice direct kick for Cherry Hill, Jen Padlo hit the cross bar but the ball bounced back out. Laura Pursell tried to head it back in but Lahra Finley made a fine stop. A little flurry followed and Finley got to handle the ball again. The direct kick was the first time that the Lenape's keeper got to touch the ball. Lisa Genna picked up an errant defensive pass inside the box and at point blank range took a shot that bounced off Snyder. Genna fired a shot again and Snyder snagged the ball where she was severely tested on back to back shots. The first half ended in a scoreless tie with 5 shots for Lenape and 4 shots for Cherry Hill.

Six minutes into the second half, Richa Verma picked up a cross and tried to head (well, actually nose) it in but it hit the crossbar. From behind the keeper Verma somehow mule kicked it into the net. The keeper, who appeared to hurt her arm, came off the field but it turned out she had received a red card for unsportsmanlike conduct. Tracie Cohen went in as keeper for the Indians, who had to play short one player due to the red card.

Cherry Hill managed to get the ball in close a couple of times right after the goal, but just rolled it in on the keeper as if they were trying to warm her up. A few minutes later Stephanie Singer picked up the rebound on a Cherry Hill shot and just buried it, Tracie Cohen never had a chance. East visibly relaxed after the second goal and it cost them fairly quickly as Lenape worked the ball in close. The Indians kept the ball in despite repeated attempts by Cherry Hill to get it out. At 21:15 Lenape managed a nice cross to the outside left side of the goal which Jen VanHorn shot it hard into the right side of the net. Carolyn Snyder dove to her left to try to make the save but she wasn't even close, as the ball was very well placed.

Eventually Lenape got the ball in close and Lisa Genna found the mark to tie the game 2-2. Lenape's Dana Kalmey put them ahead 3-2. Cherry Hill's Christy Madden made it 3-3 and that's how the game ended. The shots ended up 12 for Lenape and 10 for Cherry Hill.

Photos by Forrest Robleto