High School Soccer:
Lenape Indians Upset Cherry Hill Cougars 1-0

Thursday, November 12, 1998

By Forrest Robleto
SJSports Staff Writer

In the Group 4 Girls Soccer Championship game, the Lady Indians matched the Cherry Hill East Cougars' team almost evenly. The Cougars had 10 shots to Lenape's 8, but the Indians had the only shot that counted. Ten minutes into the game, Lenape's Katie Ludwig brought the ball in from the right side past two defenders and got a good shot off that cleanly beat keeper Carolyn Snyder. That goal proved to be the game winner. The Indians were seeded eighth coming into the tournament, but they had tied the Cougars 3-3 on October 21st in regular season play. In that game the Indians, who were down 2-1, came back to tie the game while playing shorthanded due to an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty to the keeper. That game gave them the confidence that they could win today.

Christy Madden had a good opportunity at about the halfway point in the first half but it passed harmlessly over the top of the net. Shortly after that, Ludwig got a hard shot in from a sharp angle that looked like it was headed for the far corner of the net. Snyder jumped as high as she could but the ball was a few inches higher. Fortunately, the ball just skimmed the outside of the post. The first half ended with the shots even at three, but the score one to nothing in favor of the Indians.

Lisa Genna made a good hard shot early in the second half that Snyder tipped the ball off her fingers as she dove to the left. The ball trickled just wide. Alyse Reed took a shot from inside the box but it was a high looping shot that Lenape's keeper Laura Finley handled easily. A few minutes later, the Cougars got a corner shot that looked like it might bend its way around into the goal, but Finley made a dramatic lunge at the ball and smothered it. With less than 10 minutes in the game, Cherry Hill brought it all the way down and Marisa Kravitz got a good hard shot that was just a ball width too high.

Though the teams appeared very closely matched, Cherry Hill ran out of time and the Lenape Indians took the Group 4 Championship for South Jersey. They play Tuesday November 17 against Manalapan. The game will be played at Moorestown.

Photos by Forrest Robleto