To capture Nazareth\u2019s first district championship in 15 years on Saturday, sophomore defender Vera Ayala assisted senior midfielder Isabella Danise for the lone goal in a 1-0 win over Parkland at Salisbury High School.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday night at Nazareth High School\u2019s Andrew S. Leh Stadium, the two stars switched roles as Danise delivered a perfect corner kick into the box that Ayala headed into the bottom corner with 4:20 remaining to give the Blue Eagles a 3-2 win over Lower Merion in the first round of the PIAA 4A girls soccer tournament.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really just didn\u2019t want to go into overtime,\u201d Ayala said. \u201cWe\u2019ve been working since the beginning of the summer to get here, and it feels really good to be here now, and it\u2019s just amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Danise was already growing into a program legend after her game-winning goal against the Trojans last week and two goals in a district semifinal win against Emmaus to clinch a spot in states and added to her legend even before delivering the game-winning assist to Ayala.<\/p>\n
The University of Buffalo recruit scored with 20:42 left on the first half clock and just a minute and a half into the second half on a penalty kick to give her team 1-0 and 2-1 leads against the third-place finisher from District 1.<\/p>\n
The third go-ahead goal, according to Nazareth coach Ziggy Lewis, was simply a testament to the leadership of Danise and a core of experienced stars who added at least a few more days to the program\u2019s dream season.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a special group, especially because of the leadership we have,\u201d Lewis said. \u201cOur fans have come out in numbers and supported the team, and I just could not be more happy for this team.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s especially gratifying for Lewis, a Jamaica native, who is dealing with considerable emotion off the field due to the catastrophic damage that Hurricane Melissa delivered to his home country.<\/p>\n
Still, once he arrives to the field with his team, there\u2019s only one thing that takes precedence in his mind.<\/p>\n
\u201cEmotions have been high because of what\u2019s going on back home in Jamaica, but once I\u2019m here, I\u2019m focused on these girls because they deserve full attention as much as possible,\u201d Lewis said.<\/p>\n
The District 11 champions dominated the first 30 minutes against the Aces and paid off the early pressure by capitalizing on a rare mistake by Lower Merion senior goalkeeper, and Louisville commit, Cate Cantu.<\/p>\n
Maddie Ott delivered a free kick from well outside the box into a dangerous area, and while Cantu left her line to claim it, she couldn\u2019t secure it as it fell in a perfect spot for Danise to score an easy tap-in.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaddie played a perfect ball over the top \u2013 I give that credit to her,\u201d Danise said. \u201cShe\u2019s an amazing goalkeeper, but I just wanted to make sure I followed up because you never know the mistakes that goalkeepers can make.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ott, an all-EPC first-team defender, helped contain a talented frontline for much of the first half, but one big chance was all Dylan Steinberg needed for Lower Merion. The Cornell commit got on the end of a long ball by Lily Barrabee and fired a shot into the bottom left corner to equalize with just 55 seconds remaining in the first half.<\/p>\n
Nazareth needed just a minute and a half to respond out of halftime.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t tell you what I said,\u201d Lewis said with a chuckle. \u201cBut, I think it worked.\u201d<\/p>\n
Junior forward Madison Jankowski used her blistering pace to get to the end line on the right wing and fired a cross into the box that deflected off a Lower Merion defender\u2019s hand to give Danise a premier chance from the penalty spot.<\/p>\n
She buried it with exceptional composure and a perfect finish into the bottom left corner.<\/p>\n
\u201cI usually go bottom left, and I just make sure I breathe before and stay composed as much as I can,\u201d Danise said.<\/p>\n
More individual brilliance got the Aces back on level terms with 25:42 still left on the clock.<\/p>\n
Junior forward Nieve Clifford received a pass through the middle, spun past a defender and blasted a shot from outside the box that deflected off the post and nestled into the back of the net to add another layer of drama to an already terrific game.<\/p>\n
It came 10 minutes after senior goalkeeper Emma Houchin, getting back up off the ground, denied Ryan Cromer from point-blank range to highlight another extraordinary night for the All-EPC first-team goalkeeper.<\/p>\n
She stood tall after Clifford\u2019s stunning goal and handled the light pressure that came in the aftermath before her right back delivered.<\/p>\n
\u201cMe and Bella [Danise] work really well together,\u201d Ayala said. \u201cWe have a lot of goals that were put together with each other, and I just saw the opportunity and just went for it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI give all credit to Vera on that one,\u201d Danise said. \u201cShe had an amazing finish.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Blue Eagles (23-1-1) earned their first win in the state tournament since 2021 and will advance to play Central Bucks South (16-6-1) in a PIAA 4A quarterfinal on Saturday at a site and time still to be determined.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just think this group is a special group, and we\u2019re going to continue this ride, and hopefully it continues,\u201d Lewis said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to rest and get ready for whoever we play on Saturday.\u201d<\/p>\n
As they keep stacking incredible moments together, the emotions will continue to be beyond comprehension for seniors like Danise.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt means everything, especially to be able to do it my senior year with the best people,\u201d Danise said. \u201cIt just feels amazing because I\u2019ve been playing with these people for four years, so to be able to get this far, I have no words.\u201d<\/p>\n
Derek Bast is a freelance sports writer who can be found on Twitter\/X at @derek_bast or reached by email at derekbast11@gmail.com.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"To capture Nazareth\u2019s first district championship in 15 years on Saturday, sophomore defender Vera Ayala assisted senior midfielder…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24985,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[305,183,185,184,186,726,432],"class_list":["post-24984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-lower-merion","tag-high-school-sports","tag-lower-merion","tag-lower-merion-headlines","tag-lower-merion-news","tag-lower-merion-township","tag-sports","tag-top-stories-tmc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24984","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24984"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24984\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}