LOWER MERION \u2014 Gwen Parker carried a heavy limp as the Garnet Valley huddle dispersed. Augmenting the bag of ice on her leg was a game ball slung under her left arm and a beaming smile that a little pain wasn\u2019t going to repress.<\/p>\n
The junior had paid a physical price for the dirty work she did in midfield Thursday afternoon, ending her day about five minutes before full time. It didn\u2019t stop her from leaping off the bench in celebration with her teammates, though, after the final whistle of a win she had helped backstop.<\/p>\n
Parker was outstanding in midfield, helping ninth-seeded Garnet Valley blank No. 8 Lower Merion, 1-0, in a District 1 Class 4A second-round matinee. The effort by Parker allowed Jade Delcollo\u2019s goal in the 62nd to stand as the winner.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have never had a greater experience in my entire life,\u201d Parker rhapsodized. \u201cThose girls are everything to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
That connection has the Jaguars (13-4-3) alive in the final eight of the tournament with a chance at one of the district\u2019s five states berths next week.<\/p>\n
The midfield triangle of Parker, Raelyn Smith and Grace Jensen were outstanding for the Jags. Lower Merion\u2019s midfield is full of playmakers, and their forwards are more dangerous when they get an unchecked head of steam into the final third.<\/p>\n
Parker and Smith in particular excelled at cutting out dangerous balls. With Smith defending on the front foot as an advanced destroyer and the first line to connect passes, and Smith as the back four\u2019s shield, they minimized the threat of a Lower Merion side that had been shut out just three times.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s incredibly talented,\u201d Parker said of Smith, who had two assists against Marple Newtown on Tuesday. \u201cShe does her job super, super well. It makes my job so much easier. She knows I\u2019m on her back. We have had plenty of plays where our chemistry is just crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re awesome,\u201d Delcollo said of the midfield. \u201cThey\u2019re always winning 50-50 balls. They always go for the ball, and they\u2019re like a wall. They\u2019re a wall. They\u2019re our best defenders, and we really needed them to have that game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Among Lower Merion\u2019s offensive exploits was a 2-0 win over Garnet Valley on Sept. 15, though the Jaguars feel that was a much different team.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve just connected as a team every single day,\u201d Parker said. \u201cWe\u2019re together. Every single practice we just feel so much closer together. Everyone\u2019s improving together. Everyone\u2019s stepping up, and we just rise to the occasion, every single girl on that team.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lower Merion (13-4-3) had the better of play in the first half. With Ryan Cromer driving the midfield and Harper Gust cutting in from the wing, they tilted the field for long stretches. But Danica Fean made the saves she needed \u2014 four overall, with three in the first half \u2014 to keep Garnet level.<\/p>\n
Garnet Valley deserved their goal. They nearly had one on the stroke of halftime when Sara Hadzic clipped a shot from 20 yards just high of the bar. Smith had a pair of attempts in the first 10 minutes of the second half and forced the first save by Lower Merion goalie Shannon Heft in the 60th.<\/p>\n
Two minutes later, Garnet Valley broke through via the Hadzic-Delcollo connection. A throw-in down the right sideline turned into a run to the byline for Hadzic. She and Delcollo eyed the same pocket of space near the penalty spot, and Delcollo\u2019s run met Hadzic\u2019s service for a side-footed shot into the twine.<\/p>\n
\u201cI noticed a gap, and I knew that Sara always has a good cross cutting back,\u201d Delcollo said. \u201cI just knew she\u2019s going to cross, and I went for it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fean\u2019s best saves were in the first half. She got a little lucky in the 21st when she dove to deny a Gust shot and parried it just wide of the post, though it was close for comfort. Fean saved a header by Ellie Wu off a corner in the 27th, then kept out a follow by Eloise Gerson despite being fouled.<\/p>\n
Garnet Valley had better chances to make it 2-0 than Lower Merion did to tie. Hadzic glanced a cross off the post in the 78th, Delcollo was cleared off the line and Smith followed with a shot high.<\/p>\n
Otherwise, the Garnet Valley defense kept LM to less dangerous areas. Delaney Riggs and Dylan Strulson manned central defense, while Reese DeVuono and Olivia Sundo patrolled outside, funneling action toward the middle.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s where Parker feasted, getting stuck in to break up play after play. For the junior, getting her first significant varsity experience after an ACL injury last year, every game means so much.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were ready,\u201d she said. \u201cYou start doubting yourself, but you go on that bus with your team and everyone is just singing at the top of their lungs. We\u2019re all just ready. You just can\u2019t be scared anymore because you just know all these girls are about to put everything on the line, and it doesn\u2019t matter what happens because we\u2019re just all in it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LOWER MERION \u2014 Gwen Parker carried a heavy limp as the Garnet Valley huddle dispersed. Augmenting the bag…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":317208,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[212,305,183,185,184,186,725,28,726,210],"class_list":["post-317207","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-lower-merion","tag-delaware-county","tag-high-school-sports","tag-lower-merion","tag-lower-merion-headlines","tag-lower-merion-news","tag-lower-merion-township","tag-pa-prep-live","tag-pennsylvania","tag-sports","tag-top-stories-dtd"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317207","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=317207"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317207\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/317208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=317207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=317207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=317207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}