WRIGHT TWP. — When the two finalists in Saturday night’s Class 3A district title match first met in the regular season, Abington Heights was without the services of its best player.
Lilia Calvert made up for the lost time on Saturday, helping Abington Heights gain a measure of revenge on Crestwood and win the district title.
Calvert factored in on all eight of her team’s goals — scoring six herself, and assisting on the other two — as Abington Heights won the District 2 Class 3A championship in girls soccer with an 8-4 win over Crestwood.
After a 2-1 loss to Crestwood in the regular season, there was a bit of added motivation for Calvert and Abington Heights to get the job done on the big stage.
“Going into this game, I knew there were some pretty big shoes to fill and that we had to step it up from the last time,” Calvert said. “I was just super excited and ready.”
The quick-scoring ability of Abington Heights was on full display in this one, with the team’s first three goals coming in a span of four minutes in the first half — with a Crestwood goal from Jordan Andrews sandwiched in the middle, to boot.
Calvert put a cross into the box that set up Hawley Lynott with a straight-on look at goal, and Lynott buried it to give Abington Heights a 1-0 lead with 26:38 left in the half.
Less than a minute later, Calvert converted on a penalty kick opportunity to make it 2-0. Then, Andrews had the response for Crestwood about two minutes after that.
Finally, Calvert made a long run and drilled her second goal with her left foot to make it 3-1 Abington Heights — four goals coming in approximately four minutes of game time.
The quick answers would become a theme throughout the match: the two teams would add three more combined goals in a span of 1:04 in the second half, two Calvert goals with a Sophia Kwarcinski score in the middle for Crestwood.
When Keira Dougherty scored her second of the night and Crestwood’s fourth and final goal late in the second half, Calvert was there to answer just 18 seconds later.
“Our offense is incredible, led by Lilia Calvert, but altogether as a unit they’ve been so connected,” Abington Heights coach Meghan Noone said. “They’ve had hopes of scoring lots of goals tonight, so I’m glad they saw it through.”
After finishing the first half with two goals and two assists on scores from Lynott and Allison Stanton, Calvert scored all four second-half goals for Abington Heights. Allie Rothenberger provided assists on two of them, while the other two were all Calvert.
The senior striker was able to turn any little bit of space into a scoring opportunity, using her quickness to run away from Crestwood’s defenders and get open looks.
“All of our practices we work on offensive runs through,” Calvert said. “I think we have one of the best defenses in the state … going against them in practice is a huge help.”
Dougherty had two goals and an assist to lead Crestwood, her first goal a long shot on a direct kick that the Abington Heights keeper had no chance to get to.
“Keira has surprised me, she deserves all the flowers,” Crestwood coach Mariana Durange said. “Especially coming off a year out injury, if she’s 80% back, then the other 20% is heart and guts.”
Abington Heights will travel to face District 4 champ Shikellamy in the first round of the state tournament on Tuesday.
District 2 Class 3A Championship
Abington Heights 8, Crestwood 4
Abington Hts`4`4 — 8
Crestwood`2`2 — 4
First Half — 1. AH Hawley Lynott (Lilia Calvert) 26:38; 2. AH Calvert 25:41; 3. CRE Jordan Andrews (Sarah Kondraski) 24:32; 4. AH Calvert 22:25; 5. Allison Stanton (Calvert) 3:41; 6. CRE Keira Dougherty 3:10. Second Half — 1. AH Calvert (Allie Rothenberger) 36:47; 2. AH Calvert (Rothenberger) 20:01; 3. CRE Sophia Kwarcinski (Dougherty) 19:26; 4. AH Calvert 18:57; 5. CRE Dougherty 6:33; 6. AH Calvert (Stanton) 6:15.
Shots — AH 12, CRE 5. Saves — AH 1 (Morgan Davis), CRE 3 (Daisy West). Corners — AH 7, CRE 3.
