Senior captain Liv Grenda, along with the rest of the Pennridge Rams seniors, have experienced a championship victory before. Now, they’re looking to replicate that feeling in their final year.
On Tuesday, Oct. 31, the Rams steamrolled Downingtown East 6-0 en route to the program’s second district championship appearance in four years.
“I thought it started with our midfield,” Pennridge head coach Audrey Anderson said. “Our midfield controls the tempo, so for us to have such a good showing in the midfield allowed our forwards to make good runs and our defenders to catch their breath. I thought all around it was a great effort from everyone. This is how we want to be playing at this point in the season.”
Early in the game, Pennridge applied constant pressure to Downington East. That pressure became too much when the aforementioned Grenda crossed a low pass into the box for Gabriella Howley to capitalize on in the 19th minute, ultimately putting the Rams ahead 1-0.
“At the moment, not going to lie, my head was a little blank,” Grenda said. “It was such a big battle with the girl on the other team. But I looked up and was like ‘I see her in there, this would be a great pass, great connection.’ And I saw the play play out before it happened and it was executed … It was an amazing feeling.”
Roughly four minutes later, at the 15:19 minute mark, Grenda scored one her own.
“I saw Anna playing a chip ball over the back and it kind of reminded me of the ball that Sophie [Craig] played during CB East,” Grenda said. “Their backs and goalkeeper were trying to figure out who was going to step to it so I saw the opening to step in and tap it past them. That 2-0 lead is obviously better than the 1-0 lead.”
Simply put, the Rams were just clicking, firing on all cylinders as they never once took their foot off the gas. They constantly found the gaps in the defense and set up multiple shots on goal.
Pennridge’s third goal came from junior defender Gabby Herman, just four minutes after subbing in. The Rams had a throw in, which was launched to the opposite side of the box, allowing Herman to connect on a header.
The Rams had a comfortable lead heading into halftime, but that didn’t stop them from tacking on three more in the second half.
Grenda, Howley and Herman each scored one more.
After the game, when asked about those three players specifically, Anderson couldn’t hold back a smile.
“Gabriella Howley is one of the hardest working players that we have on the team,” Anderson said. “Gabby Herman came off the bench and played four minutes and scored a goal. She’s one of our shortest players and for her to score two headers is incredible.
“Liv Grenda has just been scoring off crosses, finding the ball with her head. … She’s unbelievable and hard to defend. It’s exactly what we want to see; it’s not the same people always scoring, you know it’s fun to see some different players putting the ball in the back of the net.”
With the victory, Pennridge is set to face top seed Conestoga on Saturday, Nov. 4 for the district championship. For the seniors, they’re looking to repeat history.
“We’re feeling good,” Grenda said. “We feel like we’re hitting the top level of our play. Last time we were at a district championship was when we were freshman and we ended up winning the state championship that year, so we’re really trying to ride on that. We all know it’s our last year, we want to leave everything out on the field.”
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