Towamencin- For the North Penn girl’s soccer team, Wednesday night was their debut under the lights of a newly renovated Crawford Stadium. And while the light shined on their defense, they couldn’t find the back of the net enough in a tough conference loss.

The Central Bucks East Patriots (4-0) continued their winning streak by defeating the Knights (2-2) on North Penn’s home turf.

“I think that our defense is definitely very good at connecting with each other. I think we’re really good at getting it up to the midfield and then looking to play it forward, I just think our only struggle is actually scoring and taking the shots. But otherwise, I think we have a pretty solid defense and everything up until that point is so good,” senior captain and goalkeeper Anna Fiore said.

With only 11 minutes left in the first half and no goals for either team, the Knights and the Patriots continued to battle for possession of the ball. While in East’s possession, Audrey MacNair stole the ball and took a shot 30 yards out, drifting over the goalie’s head into the back left corner.

“My goal is to just provide options for the person with the ball and I love making runs because it’s exciting. Always contributing to a goal or scoring one is the best part of the game and it’s always a team effort. Even the defense can score,” MacNair said.

Although East was able to get two in the back of the net, one being a cross into a chest volley and one being a header off of a free-kick, North Penn’s defense still played an aggressive game. 

“I think our defense has been really strong so Jamie, Marissa, Keira, Audrey with Anna in the back, they’ve been really holding us together,” head coach Mike Rio said.

With it being a very defensively played game, outside back and junior captain Jamie Webb hustled to run down Easts through balls and clear them out of the back. Since Webb is able to see the whole field all the way in the back, she is able to recognize the strengths and weaknesses of the girls on the field.

“I think we do a good job working through the middle, especially Lauren Blanch in the middle, but once we get in front of the goal we just can’t score. It’s just something we are gonna have to focus on and get better at,” Webb said.

The Knights did not get the outcome they wanted tonight, but it is clear that the team shows passion and love for the game executing many positives on the field.

“Moving the ball forward I thought center mids, Lauren and Haley did a great job, just keeping possession for us and trying to find outlets. Up top, I liked Kylie’s work rate. She was really moving around, creating opportunities for us, checking the ball, looking for through passes, so that was really good,” Rio stated.

This upcoming Friday the Knights will take on Pennsbury at 3:45 in Crawford Stadium, looking for their next conference victory.

“It’s definitely not a lack of effort, East was just the better team tonight and luckily for league games we get to play them again, so hopefully the result is a little different when we go to their place,” Rio stated.