DISTRICT 1-A FIELD HOCKEY: Pope John Paul II outlasts Faith Christian for title

By Christiaan DeFranco

LOWER GWYNEDD — After scoring a pair of first-half goals, it looked like the Pope John Paul II field hockey team might run away and hide with the district title.

It wouldn’t be so easy.

The fifth-seeded Golden Panthers withstood a furious, fourth-quarter rally by No. 3 Faith Christian Academy 5-4 — as those two first-half goals came in handy — and Pope captured its first-ever District 1-A championship on a cold, wet, windy Monday night at neutral Wissahickon High School.

The scorer of those two early goals? Panthers junior Grace Mondillo.

“Scoring early is always so important because it gets your momentum up,” Mondillo said. “You just want to start the game with good energy and a positive vibe. And when (Faith Christian) scored a few goals back-to-back later in the game, the first two goals really mattered. But I couldn’t have done it without my teammates.

“Coming this far as a team, it’s a big accomplishment, and I’m just so proud of everyone on our team,” Mondillo said.

With the win, Pope (13-7) will face District 12 runner-up Conwell-Egan in the District 1/12 Subregional semifinals on Thursday.

Faith Christian (14-5) also advanced to the subregional, and will play District 12 champ Lansdale Catholic.

The two subregional finalists will both advance to states.

“This is crazy, we literally have never made it this far,” Pope coach Lexi Versak said. “They have just played so hard from the very start of the season and just applied everything that we’ve been working on from day one.”

Reese McCoy finished with a goal and an assist for Pope, which took a 2-0 lead into halftime and was up 4-1 after the third period.

Daniella Burns scored two goals for the Lions, while Cheyenne Greene had a goal and two assists.

“We totally just ran out of time,” Faith Christian coach Jayne Longacre said. “It’s one of those experiences where you just have to play the whole, entire 60 minutes.

“We play with grit and heart, and that’s something that comes from within,” Longacre said. “They believe in each other and in the team and in what they’re doing. That sometimes shines through over skill.”

On a pass from Greene, Burns put Faith on the board 4:49 into the second half, but McCoy answered for the Panthers just over 3 minutes later.

Katie Nilles, off a give from Sarah Mink, added Pope’s fourth goal late in the third.

Abby Simmers extended Pope’s lead to 5-1 early in the fourth quarter, but soon came a barrage of scoring by Faith.

Burns struck again with 7:26 left in the contest. Five minutes later, Amaly Klock found the net on a Greene pass. And with 21.5 seconds remaining — bang — Greene scored.

Then the clock finally ran out.

“The girls are doing great things, and we’re still working and we’re still building,” Longacre said. “This is something we’re learning from and will continue to build off of. I’m so proud of this team.”

Each team finished with seven corners. Pope outshot Faith 10-8.

“It’s a relatively young team, because we lost a lot of good seniors, but the girls really wanted this,” Versak said. “We’ve made a bunch of adjustments and had a bunch of freshmen step up. I think what has been different this year than others is the chemistry of the team.

“They all wanted it, not just some of them,” she said.

“That’s something we started doing toward the end of the season, getting goals early,” Versak said. “I tell them, it’s really hard to stay consistent, but it’s also really hard to come back from being down numbers.”

Those two first-half goals by Mondillo provided just enough of a cushion for Pope to hang on for the crown.

The first one came 1:22 into the second period.

“It was just a give and go and a good assist,” Mondillo said. “I was just there at the right time, and I just used all my energy and force, and finished.”

Mondillo followed it up 3:41 with some good cooperative ball movement by the Panthers. The fourth quarter, when Faith scored three straight goals, kept Pope on edge.

“It was nerve-wracking, but you have to keep calm and keep playing as a team,” Mondillo said.

Pope celebrated and took pictures in front of the stands. Versak and her players took turns toting the championship trophy.

“Credit to (Faith Christian) for coming back from being down a few goals and almost tying it near the end,” Versak said. “That’s something that’s super hard to do.

“Our girls have been wanting to score early and often,” she said. We made some changes to our lineup late in the season, and that’s when we started scoring more.

“Quick passing was key for us tonight,” Versak said. “They moment you hold on to the ball too much, it’s hard as a player to have three players on you and maintain possession while also looking up to see the next option. So I tell them, receive the ball, one-two touch, get rid of it, so the ball moves faster than (the defenders) do. It’s the concept of just keep the ball moving and let the ball do the work.”

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District 1-A Field Hockey Championship

At Wissahickon High School

POPE JOHN PAUL II 5, FAITH CHRISTIAN 4

Pope John Paul II        0          2          2          1          —        5

Faith Christian            0          0          1          3          —        4

PJP goals: 2nd — Grace Mondillo (Reese McCoy assist), 13:38; Mondillo, 9:57; 3rd — McCoy, 6:41; Katie Nille (Sarah Mink), 4:15; 4th — Abby Simmers, 9:58.

FCA goals: 3rd — Daniella Burns (Cheyenne Greene), 10:11; 4th — Burns, 7:26; 4th — Amaly Klock (Greene), 2:22; Greene, :21.5.

Corners: PJP 7, FCA 7.

Shots on goal: PJP 10, FCA 8.

Goalkeeper saves: Ava Parkinson (PFP) 5, Rylie Hetherington (FCA) 5.

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Email Christiaan DeFranco at cdefranco@thereporteronline.com. Follow him on X at @the_defranc, or visit ChrisDeFranco.com.