CR South Girls Soccer is Aiming Higher

It couldn’t get much better than last year for Council Rock South girls soccer.

That, however, doesn’t mean the 2011 version isn’t going to aim for higher.

“Our goal since I was a freshman has been to win states,” said player Paula Jurewicz, "and I want to keep that this season.”

A senior, this is her, along with six other classmates, last chance to make that a reality. The thing is, the potential is there thanks to at least five players who have committed to play at Division I universities next fall. Jurewicz, a four-year starter at left fullback, is one of them, as she and outside midfielder Colleen Diviny will head to Temple University.

“We’re very well balanced, but one of the problems of being very well balanced is that we don’t have that dominant player,” said coach John Oberholtzer, who’s about to begin his second year at the helm.

According to him, other squads in the Suburban One League (SOL) National Conference do have that luxury, and it’s something that presented issues at times in 2010. One happened at the worst possible moment, when, despite dominating the action in terms of play, the Golden Hawks failed to find the back of the net in their first round PIAA Class AAA state playoff game.

As a result, Conestoga, a team which CR-South beat not long before in the District I Class AAA quarterfinals, notched the game’s only goal and sent the Golden Hawks home in a stunner.

“We had more opportunities than we had all season,” Jurewicz said.

Oberholtzer said the team was on their game.

“We were all over them,” Oberholtzer also said. “It’s like having someone of second and third base with no outs for nine innings and not scoring.”

As frustrating as that sounds, the end shouldn’t have dampered what South accomplished before that. The Golden Hawks wound up winning the SOL National and then rolled through districts, also taking out Central BucksvWest in the semifinals in the process. Their efforts earned them a spot in the title game, where they knocked off Pennridge by a 1-0 score on a first half goal by Jurewicz.

South’s final record was 19-3-1. The team wound up with just one league loss to Pennsbury and a tie with Neshaminy. Fourteen of the victories were also shutouts, including six in a row at one point early in the year.

A big plus will be that last year’s primary goalie, senior Sam Lawson, will be back in net. She will switch off with classmate Liz Egan, who had an injury last year.

With them, the defense should again be strong. That leaves the offense, which could be improved from last year with the return of leading goal scorer Chrissy Vollrath. A senior heading to play at LaSalle University, she will play center midfielder but is versatile enough to play forward, as is normal forward and potent offensive threat Paige McDowell.

Other key players include Quinnipiac University commit Alexa Crozier (midfielder/forward) and Alexa Pressler, a fullback/outside halfback headed to Mount St. Mary’s.

They, as well as many others, will contribute to the depth this squad should enjoy and help replace the now graduated Cara Deola and MaryKate Callahan. Play begins Sep. 7 with a trip to Truman.

“We have a good ethic and I think that we have the potential to go further than we did last year,” Jurewicz said.