2012 SEASON: MY SITE NEWS: ONE MOMENT OF GLORY; MANY MINUTES OF PAIN

This afternoon, the Lady Comets collided with a spirited team looking for redemption and suffered a 5-1 defeat at the hands of a fine-tuned Scranton Prep team. The talented and tenacious Classics had not posted a win against Abington Heights in the last four games. Consequently, they had something to prove--and they demonstrated emphatically that--for the time being, at least--they are the premier team in Lackawanna County.

This was the Lady Comets first regular-season loss since Fall of 2010, but that was not in itself the most breathtaking statistic of the day.Those who follow Abington soccer know that the Lady Comets--win or lose--are not in the habit of surrendering many goals. In fact, one may ask, when was the last time that any team scored FIVE goals against the Lady Comets?

Well, to answer that excellent question, one really has to dust off the record books. To find the last time that any team put up five goals against the Lady Comets in a regulation-length game, one has to rewind back to an era before any of the team's current players were even in high school--in fact, one has to revert back to a time before any of the last two year's classes of graduating seniors  were in high school--indeed, one has to page all the way back to May 30,2007, when Penn Manor beat Abington 5-1 in a AAA State Playoff game.This says something about the unusual nature of today's game. And it also says something about the extraordinary attacking power of Prep.

Prep played with all of the "pride, passion, and promise" of a Jesuit school. Junior Elana Falcone set the field on fire. She not only posted a hat trick on the day, but played well defensively. The Lady Comets also  performed well during many stretches of the game--and they did not give up when they fell behind 3-0 by the half--but the Classics were clearly on form and were bubbling over with determination.

When the two teams met earlier this season at CSE Field, the match was a statisitical dead heat; today, the story could not have been more different; the match was one-sided in every statistical category from goals-scored to corner kicks to shots taken. Melanie Coles, who prior to today had 15 saves in 9 games, collected 10 saves in this single match, including a couple of super stops of well-struck shots which, if not for Coles athleticism, would have made the margin of victory even wider.

What was the Abington "moment of glory" in this game? The Lady Comets became the first team this season to score a goal against the Classics. Obviously, that accomplishment would have been a lot sweeter if the score had been closer. Nevertheless, the Lady Comets were a breakthrough team today, doing what no other team had been able to do this season. The landmark score came off the foot of Katrina Helcoski who got inside the box and delivered a cross-frame shot behind a goalkeeper who had come off of her line. This could be the only conference-season goal Prep will allow this year.

In addition to the Helcoski goal, the Lady Comets produced four other on-frame shots, a couple of corner kicks, and a pair of nice combinations in the second half; but, other than that, one must admit that Scranton Prep controlled much of the the game. Throughout the season, the Classics have shown themselves to be an outstanding team; and they certainly played to their potential today. Although nothing is guaranteed in soccer-- after today's match--Scranton Prep will be prohibitive favorites to finish the league season undefeated, something the Lady Comets accomplished last year. Abington Heights still stands tall among the soccer programs in the area, but it seems that this year the Classics may get their turn to stand atop the table.