NEWARK — Wilmington Friends completed a season with a 4-1 win over Saint Mark’s in the DIAA Division II girls soccer championship game on June 7 at Newark Charter High School. It was the first state championship in the sport for the Quakers.
Friends set the tone early in the contest, played in front of a capacity crowd with temperatures near 90 degrees. The game saw a flurry of early goals, followed by a second half with the fifth-seeded Quakers trying to run the clock and the No. 3 Spartans looking for a path back into contention.
Friends opened the scoring in the seventh minute. They had a throw-in about 30 yards from the net. The Quakers turned away two Spartans attempts to clear the ball, and Gia Cottone a pass to Lucia White, who fired a shot high to the upper right corner out of the reach of Emma Gibbons, the Saint Mark’s goalkeeper.
Saint Mark’s wasted no time getting the equalizer. Fourteen seconds, to be exact. Off the restart, Whitney Evancho sent a long pass ahead. Ava Danese corralled the bouncing ball and fed Gianna DiFebbo, who hit the far side of the net with her left-footed effort.
The third goal in a three-minute span came in the 10th. After a Quakers steal by Ryan Weigand, younger sister Kate Weigand blasted a 25-yard shot just under the crossbar to restore her team’s one-goal advantage. The scoring slowed after that for a bit, but not for long.
The Quakers opened up a two-goal cushion in the 26th, shortly after a tremendous save by Gibbons. Friends played the ball into the corner to Gibbons’ left, and Sofia Dattani sent a crossing pass toward the box. A clearing attempt was intercepted by White, who fired her second goal into the top shelf.
Two minutes later, a foul on the Spartans set up the final goal of the afternoon. Kate Weigand sent a free kick 24 yards to the short side of the net, increasing the advantage to three.
The Spartans had chances to cut into the lead as the first half progressed, but they were turned away by the Quakers’ defense and goalkeeper Teagan O’Donnell. O’Donnell made a save late in the half, and Saint Mark’s sent a free kick wide. Evancho had the best opportunity, sending a header off a corner kick off the crossbar.
Gibbons kept the deficit at three with some huge saves, including two resulting from a Friends free kick, a flurry that also included a shot off the left post.
After the first-half fireworks, the second was more workmanlike. The Spartans sent a long free kick on O’Donnell in the first minute after the break, but most of the offense belonged to the Quakers. Gibbons made another big save in the middle of the half, and O’Donnell did the same on a shot by Danese.
The Quakers finished with a 15-8 shot advantage, and they had six corner kicks to three for the Spartans. O’Donnell made six saves. Wilmington Friends, who lost their opening game of the regular season vs. Saint Mark’s, finished with a record of 16-2-1.
Gibbons stopped 11 shots. The Spartans, who reached the championship game for the fifth time in the last six seasons, went 10-3-3.
Photos by Mike Lang.
