By: Joe Cicchino - Sports Information Assistant

NEWTOWN SQUARE -- If someone missed the first half of the Pennsylvania Independent Schools Athletic Association game between Germantown Academy and Episcopal Academy, that person missed all of the action.

All of the scoring -- which was only three goals -- was finished in the first half. While the goals were sparse, the third seeded Patriots did enough to earn a thrilling 2-1 victory over second seeded Episcopal Academy. 

"I thought that was a really high-energy game from both teams," said GA Head Coach Jackie Connard '06. "I'm really proud of how the team started out the game with energy and intensity. I think they came into this game knowing they could win, which is half the battle." 

None of the current student-athletes were on the team, let alone in high school the last time GA defeated Episcopal. The win against EA is the first since 2007, when the team won two in the regular season.

"It's amazing," goalie Hannah Santos '18 said. "It's been a dream of mine to beat EA and go to states. Everyone had their best game today and we got the reward that we wanted."

The Patriots opened up the scoring early, getting a goal from Colleen Carrigan '18 only two and a half minutes into the game. The score came off of one of Germantown Academy's 10 corners in the game.

Episcopal would answer 16 minutes later with a goal of their own, but Sammy Popper '19 would once again give the Patriots the lead with six minutes left in the half. 

"They did a good job possessing the ball and stuck to the gameplan really well," Connard said. "We had great defense, great goalkeeping from Hannah, and converted on those two corners."

That goalkeeping become very important late in the second half, when EA was pushing to potentially tie the game. Santos did not break, but that did not mean that there were not nerves.

"I was so nervous, I had to tell myself not to be nervous," Santos said. "Then I kind of just stopped consciously thinking and it was all okay."

The win pushes Germantown Academy into the PAISAA Championship game against Notre Dame on Nov. 15.

The Patriots are 0-2 against Notre Dame this year.

"The biggest thing is having the team understand that we can beat Notre Dame," Connard said. "They are a really quick team, a really skilled team and they put goals in quickly. We've had a couple big losses to them this season, but if we can beat a team like Episcopal, who tied Notre Dame, there's no reason we can't do it."

GA Stats

Colleen Carrigan - 1 goal

Sammy Popper - 1 goal

Maddi Ota - 1 assist