Good thing Upper Perk goalkeeper Lynnsi Joyce was on top of her game in the Tribe's 1-1 tie with Methacon in Monday afternoon's Pioneer Athletic Conference field hockey contest.

            The visiting Warriors at times dominated in the Upper Perk defensive circle,

Upper Perkiomen goalkeeper Lynnsi Joyce gets some  help in front of the cage fro Coleen Creneti during Mon- day's 1-1-tie against Methacton.

outshooting the Tribe 26-8 and outcornering UP 14-4.

            The ultra-quick Joyce was especially brilliant in the overtime period. First, she stopped Methacton star Alexa Kratz in-close, barely corralling the ball between her leg pads. Then, after Upper Perk's Jess Traynor was sent off the field with a card, one of four cards against Upper Perk, Joyce made a miraculous stick save on Elena Snodgrass following a corner play.

            As happy as she was with her netminder, veteran UP head coach Jamie Warren was less than pleased with the play of her defense.

            "We needed better defensive communication and stepping up defensively to intercept passes and make clean block tackles," she said.

            The Tribe's Sarah Steinman opened the scoring with 7:47 left in the first quarter, scoring a spin-around goal after taking the rebound of a shot by Luci Carpenter off a corner play in front of Methacton netminder Gabby DiPrinzio (seven saves).

            But it took the Warriors only 29 seconds to knot the score. Methacton's Kratz partially fanned on a pass, but the ball still rolled to Jess Serafin in front of the goal. Serafin fired a hard shot past Joyce to make it a 1-1 game.

            DiPrinzio and Joyce took turns making outstanding saves early in the second quarter, a stanza eventually dominated by the Warriors' ball control.

            "They were fast in the midfield which tested our defense," Warren noted.

            Despite giving up three corners and having players sent off with cards twice in the third quarter, Upper Perk had the better scoring chances. Margo May's pass to Ashlyn Gatto set up the best of the opportunities with 1:45 remaining in the quarter, but it was turned aside by DiPrinzio and the Tribe could not capitalize on the resulting corner.

            The netminders again exchanged critical saves early in the fourth quarter. DiPrinzio stopped Bella Carpenter who had been sent into the circle after a steal and a pass by Jess Traynor.

            A minute later Methacton's Madison Noh broke in alone on Joyce who made the save.

            Near the end of regulation, Bella Carpenter made a defensive save behind Joyce, and then the Upper Perk netminder had to make a save on a shot by Serafin in tight. 

            The tie left both Upper Perk and Methacton with 2-0-1 records and seven points, trailing first-place Boyertown (nine points) in the PAC standings.

            Last week, the Tribe handed Boyertown its only loss of the season in a 7-1 drubbing at Upper Perk. Bella Carpenter led the way with three goals while sister Luci notched three assists. Other Upper Perk goal scorers included Kylene Gooch, Audrey Nagata, Takoda Wells and Sydney Crossin. Gooch, May and Gatto also recorded assists. Joyce had seven saves.

            Boyertown's lone goal was scored by Lauren Eves.

            On Friday night, the Tribe hosts Perkiomen Valley with the JV game starting at 5. On Monday, the team travels to Owen J. Roberts for a 5:30 start time.

            Warren knows what she wants to see as the rest of the schedule unfolds. "As a team, we need to step up, hold each other accountable and be ready to compete from when the game starts until the end."