No sophomore slump: Little Flower sophomore forward Cailey Plath (center) and her team-leading 10 goals have the Sentinels off to a 7–0–1 start. MARIA POUCHNIKOVA / TIMES PHOTO
After scoring three goals in her second consecutive Catholic League soccer game, Cailey Plath giggled when asked if fans should start bringing hats to the field as a mere formality.
But the Little Flower sophomore’s nose for the net is no laughing matter, as it has the Sentinels thinking big. Catholic League championship big.
“It would mean the world to me. That’s what we play for, and all I’m looking for in my high school career is to hold that PCL plaque in the air,” Plath said following last Thursday’s 6–0 home demolition of Bonner-Prendie. “It would mean so much to our school, because we do get overlooked. Everyone thinks we can’t do anything because we’re Little Flower, but we can, and we’re going to show everyone this year what we’re capable of. We’re a huge part of this league.”
Following a 7–0–1 start, it’s getting harder to ignore Little Flower, which looks like a serious contender early on. The Sentinels are outscoring their opponents 35–2 through the first seven games, and Plath has tallied hat tricks in two of the last four despite a knee injury keeping her from being 100-percent effective.
Little Flower has won its Catholic League contests 6–0 (Bonner-Prendie), 9–0 (Neumann-Goretti), 7–0 (McDevitt) and Conwell-Egan (3–0), while defeating strong non-league opponents Germantown Academy, Germantown Friends and Sun Valley (Little Flower also played to a 1–1 tie against Penn Charter).
They’ve done so while missing multiple players, including captain Caleigh Gallagher, who was absent from the Bonner-Prendie win to get an MRI on her knee. The Sentinels have been able to compensate for the losses with strong goaltending and stingy defense, led by keeper Morgan Basileo (six shutouts) and defenders Susan Blaney, Melissa Szelagowski, Tess Hopkins and Deirdre Howard. In addition to Plath scoring goals in bunches (she has 10 on the season), Little Flower is as deep as it is talented, with a handful of players cracking the scoring column multiple times.
Of course, the key has been Plath, who broke a scoreless tie near the end of the first half against Bonner-Prendie before exploding in the second frame. She showed an ability to get off shots in traffic, even when starting an offensive attack with her back to the net. Plath also showed off the power behind her kicks, as her second goal of the contest was so forceful that it struck the goalie, deflected off the crossbar and bounced back toward the keeper, who still wasn’t able to wrangle the still-moving ball.
“She’s a very good player, and she’s only a sophomore,” said Little Flower coach Markos Pittaoulis. “And she’s only at about 80 percent with her knee, so imagine when she’s back to 100 percent. Nobody is going to be able to stop her. She’s playing at a professional level.”
Plath began playing soccer at the age of 3 for in-house teams, and played in grade school at both St. Timothy and Pope John Paul II. She also played for the Philadelphia Soccer Club’s Coppa travel team, and currently does the same for Lighthouse.
She said she learned a lot about what it takes to succeed in the rugged Catholic League when exposed to it last year as a freshman. Plath credited her coaches and Little Flower captains Gallagher, Starr Sargent-Boone and Victoria Goebig for showing faith in her.
“I learned a lot last year, so I knew coming into the season what I had to do,” Plath said. “I have to train hard every day, put my body on the ball and keep my head up. I always have the back of the net in mind, because I know that’s my job, to score goals.”
Plath said she thinks Little Flower’s surgical passing ability is what sets the team apart. Knowing where the ball is, and, more importantly, where it’s going to be, is the team’s biggest strengths.
“Players being in the right spot is so key to our passing game,” she said. “It’s the reason we’re doing so well. We just know where our passes are going to be and where we’re supposed to be on the field at all times. We work so well with each other. These girls are my sisters, and I look forward to coming to school each day to see them. Without them in my life, I’d be nowhere.”
So how good of a shot does Little Flower have to disrupt the balance of power in the Catholic League and hoist that coveted plaque? It’s still early, and the Sentinels have yet to get to the meat of their schedule. They play back-to-back games against two-time league champ Archbishop Ryan and last year’s runner-up Archbishop Wood on Sept. 21 and 25, respectively, so a lot more will be known about this team’s mettle in a week or two.
“I think we’re making a statement even though we don’t have our full team,” Plath said. “We want to show everyone that Little Flower is not down. We’re going to give it our all and not get too high on ourselves if things are going well.”
And as her coach intimated, we still haven’t seen Plath’s best.
“You haven’t seen my best yet,” she said. “I still have a lot of things to work on, and I’m a little injured. The best of me and the best of our team is still to come. If we win this league, the girls would be so happy. It would make our high school careers and be something we could talk to our kids about.” ••
