Episcopal Academy scrapped with Gwynedd Mercy for opening day win

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Episcopal Academy hosted Gwynedd Mercy Academy in their season opener on Tuesday and quickly displayed why they have one of the best attacks in the region. Gwynedd Mercy goalkeeper Lynley Koschineg was peppered with shots practically from the opening whistle but she was up to the task at nearly every turn with multiple highlight-reel stops. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>An unfortunate mistake led to junior forward [player_tooltip player_id='116087' first='Maya' last='Bright']'s opener and Episcopal tacked on a second on a 1v1 breakaway by [player_tooltip player_id='117910' first='Quinn' last='Whitaker'] (assisted by first-year forward [player_tooltip player_id='25763' first='Devon' last='Stewart']) in the second half but Koschineg deserves the plaudits of the day for keeping the game tight. EA returns most of their front line (junior [player_tooltip player_id='25727' first='Bridget' last='Dempsey'] is another handful in the final third) from a team that was unstoppable at times. Whitaker, a junior, is back healthy after missing most of last season with an injury. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Gwynedd senior captain Riley Morris was also a critical player in the middle of the park to break up Episcopal attack but with so much of the traffic one way it made finding a goal for the visitors too hard of a hill to climb. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Senior captain [player_tooltip player_id='25773' first='Ella' last='Koschineg'] wasn't as sharp as she usually is but as the game wore on she was able to make some marauding runs forward to relieve the pressure and create some half chances from her ability to connect the defense to the attack. The pairing of Morris and Koschineg in the midfield will create problems for opponents this season, that's for sure since both can get stuck in defensively and release counter attacks going the other way. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The difficulty on Tuesday for Gwynedd was when there was something on for the visitors the EA back line led by standout senior center back [player_tooltip player_id='25953' first='Natalie' last='Magnotta'] was able to snuff it out. EA limited them to 3 shots and junior goalkeeper [player_tooltip player_id='146799' first='Lauren' last='Creamer'] had to make just two relatively routine saves in her varsity debut. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong><a href="https://www.amazon.com/photos/shared/mt5uOyQGRCu_Prh0BBgYzA.WENtuOjM3Gq5eP9v42z68C">Photo Gallery Link</a></strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->