FIELD HOCKEY: Souderton shuts out North Penn 2-0 to snap 2-game skid

TOWAMENCIN – Souderton field hockey’s Gianna Bocchino is also a wrestler, the senior taking things from each sport to better herself in both.

“In wrestling, you have to stay low in your stance and field hockey you have to stay low and I think something that I used to struggle with was just standing up too much during field hockey and wrestling,” Bocchino said. “You can’t do that and I’ve gotten a lot better at staying low. And hand-eye coordination and communicating and honestly I think wrestling helps with every sport that you could play. It’s amazing, so is field hockey.”

After Autumn Wagner scored the opening goal in the second quarter of Tuesday afternoon’s SOL Colonial Division matchup with host North Penn, it was Bocchino who doubled the Indians’ lead in the final minute of the third, collecting a ball on a penalty corner and putting a shot through a crowd and into the cage.

“On our corners we have somebody at the top and then it’s usually me who runs in and stands in front of the goalie on pads and I look for a deflection,” Bocchino said. “But the ball that came in wasn’t super hard so I tried to settle it and then I just spun around and shot it.”

The Knights tried to cut into the two-goal margin, earning eight corners in the fourth but Souderton held off the late charge and snapped a two-game skid with a 2-0 victory.

“I think we really needed it,” Bocchino said. “We didn’t play our best on Friday (against Gwynedd Mercy), everybody knew that and we all had a talk and we figured it out. We realized what was wrong and we immediately wanted to fix it. That’s what we worked on in practice yesterday.

“And, I don’t know, I think everybody just had a better attitude coming into this, knowing that we’re capable.”

The Indians dropped back-to-back home games last week, first to Central Bucks West 3-0 last Wednesday – West clinching the SOL Colonial title with the win – while two days later falling 4-0 to GMA in a non-league contest.

Tuesday’s victory gave Souderton (9-8-0, 7-3-0 division) the season sweep of North Penn – Big Red also won 2-0 Sept. 17 – and has it sitting 17th in the District 1-3A rankings with one game left. The Indians host Delco Christian in a non-league matchup 6 p.m. Wednesday.

North Penn ends its regular season at 6-12 (2-8 SOL Colonial) and currently sits in the 24th and final playoff qualifying spot in the 3A rankings.

“A win today, win you’re in would have been very helpful,” Knights coach Shannon McCracken said. “But unfortunately we didn’t get it done.”

The Knights started the year 0-6 before winning four straight and five of the next six. North Penn then lost four in a row before Monday’s 4-2 victory at Pennridge.

“We have some youth, I’ve been starting three to four sophomores or it’s just some inexperience in some positions, kids moving from JV to varsity and stepping into shoes,” North Penn coach Shannon McCracken said. “So I think in the middle of the season we just grew, grew into the positions, gained some experience.”

North Penn out-cornered Souderton 13-3 and bettered Big Red in shots 8-5 but were shutout for just the second time in 2026, the previous loss to Souderton the only other time the Knights went scoreless.

“Honestly, it’s been a bit of a roller coaster this season,” McCracken said. “Sometimes our corners are on, we’ve scored on quite a few corners this year and then they’re off. We haven’t had consistency, that’s been a big issue on the team this year is just consistency.”

Souderton goalkeeper Rylee DeSimone had six saves with Ella Dower adding a defensive save.

“Our defensive corner team did great today,” Bocchino said. They stepped to the ball beautifully. Brooke (Wagner), our flyer, she did great.”

North Penn goalie Liz McClarren made two saves.

Bocchino, who also played lacrosse and soccer, earned All-SOL Colonial first team honors in field hockey as a junior in 2025. She joined Souderton’s wrestling team as a junior and has posted a 42-17 record the past two seasons competing at 148 pounds.

“One of the girls on the wrestling team was also on the field hockey team freshman and sophomore year and I’m known for being like aggressive player, assertive so she was trying to recruit me,” Bocchino said. “And, I mean, I’ve always wanted to wrestle but my mom originally didn’t want me to and then I convinced her into it.”

The Indians grabbed a 1-0 lead in the second quarter when Autumn Wagner put a shot into the cage at 10:11.

“She has great ball control and field awareness,” Bocchino said. “She’s just a fantastic player. I always trust to give her the ball if I don’t know what to do with it. She’s a great player.”

Bocchino, who missed a few weeks earlier this season due to a shoulder injury, made it 2-0 Big Red with 50 seconds left in the third on a corner – corralling the ball after Brooke Wagner hit in from the top of the circle then turning and knocking it past the keeper and two defenders for the goal.