Check out the results for SOL boys/girls lacrosse teams in action Tuesday.
Boys
Central Bucks West 9, Pennridge 4
Following a difficult four-game stretch that included a pair of one-goal losses to Hatboro-Horsham and conference-leading Central Bucks South, Central Bucks West traveled to Pennridge Tuesday night with some extra motivation to grab a big win en route to climbing back up to .500 overall.
An impressive 12-save effort by junior goalkeeper Steve Hogan helped CB West to a convincing win in a battle of conference foes.
Senior captain Clark Hawes led the way offensively for the Bucks, scoring three goals while adding a pair of assists.
With the two teams tied 2-2 at the half, CB West coach Matt Coverdale gave his players a talk. They responded by coming out on fire in the third quarter.
"We knew that Pennridge played physical, and we knew they were a tough, scrappy team," the Bucks’ coach said. "We knew it would be a dogfight, and we were missing some key personnel due to injuries, but guys stepped up.
“We started off slow, and I don't know if we shot the ball very well with some of our opportunities, but we talked about being able to shoot better. With Pennridge taking a lot of penalties in the second half, it allowed us opportunities to break the game open and capitalize."
CB West outscored Pennridge 3-0 in the third quarter to go on top 5-2 before finishing out with four more goals in the fourth go to on top 9-2. The Bucks allowed two late goals when the contest was no longer in doubt.
Hogan allowed just two goals while stopping 12 shots in net to earn the win.
"He stood up tall in the net," Coverdale said of his starting goalie. "He did a fantastic job for us, keeping them at bay and keeping them from emotionally coming back. They were riding very high on emotion at the half, and we knew those next five minutes going into the second half were going to be critical for our team, and he set the tone for the second half."
Will Ross added a pair of goals and an assist for the Bucks (5-6, 4-3), while Joey Rockovich also scored twice. Brendan Gervais scored once and assisted on another goal, while Hason Willis scored one goal. Tim Kiel also tallied an assist.
"Coming off that four-game stretch, getting this win was very important to us," Coverdale said. "Our morale and the direction of our season relied on our play, and we hope to continue to come in very motivated.
“We know we play in a very competitive conference with such quality teams, and we're proving at times that we can certainly hang with some of those squads and put ourselves in a position to steal one of those victories. But we're happy to get this win and come home after a victory against a great Pennridge squad."
The Rams (4-7, 1-7) received two goals form Kyle Fanelli, and one apiece from Sean Fechter and Connor Hansen, who also drew an assist.
Central Bucks West 2-0-3-4—9
Pennridge 1-1-0-2—4
Central Bucks East 14, North Penn 8
Central Bucks East hosted North Penn under the lights Tuesday night at War Memorial Field and came away with a convincing 14-8 victory. East celebrated Senior night prior to the game, and the scoring was started by Senior Matt Vetter who scored the opening goal at the 10:45 mark of the first period.
Owen Griffin scored four goals on the night, Matt Vetter finished with two goals and one assist, Ryan Brown had two goals and two assists. The following Patriots chipped in with one goal: Grant Porter, Logan Nelson, Jeff Circuit, Mike Ott, Nick Yerkes, and Alex Phillip. Jack Auteri had three assists.
The Patriot defense was led by senior Dustin Buchanan, who was credited with six ground balls and three caused turnovers. Matt Vetter Matt Krumanacker, Kevin D’Andrea and Bryan McIntosh each had four ground balls. Krumanacker also had a pair of forced turnovers while Vetter and McIntosh each had one. Logan Nelson, Ryan Brown and Owen Griffin all had three ground balls. Griffin and Brown also had one caused turnover as did Mike Ott, who also won 13-of-18 face-offs.
Goalies Sean McGovern and Ryan Cataldo combined for seven saves with McGovern turning away four.
North Penn 2-1-1-4—8
Central Bucks East 3-6-4-1—14
Abington 20, Neshaminy 8
Senior attackman Cameron Leech scored seven goals and also handed our four assists in a huge offensive performance for the Ghosts, who led 6-3 after one quarter and went on to open up a 15-3 lead at halftime. Teammate Hunter Jones added three goals and five assists while Joey Lomady had four goals and one assist and Jack Kurtz added three goals and an assist. Jimmy Lomady had one goal and one assist, and contributing one goal were Ryan Tuffy and James Slavin. James Dickstein and John Wink each added one assist.
Defensively, the Ghosts were led by Ryan Fetzer and Brian Nolan. Freshman Connor Reed had five saves in goal while junior Luke Werner had three in a winning effort.
The Redskins were led by the four-goal effort of Kevin Goetz while Matt Magdelinskas added a hat trick.
Neshaminy 3-0-4-1—8
Abington 6-9-3-2—20
Devon Prep 4, Cheltenham 3
The Panthers came oh-so-close to staging a remarkable comeback against visiting Devon Prep Tuesday night. The Panthers trailed 4-1 late but scored a pair of goals in the final 1:05 with the second coming with 42 seconds remaining.
“We had a great look to tie, but couldn’t put it in,”coach Michael DiPuppo said.
Thomas Hipwell had a pair of goals, and Erek Cunningham contributed at both ends of the field with one goal, one assist and nine ground balls. William Wallace added a pair of assists. Antonio Ringgold also had a big night defensively, picking up seven ground balls. Goalie David Friedman turned away 19 of 23 shots he faced in a standout performance.
Devon Prep 2-1-0-1—4
Cheltenham 0-0-1-2—3
Girls
NESHAMINY 19, COUNCIL ROCK SOUTH 13
Sparked by their potent attack, an improved Redskin squad picked up its second conference win of the season Tuesday. Senior Fran Donato scored eight goals and freshman Kate Carrezola and Katelyn Dennis both had five while Mia Sexton had a single goal to close out the scoring.
“Last week was a tough week –we had four games,” coach Ashley Belmonte said. “CB West was a really tough game (a 20-5 loss), and we had to bounce back from that.
“We had a really effective practice Saturday. We worked on some of the things that didn’t work as well against West. Things are starting to click, and I think they believe in themselves now.”
The two teams were deadlocked 8-8 at halftime, but the Redskins seized control in the second half, outscoring their visitors 11-5.
“We definitely picked it up in the second half,” Belmonte said. “I told them to think about the night we played CB East –it’s halftime, but let’s think of it as down by three under the lights.
“I wanted them to play the way they did that night (in a 17-14 win). They had to play with the hustle and the heart in order to win. We had that extra step in the second half versus the first half.”
The Redskins’ coach acknowledged the strong performances of several players whose names don’t show up in the scoring column.
“Elena Donato and Joanne Mamie stepped up on defense,”Belmonte said. “Those are two of my main defenders.
“In the second half, they came up with ground balls, got the rebounds after someone took a shot. Those were the things we weren’t necessarily getting in the first half. In the second half, we stepped it up, and we were doing the things to help us to win.”
Also giving the Redskins a lift was Devon Iffrig, who filled in when Madilyn Egan was injured. She had five second-half saves.
“Council Rock South came out ready to play us, and it was a really good game in the first half,” Belmonte said. “They were on us.
“We definitely had to adjust, but we did. We rose to the occasion. They continue to impress me. I’m super proud of them at this point.”
Council Rock South 8-5—13
Neshaminy 8-11—19
SOUDERTON 7, NORTH PENN 6
It had been a rough night for Natalie Bulgier.
Just over 10 minutes into Tuesday’s night’s showdown, the Souderton senior was helped off the field after taking a hard fall on North Penn’s turf that left both knees bruised and bloodied, but she wanted no part in the tape the trainer wrapped around both knees, tearing it off with a vengeance after picking up a yellow card late in the opening half.
“I couldn’t do it,” she said. “I can’t have any restrictions on my leg.”
Minus the tape, Bulgier scored four goals in the second half, including the game winner on free position with 18 seconds remaining when she fired a rocket into the opposite side of the net.
“For us, in those last final moments, it was all about composure,” said Bulgier, who will be traveling to Scotland this summer as a member of the U.S. U19 National Team. “As exciting as it was, we were really composed, and we tried to not let the game get to us, for the most part.
“This season, we’ve been going into each game, taking it one game at a time. The stakes are high when we play North Penn just because it’s a signature game.
“I’m really proud, especially of our defense. We made adjustments, stopped swinging, and we kept body. As long as we kept body, we were getting those turnovers, and we were getting the transition. We held nothing back on attack, and I think that was huge for us today.”
Bulgier’s game winner came moments after the Maidens appeared to be on the verge of capitalizing on a Souderton miscue only to misfire at a wide open net. There were missed opportunities on both sides against defenses that were outstanding until Bulgier delivered the game winner.
“The last five minutes, my heart was pounding,” Souderton senior goalie Kelly Williams said. “Especially that breakaway shot with 1:17 left. That was insane. I thought it went in. It was such a cutthroat game. We just kept our composure that last 1:17, but emotions were running high because we definitely wanted to win.”
Williams turned away six shots, several at point blank range, in the first half, allowing the Indians – who received a pair of Amber Lambeth goals – to go into halftime with a 3-2 lead.
“Kelly came up with some really big saves tonight,” Souderton coach Kelly Kelly said. “I think tonight Kelly came on this field with the mindset – I need to focus on myself, and I need to focus on my steps, and she came out and did a really nice job.”
North Penn went on top 5-4 with 16:35 remaining after Sydney Lear, who led the Maidens with four goals, connected on back-to-back shots.
“I think we got a little frazzled, but I think we realized coming off of West Chester Henderson on Friday how much we’re capable of doing and what our level of play can be, and we picked it up from there,” said Williams of the Indians’ 18-15 win over Henderson in a game they trailed by one at the intermission.
Bulgier scored consecutive goals to put the Indians on top 6-5 with 10 minutes remaining, but the Maidens got that back when Makayla Bowman found Jenn DeLongis for the score at the 7:07 mark, setting the stage for the final dramatic minutes that culminated with Bulgier taking the ball the length of the field for a free position that resulted in the game winner.
“That’s the last person we wanted to have the ball with a free position strong side,” North Penn coach Heather Mellow said.
For her part, Bulgier had just one thought
“At that point, I’m like, ‘Okay, I need to use my speed to get the ball to the midfield’ because I credit North Penn for their midfield transition defense,” she said. “They were swarming us. I think speed and just running through the ball and having your eye on the goal was really key today.”
The defenses from both sides repeatedly came up with big plays.
“We had some really nice caused turnovers,” Kelly said. “In the beginning of the first half, we were getting a little check happy and a little over excited, and then we held our ground.
“Once we held our ground, we were having some nice caused turnovers. They were just waiting for the opportunities to check, and they were holding their checks and allowing the mistakes to happen.”
Both goalies finished with eight saves. Michelle Dyck came up with a huge save on a Bulgier free position shot that set the stage for the Lear goal that put the Maidens on top 5-4. She wasn’t the only player to come up big defensively on a night that saw the Maidens limit a Souderton team that averaged 16 goals in its eight-game winning streak coming into the game to just seven.
“Maddy McClure had a great game,” Mellow said. “She was huge for us getting the ball from one end of the field to the other.
“Bri O’Donnell is a freshman, and she was lined up against Natalie half the time, and she did an outstanding job. I felt like the whole team did well. The defense played great. They stopped them many times and were strong getting the ball out. I can’t say enough about all of them.”
And it was the Maidens’ all-out effort against their neighboring rivals only to come up one goal short that made the loss so difficult to swallow.
“I’m new to this, but for them, this (rivalry) has been going on for years and in every sport, so it’s not just lacrosse – it’s every sport down the road that it’s a rivalry with them,” Mellow said. “So it’s hard for me to say, ‘Hey guys, don’t worry about it. Shake it off. We’ve got the next one’ when this is one they take to heart.
“The opportunities were there. We played a good game. We just made some fundamental errors at the wrong time, and you can’t do that against a team like Souderton because they’ll take advantage of it and shove it down our throat.”
The Indians improved to 3-0 in conference play (10-2 overall) while the Maidens are 3-1 in the league (6-3 overall).
Souderton 3-4—7
North Penn 2-4—6
Abington 20, Norristown 1
Rachel Morris led a balanced Ghosts attack with four goals while Mikki Raymond had three goals and four assists in the big win. Jeannie Van Buren had two goals and four draw controls while Casey McAllister and Jules Greco both added two goals. Contributing one goal each were Sarah Donohue, Ali Maher, Maddie Sjoholm, Sam McGee, Katherine Gerhard, Same Stokes and Issy Mugnier.
Defenders Emma Kurtz and Maddie Sjoholm both had three ground balls.
Springfield Township 17, Cardinal O’Hara 8
The Spartans received contributions from just about everyone in their lineup in Tuesday’s non-league win. Leading the way were Lindsey Smith (five goals, two caused turnovers, five draw controls, three ground balls) and Caroline Pape (one assist, three goals, six draw controls, four ground balls).
Allison Yoder had two goals, two draw controls and two caused turnovers, and Bailey Krewson had two assists, one goal and two caused turnovers. Elle Hamilton had one assist, two goals and two ground balls, and Marley Berger had two goals and one assist. Zoe Edalatpour had three caused turnovers. Meg Chandler and Jameson Krewson each had one goal while Ellie Leitzel had one assist to close out the scoring.
Margarethe Leis had three saves in a winning effort in goal.
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