Continental Conference
Hatters playing for a cause – Tuesday night’s ‘Shooting for the Cure’ girls/boys doubleheader at Hatboro became especially personal this year for junior Nicole Beck, whose mother Jacquie was diagnosed with breast cancer during the past year.
“It was definitely a shock because she’s always been healthy, outgoing and athletic,” Beck said. “The doctor and everyone reassured us that she was going to be okay because they caught it really early – they caught it in stage one.
“They had a plan, and once we knew what we were going to do and how we were going to attack it, everyone felt better now that the surgery is over.”
Jacquie Beck is doing fine and helped spearhead Tuesday’s celebration that featured a girls’ game between the Hatters and archrival North Penn and a boys’ game against Pennridge. Between games, players from all four squads escorted cancer survivors who are part of their lives onto the field to be recognized.
“Last year, we weren’t part of the night game,” Beck said. “We always had our own ‘Pink’ game, and it’s always been a special game to everyone, but it’s much different now.
“Before, you would see everyone walk out and you’d feel bad, but when you’re actually walking with someone, you understand what it’s like.”
Tuesday’s ‘Shooting for the Cure’ raised $3,500. All proceeds will be donated to the Mary T. Sachs Breast Cancer Center at Abington Hospital.
Haegele is a girl for all seasons –Casey Haegele will be attending Penn State University this fall on a field hockey scholarship, but the Central Bucks South senior has excelled on the lacrosse field as well.
Last year, Haegele was the top scorer for the Titans at attack wing, earning first team all-league honors. This year, she was asked to move to a new position on the field.“This year we had a lot of veteran attackers, and I needed Casey to play more of a defensive role,” Craig said. “Even last year, she played defense and attack, but this year she is primarily defense.
“She didn’t say anything when I asked her to move. She took it for the team because that is where we needed her. If you look at the collegiate game, true midfielders’ jobs are to control the midfield game. Their job isn’t to be the top scorer.”
That being said, Haegele has still scored her share of goals, and she leads the team in ground balls.
“She controls the middle of the field,” Craig said. “She just does it all. As a coach, I feel very comfortable and confident when Casey has the ball.”
Haegele is giving some consideration to the idea of playing two sports at the collegiate level and trying out as a walk-on for the lacrosse team.
“It’s really hard to be a dual-sport athlete at the collegiate level, especially at Penn State, but if Casey wants to play lacrosse, she would fit in nicely at the Division One level,” Craig said. “She’s extremely athletic and fast.”
A four-year starter, Haegele has started every game for the Titans and, according to Craig, played almost every minute of every game.
“She’s a good kid,” the Titans’ coach said. “And she’s one of the top athletes in the league.”
National Conference
She’s back – Hannah Plappert watched from the sidelines as her Council Rock North lacrosse team roared out of the gate to an 8-2 start, recuperating from a concussion she suffered while playing field hockey at the National Indoor Tournament the weekend before the season started.
Last Wednesday, Plappert was cleared to practice.
“She kept saying, ‘I’m going to be slow. I’m going to be out of shape,’” co-coach Pat Toner said. “She was worried about that, and she was worried about catching and throwing.
“I told her, ‘You had a traumatic brain injury. You can’t expect yourself to be back.’”
The plan was to ease Plappert back into the flow, giving her five minutes here and there in Saturday’s non-league game against Emmaus. That plan went out the window in a hurry once Plappert stepped onto the field.
While Plappert might not have been at full speed, she was good enough to turn in an impressive seven-goal, four-assist effort in the Indians’ 18-4 win.
“She’s not back to normal form yet, but she looked pretty good to me,” Toner said.
The veteran coach credited the younger players who were forced to step up in Plappert’s absence as well as the veterans who picked up the slack.
“I’m really proud of the rest of the kids for what they did,” Toner said. “Everybody but especially Kara Magley, Lindsay Rheiner and Becky Ely – all of them stepped up immensely.
“I knew we still had really good kids, and everyone was really looking forward to the season, but things never go the way you expect it, either good or bad. We were hoping to have a lot of talent back this year, but they have surprised me all over the place. They have really worked hard to maintain a successful season, and I’m incredibly proud of them.”
The Indians are undefeated in league play (6-0), and they are 10-2 overall, and they did it without Molly Doyle, who tore her ACL and is out for the season, and until Saturday, they did it without one of their top offensive weapons in Plappert.
“I don’t want to take anything away from the rest of the kids because they’re the ones that got us to this point,” Toner said. “I assured them they’ll get plenty of time.
“They might not be getting a lot of the limelight or recognition, but they’re the reason we’ve gotten as far as we have so far.”
Falcons taking flight – Kelly White knows that despite her team’s improved play this season, the Falcons aren’t ready to label themselves a contender with the likes of Council Rock North, a team that defeated Pennsbury twice by double digits this season.
“I told my girls - Council Rock North is a different level of lacrosse than we are currently at,” the Falcons’ coach said. “For them, it’s about doing what’s in their control, not quitting and playing the whole entire 50 minutes.
“If they do that against a team like that, they need to hold their heads high and feel good about themselves because they know they didn’t leave anything on the field.”
With that in mind, White made a point to adjust her non-league schedule this season.
“I changed it so the non-league games would be competitive but yet where we’re not getting blown out because we’re playing a totally different level of lacrosse,” White said. “That’s been part of our success. In our non-league games, we’re not getting hammered 20-4.
“We may not come out with a win, but we’re in the games. You can see it – they’re perceiving themselves differently. They’re not perceiving themselves as this losing team. They’re perceiving themselves as ‘Hey, we’re winning, and we feel good about ourselves.’
“When we do face a team like Council Rock North, it’s all about what is in our control, and when we do have the ball, making good decisions. It’s those types of things you focus on.”
The Falcons are 3-3 in league play and 8-3 overall.
“I think the biggest thing we have been working on is the mental aspect of the game and playing a full two halves and the mental discipline that goes with that and not shutting down when we get a few goals behind,” White said. “Any wins we have had this year – it’s been when they are all connected as a team.
“There’s not one person that can carry this team. It truly is a team effort.”
In last Friday’s 17-12 non-league loss to Central Bucks South, the Falcons had a lead but watched it slip away.
“Everyone from my goalie down to low attack – they were doing great, and then one of my low defenders went out with a concussion,” White said. “After that, Taylor Hickman took a blow to the knee and started swelling up.
“As soon as that happened, you could see the team starting to shut down. I could physically see it on their faces, and CB South went on a five or six-goal spree, and by that time, it was too late for them to respond and come back.”
This year’s squad has five seniors on its roster – four are starters. Two juniors also start while the rest are sophomores and freshmen.
Liz Cowley is a four-year starter who has been the heart and soul of the Falcons.
“Liz is all over the place for us,” White said. “She’s taking the draw, and she’s a huge piece.
“Really, the attack depends on her to take charge. That’s been our focus – them owning the plays, and she’s the one who can pull it out and take charge of things. I need her down on defense as well. She is what we call a gamer. She’s a gamer on game day or practice days. She’s been great this year.”
Hickman, who will be taking her lacrosse talents to IUP, is the Falcons’ top scorer and is averaging over four goals a game.
“She has been a solid piece in our wins,” White said. “She just has a real natural ability of knowing where to be when the ball is transitioning down, and she also has a beautiful high corner shot.”
Sophomores Jackie Sweeney and Kelsy Gumbert have also come up big for the Falcons.
“Jackie is an attack wing and is a huge piece of our transition,” White said. “Kelsy goes between low attack and midfield, and she’s been netting a lot of goals for us this year.”
A concern of White’s coming into the season was her line defense, but senior Katie Fields, junior Amy Eppolito and sophomore Ali Hickman have come up big.
“They have stepped up and have been solid,” the Falcons’ coach said. “Lianna Eyre, who is a sophomore in the cage, has really stepped it up. She’s aggressive and much more confident in the goal this year.
“It’s a shaping process, and I’m really pleased with where we are.”
American Conference
Super sophs – Laura Frankenfield recently received word that she was one of 10
midfielders named to ESPN Rise’s 2011 Girls’ Lacrosse Sophomore Watch List. The Wissahickon sophomore – who was the second leading scorer on a veteran Trojan squad last year - has 50 goals on the season and already has surpassed the 100-goal mark for her young career.
midfielders named to ESPN Rise’s 2011 Girls’ Lacrosse Sophomore Watch List. The Wissahickon sophomore – who was the second leading scorer on a veteran Trojan squad last year - has 50 goals on the season and already has surpassed the 100-goal mark for her young career.“A lot of her goals and the things she does in every game speak for themselves,” coach Jamie Donahue said. “She’s extremely athletic, and she’s worked really hard on her speed and endurance and is doing her best to get to peak performance.
“That has helped her as well as her ability to handle the ball and see the field and then complete passes.”
It is a compliment to Frankenfield’s talent as an offensive player that senior goalie Jess Scannapieco wants the sophomore midfielder to shoot on her at practice so she can improve her skills in the cage.
“It’s one thing when a coach says that, but for another player to recognize that in a teammate is huge,” Donahue said. “A lot of player’s shots aren’t hard enough that they’ll be contested, but Laura’s shots are so fast that even if your stick is there, she will be able to shoot through it or around it.”
Another sophomore of note on this year’s Trojan squad is sophomore Jackie Hibbs – a first team all-league player for a field hockey team that captured the district crown last fall.Hibbs, who fractured her foot at the National Indoor Field Hockey Tournament, is tied for second on the team in goals scored with 21.
“She’s one of those kids who is just tough as nails,” Donahue said. “She’s still fighting the pain, but she wants to play, so she deals with the pain.
“She’s definitely an athlete, she’s very fast, and she’s a hustler. She leads our team in ground balls, and she has a lot of blocked passes and interceptions. She sees the field well, and she speeds her way through everything. We call her the human vacuum because she is a magnet for ground balls.”
Sophomore Alana Stutman has also stepped up her level of play.
“She just gets along well with everyone, and when the captains ask her to do something, she does it,” Donahue said. “If Emily Croke is asking her to run a play, Alana will run it and make sure it goes well.
“I have put her in almost every position in the field. She usually plays low attack, but she’s someone I can put wherever I need her. Wherever I need a good ball handler, I put Alana.”
Sparked in no small part by the play of those sophomores, the Trojans – who have been without captain and four-year starter Alex Smith (broken clavicle) all season - find themselves in second place behind only Upper Dublin in the American Conference standings.
SuburbanOneSports.com Fab Five
- North Penn (10-0 SOL, 15-1 overall) The Maidens have established themselves as the class of the SOL in recent years. That hasn’t changed.
- Upper Dublin (10-0 SOL, 12-1 overall) The Flying Cardinals haven’t lost since they fell to Abington in their opener when they were without Kelly Cross. They have since defeated Ridley and Boyertown in tough non-league games.
- Hatboro-Horsham (8-2 SOL, 11-2 overall) The Hatters’ only losses have been at the hands of North Penn – once by a 9-8 score and more recently 11-9.
- Council Rock North (6-0 SOL, 10-2 overall) The Indians lost by one goal to both Hatboro (in OT) and North Penn early in the season, but they haven’t lost since.
Under consideration: Souderton (7-3 SOL, 12-3 overall)
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