Check out the Black Bear Lacrosse Club recaps. Upper Dublin & Upper Moreland both won come-from-behind thrillers. Upper Dublin, Radnor photos courtesy of Greg Lindsay. Check back for a gallery of photos. CLICK HERE to go directly to Suburban One Sports’ GIRLS’ LACROSSE GALLERIES.
District 1 3A Quarterfinal
NO. 2 UPPER DUBLIN 11, NO. 7 RADNOR 10
“Find a way.”
That’s been the motto of the Upper Dublin girls’ lacrosse team this season. And never have the Cardinals lived that motto more than in Tuesday’s District 1 Class 3A quarterfinal game. Time and again, the Cardinals faced obstacles and found a way to overcome them as they rallied from a 5-1 deficit after one quarter to pull out a remarkable 11-10 victory over reigning District One Champion and PIAA State Finalist Radnor.
Challenge #1 for the Cardinals was to slow down the Raptors’ attack and work their way back from that four-goal deficit after one quarter. It was the second time in as many games the Cardinals found themselves in an early hole (they rallied from a 7-3 first-halftime deficit to defeat Penncrest 9-8).
“We just keep digging ourselves into a hole,” said Upper Dublin sophomore Bridget DiMartile, who led all scorers with 6 goals, including the game-winner. “But I think it’s pretty impressive how we’re able to keep playing, adjust, and work it out and come back and not give up. I feel like we’ve been doing a really good job of that. I don’t really know what’s going on and why we keep playing that way. But we never give up.
“We usually don’t play teams like they have in their league (the Central League). They have a very talented league over there. So, coming out, they were a lot quicker, a lot cleaner. And I think it just took us a little bit
to adjust and kind of wake up and get with their pace.”
A 4-goal second quarter, answered by 3 goals from Radnor, allowed the hosts to get back into the flow, cutting into their deficit and heading into halftime trailing by 3 at 8-5.
“I never doubted us because we’ve done it before,” DiMartile said. “Against Penncrest, we kind of did the same thing. But in the moment, I think we knew it was one goal at a time. We just had to adjust. We had to work things out that weren’t working. And I think that really changed the game for us for the draw, especially. We weren’t winning a bunch in the beginning. There was a theme almost. It kept going in the same area. So we were adjusting in that way. And it was just one play at a time. We just were working really hard. And I think that was the difference in the game.”
Radnor added 2 in the third quarter, while the Cards netted a trio of goals to make the score 10-8 heading into the final frame. That led to one more challenge for the Cardinals: Maintain their record of not allowing more than 10 goals in a single game. This, of course, would mean the Cardinals would need to “find a way” to hold Radnor scoreless in the fourth quarter.
Upper Dublin did just that, blanking the Raptors in the fourth, while the Cardinals netted 3 more. Ava Shohen scored her second of the game to knot the score at 10-10 with just under 10 minutes left, and DiMartile scored her sixth goal of the game with 2:25 left for what would hold up as the game-winner.
“My first couple shots of the game weren’t great. I just wasn’t shooting great,” DiMartile said. “And after Coach Cross called her timeout, she said to everybody, ‘We’re down 4 goals, who’s going to step up and put the ball in the back of the net?’ I had to keep shooting for the team, but it was a total team effort. Without everybody else moving and cutting and all that stuff, we wouldn’t be able to do it. I think it was just, I don’t know, I felt like I owed it to the team after my slow start.”
With the win, the Cardinals not only advance to the District 1 3A semifinals but have secured a berth in the PIAA State Tournament.
“We were just so happy that we get another couple weeks together,” DiMartile said. “Our goal was to qualify for States so that we can keep playing, and we were like, ‘Why not today? What’s stopping us from doing it today rather than having our season on the line on Thursday (in a playback game)?’ So I think we kind of just wanted to come out and we weren’t going to give up, and that’s what we did.”
By the numbers: Upper Dublin: Bridget DiMartile (6 goals, 3 DC), Ava Shohen (2 goals, 1 assist, 2 DC, 2 CTO), Anna DiMartile (2 goals, 4 DC, 1 CTO), Isabella Nardello (1 goal), Maeve Hogan (2 assists, 3 DC, 2 CTO), Abby Rucker (1 assist).
Radnor: Taylor Murphy (3 goals), Ryan Ertel (2 goals, 1 assist), Anna Reger (2 goals), Fran Lucchesi (1 goal, 1 assist), Marin Mooney (1 goal, 1 assist), Riley d’Entremont (1 goal, 1 assist), Caroline Stoffel (6 saves)
Upper Dublin coach Dee Cross: “It was just like last week (UD’s 9-8 win over Penncrest). We got in a 5-1 hole at the end of the first quarter. Someone texted me and said, ‘You need to get a new pregame speech.’ I’m like, no, they were waiting for our end-of-the-third-quarter speech.”
—On shaking off the early jitters: “You could tell we were nervous. And, you know, I get it. They were in the state finals last year, defending District 1 champs. Yes, they graduated a lot of players, but they’re still Radnor. And with that, their girls came out loose. They were fast. They did everything we thought they would do, and we just didn’t adjust right away, and we definitely gave up some goals that we shouldn’t have, and
we just could not find our rhythm. It was so uncharacteristic that I called a timeout. We just told them, ‘We have to get it together or this is not going to continue to go well,’ just challenging them.”
—“Find a way”: “The seniors always pick a motto and make a sign that we hang on the fence every year, and their motto is, ‘Find a way,’ and that is absolutely appropriate for this group of girls because they just do, and they just have. It’s exciting to watch them figure it out. We got it to 8-5 at halftime, so we were still outscoring them every quarter after that, but we just couldn’t get over the hump. We were down 10-8 after three. We also challenged them because we’ve never given up more than 10 goals the whole season, and they were at 10 after three, and we held them scoreless the fourth quarter. So, we did not let them score 11, and we were able to get 11. It’s been that kind of season. We’ve beaten a couple teams 11-10. It’s just like I said, these girls are writing a story, and it’s kind of interesting how little things, like karma things come in. It’s been really exciting.”
—The frantic fourth: “We tied it up with 9:41 left when Ava Shohen scored, and then Bridget DiMartile scored with 2:25 left for the game-winner.
“After that, it was helter-skelter. We turned the ball over, and we would get it right back. We turned the ball over. Literally, I was like, ‘Wait, where’s the ball?’ No one could hold on to the ball. So it’s kind of a blur. I called a timeout just to settle them down.”
—Defensive heroics: “Radnor ended up with the ball in the last 30 seconds, and Liv Coffey, who’s a freshman, came up with a knockdown to put the ball on the turf and Maeve Hogan got the pickup, and we were able to get it upfield and just held onto the ball for the last 10 seconds.”
—They found a way: “Looking back, I’m still smiling, thinking about how this team once again went from an impossible situation and just kept chipping away, and next thing you, we’re up by 1 goal and we have the ball. The game just did not flow like that. We said, ‘Okay, we lost the first quarter, let’s get the second quarter,’ and we just break it down in small segments. And we literally outscored Radnor every quarter after that, but we just didn’t outscore them enough to take the lead until the last quarter.
“For the defense to take the challenge – coach (Kendra) Finger said, ‘You haven’t given up 11 goals all season. What are you going to do about it?’ Basically challenging them, and they held them scoreless. I’m so proud of how they came together as a team. It starts with our senior leadership, and they found a way to win. They did it one goal at a time.
“It was kind of methodical, ‘Okay, we’ve got one. Now let’s get two.’ And they just kept doing that. As a coach, you can only do so much. You can call a timeout, challenge them, put it in front of them, get them ready for the game, but this team – to watch the game, it just went from dire straits to – we have a chance to win this game. And that’s the part that really is really fun to watch, fun to be a part of, and just know that any game we’re in – they’re not going to count themselves out.”
Up next: The second-seeded Cardinals (19-1, 11-0 SOL) advance to host a semifinal matchup at 4 pm Thursday against No. 3 seed Bishop Shanahan, which edged West Chester Henderson 6-5 in their quarterfinal game.
Radnor 5 3 2 0 – 10
Upper Dublin 1 4 3 3 – 11
District 1 2A Quarterfinal
NO. 2 UPPER MORELAND 8, NO. 7 WEST CHESTER RUSTIN 7
Gianna Brown tends to lead by example and lets her actions on the field do all the talking for her.
But with Upper Moreland staring at a 5-0 halftime deficit in Tuesday’s District 1 2A Quarterfinal against West Chester Rustin, the senior defender had something she needed to say to her teammates.
“I knew that coming into this game, walking up the stairs to our field, that I was not done yet,” Brown said. “I thankfully, luckily, get to play in college, but I know some seniors here won’t, and I was trying to get inside of their heads. And also, knowing that this team and these girls that I’ve known for so long – I just knew I was not done. I was saying how I’m going to show up at practice tomorrow, even if we win or lose. I remember sitting there, and I was like, ‘If you guys think this game is over and you guys think that we’ve lost already, you’ve got to stop thinking like that because your mindset is as important as catching and throwing on the field.’ It’s important to be thinking the right way.
“I’m not one to speak out like that a lot. I’m definitely much more of a listener. Those huddles are very important to tell you what you need to be doing, and I took the opportunity when there was a little bit of silence. I was like, ‘This is really important,’ and I just felt like high-risk, high-reward, might as well just say something.”
Brown’s teammates listened. And responded. And remarkably, after being blanked through the first half, the Golden Bears played just about a perfect second half, scoring three goals in the third quarter and exploding for five more in the fourth, while holding Rustin to a single third-quarter goal, to roar back and earn a stunning 8-7 victory over Rustin to advance to the District 1 2A Semifinals. Golden Bears’ senior Annalise Messina capped off a stellar 6-goal effort with the game-winning goal with just 27 seconds left on the clock.
“I literally could not believe it,” Brown said. “We’re (down) 5-0 at the half. I was very concerned. ‘We need to do something right now or this is just going to go downhill.’
“Scoring that goal 27 with seconds left and winning it was one of the best things ever. I remember we scored that goal, and I was hugging my defense, and our goalie was like, ‘Don’t forget, you still have 27 seconds left.”
By the numbers: Upper Moreland: Annalise Messina (6 goals, 3 DC), Madeline Cox (1 goal), Eva Gorrell (1 goal), Keria Hess (4 assists), Keiley Hawk (3 DC), Charlie Clement (2 DC), Avery Adamski (1 DC), Addi Hurley (12 saves).
Upper Moreland coach Kim Frantz: “I could not be more proud of this team and their desire and effort through this whole game. They won this game with pure heart and determination. They could have given up long before we started making a comeback and momentum shift, but they kept working and never slowed down. Knowing we have at least 2 more bonus games this year is such a gift.”
—Solid defense in the slow start: “For the first 10-and-a-half minutes of the game, Rustin pretty much had control of the ball, and our defense was able to hold them without a goal. And then they got an 8-meter and scored with 1:47 left in the first quarter. And then they scored one more goal with 16 second left. And literally they had control of the ball the whole time. We would get a turnover, we’d get it to the midfield, and we would turn it over and get it right back down on defense. But our defense was phenomenal today. Just very connected. They worked well together today and were able to really make them work for all of their goals.
“So that made it 2-0 going into the second quarter. And then in the second quarter, they only had three goals, but they fought for all three goals. They were pretty spread out. Again, we just were turning the ball over on attack and in the midfield. We just had trouble kind of keeping possession of the ball outside of our defensive end, so that was tough.”
–Speaking up: “At halftime, one of my seniors, Gianna Brown, basically was like, ‘Whatever you’re thinking right now, get it out of your head. Think positively. The game’s not over. We have to work.’ And then they went out. I think that made a huge difference. It was just like a switch was flipped.”
–Getting on the scoreboard: “Once we got our first goal, I feel like it opened things up a little bit for us. And then we kind of fought back. (In the third quarter), we scored three, and they only scored one. And then the fourth quarter, we just really had the momentum.”
—Taking control: “We just had things going on our side. They got a card, which was helpful, although we only scored one goal during the 2-minute penalty. But I think just the momentum swing was huge. And then it was 7-7, and we won the draw. There was about 1:30 left. When we came down, I called a timeout. I told them, ‘I want to use up more time before we go to goal,’ because I didn’t want there to be enough time for them to score afterward, and Annalise scored on an 8-meter to win the game, 27 seconds left. It was crazy. And then the last draw was all over the place, and somehow we ended up with the ball.”
–Messina rises to the occasion: “In the first half, they shut down Annalise – she had zero goals, and then all of a sudden, she just found it. She’s our kid if we’re in trouble or we’re behind – we have to find Annalise, and that’s exactly what we did. When we tied the game and we called a timeout, we talked about what we’re gonna do – we’re gonna find Annalise, and she luckily got an eight–meter. Not only that but she just played lights out like on the draw. She was huge for us on the draw, she was huge for us all over the field. She’s very aggressive on defense. She’s just a phenomenal player.”
–Rustin’s got talent, UM’s got heart: “Rustin is a really good team. They have a whole team of talented players. We have some talented players, but we don’t have a whole team of talent players. At the end of the game, I said to them – ‘You’ve got to listen to what I’m saying and take it the right way, but Rustin has more talent than us. But your desire, your heart, your effort is what won this game.’
“I said, ‘So take that with you for the future. Because you won this game truly on desire and heart.’ They did. To come back, especially against Rustin – that was huge. They have very good players.”
–Getting defensive: “(Defenders) Gianna Brown, Avery Adamski, Leah King, and Maggie Brophy were just so connected and played amazing. Addi Hurley, my goalie, also was huge and had some amazing saves on eight meters and on just in regular shots. She had 12 saves, and she really kept us in the game too, but even in that first 10 minutes of the game they really didn’t get many shots at all. We were just not even letting them in the eight.”
–King comes up big: “Leah King, who led the team with five ground balls, has really grown throughout this season. She got an interception and ran it up the field and got the ball to Annalise for the goal when we were down 7-6, so that interception was huge. And then West Chester Rustin had the ball again, and she got it again for us in a similar way. She read the pass, intercepted it, and got it down the field for us. So, she was a really big part of it.”
–More props: “One of our players got hurt going to goal. She got fouled so she had an eight–meter and we ended up subbing in a freshman Eva Gorrell who had to then walk onto the field and take this eight meter. This was for the second goal of the game in the third quarter, and she went in and scored an eight meter. She hasn’t taken many eight meters in the season, so that was also a really big, big thing.”
“Keira Hess had 4 assists and created some big movements and action on attack. Keiley Hawk and Madeline Cox were amazing on the draw and in transition.”
Up next: The Golden Bears (13-7, 7-4 SOL) will host No. 3 Villa Maria Academy – which won its quarterfinal game against Gwynedd Mercy Academy by a 17-6 count – at 4 pm Thursday in a district semifinal. The Bears are ensured at least two more games, as a win will advance them to the finals, and a loss will give them a chance to qualify for the State Tournament in the third-place game.
West Chester Rustin 2 3 1 0 – 7
Upper Moreland 0 0 3 5 – 8
#4 MOUNT ST JOSEPH ACADEMY 15, #5 SPRINGFIELD TWP 8
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