Upper Dublin clinched a PIAA 3A State Tournament berth with a win in a District 1 playback game. (UM/Bishop Shanahan photos provided courtesy of Jay Messina/UM lacrosse)
District 1 3A playbacks
#3 UPPER DUBLIN 11, #10 GARNET VALLEY 10
The Flying Cardinals had no business winning.
Trailing 9-3 early in the second half, they couldn’t have been blamed if they had been looking ahead to a must-win game for the seventh and final berth in the PIAA 3A State Tournament. Throw in the fact that they were playing a team out of the powerful Central League, and the Cardinals prospects looked mighty bleak.
But a funny thing happened.
The Cardinals staged a remarkable comeback to notch the heart stopping win, earning the program’s first state berth since 2011. And they did it by rallying for the come-from-behind win over a team from the powerful Central League.
“We have never beaten a Central League team in the playoffs,” UD coach Dee Cross said. “In 2012, we lost to Conestoga by one goal, and that’s the closest we’ve ever gotten to winning. We were down pretty much the whole game today”
With 1:48 remaining, sophomore defender Maeve Hogan found the net for a goal that broke a 10-10 tie and stood as the game-winner.
“They were face guarding at least two of our girls the whole game, so we made adjustments and sent Maeve over as a defender,” Cross said. “I know she can play midfield, and she stepped right up, took great shots and ended up getting the game-winning goal.”
The Jaguars broke a 9-9 tie, scoring their 10th goal with 6:24 remaining. The Cardinals answered with the equalizer when Lily Buckius scored with 4:08 showing on the scoreboard clock.
“Lily is one of our ball handlers, and she’s on the field because she is a great person to tackle back,” Cross said. “She’s all over the field, but she doesn’t always score. Today she obviously had a very important goal to tie it up at 10, and you could just see – her confidence boost was unbelievable.”
That tie stood until Hogan delivered the game-winner, capping a you-had-to-see-it-to-believe-it comeback.
“With the girls getting face guarded – they face guarded Paige (Dinkel) and Bridget (DiMartile) pretty much the whole game,” Cross said. “Our three middies are very successful at scoring. They shut them down, and we made adjustments and didn’t make them feel like they had to score.
“It fell on the other four attackers. We would shoot different people over to try to get in on the offense. Out of 11 goals, 10 of them were assisted, and that’s unbelievable. They worked together for the good shots.”
The Cardinals also won the draw battle 14-11 with Anna DiMartile leading the way with nine draw controls.
“Abby O’Meara came up with some key caused turnovers again – she had three today,” Cross said. “The real key was – at the end of the game, we were up one. We thought we had the ball. It turns out they gave them the ball, but they turned it over, so we called a timeout with 37 seconds left.
“The ball was behind our goal cage, so we had to run it out – we turned the ball over. They get a last second shot, and Erin Darcy stepped up and made the save. For her to have that composure in the goal in that type of a game, it was unbelievable. The ball kind of bounced off of her stick, and she quickly stopped it and took her time on the clear.”
Darcy, a defensive field player last year, went into goal for the first time during the offseason.
“I didn’t ever expect to play it,” Darcy said. “But our team didn’t have anyone to be in goal. I figured it was my senior year, I’m not playing in college, and maybe it will turn out good, and I could step up for the team and play.”
As for her late-game heroics, the senior goalie – who finished with eight saves – acknowledged she would have been happy to avoid that battle.
“I was like – ‘Oh my gosh, if this goes in, I’m going to feel so bad,’” Darcy said. “I just knew I had to do my best for the team.
“It was a special feeling (to win). We haven’t gone this far since 2011. I was just so happy it could happen for our team.”
Darcy was one of several newcomers who played key roles in the win.
“The ball was in Bridget DiMartile’s hands at the end of game as a freshman,” Cross said. “We don’t even look at them any more how long they’ve played on varsity.
“They’re playing together, and they said, ‘We don’t want to see the season end,’ and that was it right there. They fought to the end, they played with confidence. Every game for Garnet Valley in the Central League is a battle. They’re battle tested, and we came out a little on our heels. Finally, we started chipping away – one at a time, one at a time. The next thing you know it’s 9-9.”
And the next thing you know – the Cardinals did the improbable, not only rallying to knot the score but holding on for the emotional win.
“I almost cried – it was pretty special,” Anna DiMartile said. “I’ll give credit to the whole team as a unit. Me and my sister were both being face guarded, and everyone just stepped up.
“I think everyone stepped back and were like, ‘All right, we got this. We all need to work as a team.’ We were not losing hope, but there were times when we knew it would be harder to win, but I feel like always in my heart I knew we had it in us to come back and win it. We have the players and the talent, and we’re all super good friends, and that translates onto the field.”
Senior Paige Dinkel ignited the Cardinals’ attack with five goals.
“Even being face guarded, she had one goal in the first quarter,” Cross said. “They pretty much took the face guard off her in the second quarter, and she had two. Then she had two more in the fourth quarter, so we really took advantage of who was available, and they just really worked together. That’s what we were so proud of.
“This time of year is hard. There are so many distractions as every spring coach knows. To keep them engaged in this playback thing – this was huge to not have to fight for that last spot.
“These girls are such a great group of girls, and the coaches – with Katrina (Borzelleca) and Kendra (Finger) on the sidelines – we just don’t want the season to end, and the girls said the exact same thing. They’re playing for each other, they’re playing because they like each other. It’s just such a nice feeling. We know we’re going to states, and now we can just really focus on the little things and just getting better. It’s an unbelievable experience for everyone.”
In addition to Dinkel’s five goals, Anna DiMartile had two goals, one assist, nine draw controls and one caused turnover. Buckius had two goals, and Bridget DiMartile had one goal, three draw controls and one caused turnover, Hogan had one goal, and Ava Shohen spent the game setting up her teammates, finishing with seven assists to go along with two draw controls. Shannon Connaughton had two assists.
Upper Dublin (18-3, 10-1 SOL) will host #5 Downingtown East in Wednesday’s fifth place game.
Garnet Valley 4-4-1-1 10
Upper Dublin 2-1-3-5 11
#5 DOWNINGTOWN EAST 15, #8 PENNRIDGE 12
Ava Fantaskey scored six goals in a glittering offensive effort, but it wasn’t enough as the visiting Rams fell to the Cougars in Thursday’s playback game.
The Rams trailed by just one (10-9) heading into the final quarter, but they were outscored by the Cougars 5-3 in the final frame.
Kate Unzicker and Madigan Posey each added two goals. Posey led the Rams with four caused turnovers and also had two draw controls. Gianna Luethe contributed two draw controls and one caused turnover.
Kendall Posey and Cayla Wurz both had one goal. Scooping up one ground ball each were Delaney Dodge, Natalie Berke and Leah Verespy. Verespy also had one draw control and one caused turnover, Aubrey Bailey had three draw controls, and Taylor Burkett had one.
Pennridge (14-7, 9-1 SOL) will host #10 Garnet Valley in a playback on Wednesday for the district’s final state berth.
District 1 2A semifinals
#4 BISHOP SHANAHAN 8, #1 UPPER MORELAND 7
The top-seeded Golden Bears – who led 5-2 at halftime and took a 7-4 lead into the final quarter – lost a heartbreaker to the visiting Eagles
“Today was a really hard-fought battle,” UM coach Kim Frantz said. “We had a lead three out of four quarters, but a few things didn’t fall our way to pull out the win.
“I was really happy with how we hung with a private school and how hard we played until the last second of the game. This game definitely will make us a better team. We will learn from a few things and be ready for the playback game.”
Annalise Messina led the Golden Bears with three goals, one assist and five draw controls. Molly Meakim had two goals and two assists, and Olivia Meakim added one goal and two assists. Keira Hess had one goal, and Willow Taylor contributed one draw control.
Addi Hurley had 11 saves in goal for the Golden Bears.
Upper Moreland (17-4, 9-2 SOL) will host Springfield Twp in Wednesday’s third place game.
Bishop Shanahan 1-1-2-4 8
Upper Moreland 4-1-2-0 7
#3 VILLA MARIA ACADEMY 6, SPRINGFIELD TWP 5 (OT)
Tess Talbot had a big day in goal, keeping the Spartans in it until the very end with 12 saves and a 67 percent save average for the game.
It was Talbot who kept the game scoreless after one quarter
“Tess had six saves in the first quarter,” Spartans’ coach Marissa Conover said. “We had one shot – if any, so they had possession a lot of quarter one.
The two teams went into halftime deadlocked at 2. Fiona Rizzo and then Emma Yoder scored for the Spartans. Talbot had a 72 percent save average in the first half.
Shannon Silvius scored the Spartans’ lone goal of the third quarter, and the two teams went into the final quarter deadlocked 3-3. Fiona Rizzo scored a pair in the fourth quarter, but the score remained knotted, setting the stage for overtime.
Springfield Twp (15-6, 10-1 SOL) will travel to #1 Upper Moreland for Wednesday’s All-SOL third place game.
Villa Maria Academy 0-2-1-2-1 6
Springfield Twp 0-2-1-2-0 5
Black Bear Lacrosse, the sponsor for SuburbanOneSports lacrosse summaries, is offering summer camps for boys/girls kindergarten through rising 10th grade. Click here for for additional information: https://www.blackbearlacrosse.com
About the Author
