In recent SOL action, three players surpassed the elusive 200-goal plateau, and there’s been a shake-up in the Suburban One National Conference standings.
Abington put itself firmly in the hunt for its fourth consecutive conference crown, thanks to its huge 12-11 win over previously undefeated Council Rock North on Tuesday. The Ghosts and Indians – who share the conference’s top spot with one loss each - can determine their own fate. Win out, and they’ll both win a share of the conference crown. For the Ghosts, it would be their fourth in as many years.
The suspense is all but over in the Continental and American Conferences where North Penn and Upper Dublin hold a two-game lead over their closest opponent.
The Maidens suffered their first loss of the season when they dropped a non-league contest to Archbishop Wood on Monday, falling by an 11-6 score, but according to coach Jami Wilus, there are worse things than a non-league loss.
“Obviously, we didn’t want to lose a game, but after it happened – now we know we have stuff we need to work on, and I think there’s a greater sense of urgency at practice, especially with the seniors,” Wilus said. “They want to make sure they finish what they started. It isn’t going to kill us. It’s just one game.
“By the same token, it brings a greater sense of – we still have a lot of work to do, and we need to continue to grow as a team.”
Historic milestone – Three SOL players have surpassed the prestigious 200-goal mark this season – North Penn’s Abbie Hartman, Hatboro-Horsham’s Lauren Purvis and Upper Dublin’s Amy Cross. Their names might not be hanging on a banner in a gym, but the accomplishment is every bit as impressive as scoring a thousand points in basketball.
To put it into perspective and based on a 20-game season – a player would need to average close to the hat trick in every game for four years to attain that milestone.
Amy Cross is the first Upper Dublin player since Jamie Donahue – now the Wissahickon head coach – to reach the 200-goal milestone. Making her accomplishment even more impressive is that after playing attack wing as a freshman and sophomore, Cross was moved to center as a junior.
“That means she’s being asked to run the whole field the whole game,” coach Dee Cross said. “Last year she scored 70 goals, and that in and of itself was very hard for her because she was expected to be back on defense playing crease, which is the lowest position you can be, and then when she gets to the other end of the field, she was our leading scorer.
“That, I think, was extra hard, and it’s been rewarding for Amy. To be honest, she had no idea because we don’t dwell on that, but it’s a tribute to her hard work. It was just kind of nice it happened.”
Cross was not the primary scorer for the first half of her four-year high school career. During her freshmen and sophomore years, Liz Wall and Amanda Gregg were the team’s undisputed go-to players. It was only in the last two years that Cross has been her team’s big gun.
Cross will be attending Syracuse University on a lacrosse scholarship.
Abbie Hartman had 229 goals when she went down with an ankle injury almost two weeks ago. The high-scoring North Penn senior is listed as day-to-day, but she is expected back for the playoffs. Hartman scored just 17 goals as a freshman but then had a breakout year as a sophomore, scoring 74 goals. Last season, she came close to reaching the 100-goal mark in a single season, scoring 94. She had 44 goals this year when she was injured during a drill at practice.
“Abbie is a very dynamic player,” coach Jami Wilus said. “She has quick moves on the offensive end. She finds ways to get herself in scoring position.
“She’s fast, and she’s strong, and I think that helps her – she has strong movements to goal but is also deceptively quick. She also has great stick skills, and she has the knack for getting the ball in the back of the net consistently since her sophomore year.”
Wilus acknowledged that while it has been a major adjustment playing without Hartman, some of her younger players have been forced to raise their level of play.
“In the Pennridge game (a 17-5 Maiden win), I really saw a lot of our underclassmen step up and show what we see day to day in our practices,” Wilus said. “In our practice, everything doesn’t run through Abbie, but sometimes in a game when it comes down to crunch time, she’s the player everybody looks for.
“It just takes a while for those girls to realize what they do in practice, they can do in a game. If you want to look at the glass as half full, I think it will be a really good thing for us that when Abbie went down we were still able to get some wins and get some other girls to step up. I feel when she gets back we’ll be that much better.”
Lauren Purvis excels in both field hockey and lacrosse. The Hatboro senior was in Argentina from April 6-10 with the U-19 U.S. National Team, but she still found time to surpass the 200-goal plateau when she returned to her lacrosse team.
“She’s so humble,” coach Marie Schmucker said. “That’s a great accomplishment. Not too many lacrosse players score 200 goals in their careers.”
The Hatters’ coach acknowledged that she simply enjoys watching Purvis play the game.
“She’s a beautiful lacrosse player,” Schmucker said. “She’s quick, she’s explosive, she has incredible game sense, she’s a smart player, and she has unbelievable placement. She runs like a gazelle, and she is so smooth and fluid. She can weasel her way through anything. She’s just an all-around player. She plays good offense, she plays in the midfield. She’s just a very, very smooth player. She’s a great kid.”
Purvis will be attending Penn State on a field hockey-lacrosse scholarship.
Falcons turning a new page – Talk about turning things around – the Pennsbury Falcons are doing just that. After a rough start that saw them win just two of their first 10 games, the Falcons have won four of their last five.
Last week, they reversed their fortunes against a pair of teams that had dealt them losses earlier in the season. The Falcons avenged a 16-9 loss to Central Bucks East with a 14-11 win last Tuesday. On Friday, the Falcons edged Council Rock South 8-7. Earlier in the season, the Falcons suffered a 10-6 loss at the hands of the Golden Hawks.
“It’s been great,” coach Kelly White said. “I really thought they could do that all along, but I think it was just hard.
“Any time there’s a transition – I had a whole new philosophy of defense, I ran a whole different attack than what they were used to, and just getting used to me and my style of coaching – I think we needed that adjustment period that you really can’t get in two weeks of preseason.
“I keep telling them, ‘If I could have just had you last year, I think we could have been that much stronger this year.’ They’re a talented group of girls.”
The first-year coach acknowledged several players who have been catalysts ini the team’s turnaround.
“Liz Cowley plays it all for us – she could be my center, my attack wing, my d-wing,” White said. “Another midfielder that is relentless is Jennalise Taylor.
“Jessica Bulafka has been key on our line defense. On attack, Taylor Hickman has scored 20 goals in the last five games, and Jenna Allen has also been solid.”
White received no favors from the people who made up this year’s non-league schedule, which included games against perennial powers Archbishop Wood, North Penn, Wissahickon and Souderton.
“I was dealt this schedule, and we’ll be re-evaluating it for next year,” she said. “For the players, the psychological piece is huge. In sports that mindset and confidence is so important.
“Now that they’re starting to win, you can see it a total change in their personalities. They’re believing in themselves. I think if we had different non-league games, that might have been a little better for us, but we can’t control that.”
As endings go, they don’t get much better than this for the first-year coach and her players.
“It’s so much fun,” White said. “I keep telling them just how proud I am of them. When you’re losing and especially for the seniors – none of them are playing lacrosse in college, some are playing field hockey, and they could have checked out on me a long time ago, but they didn’t. They stuck in there.
“We have been working in practices on our motion, offensive plays, redefending and our transition. I have really been hitting the defense hard on doubling, sliding and bumping, and I’s coming together now. It’s so much fun to watch them. It’s so exciting.”
The Falcons will host Council Rock North on Tuesday and Neshaminy on Thursday to close out their season.
Babies on the way – Nicole Bauer and Liz Wallace should be forgiven if they have other things on their minds these days besides lacrosse.
Both are waiting for the delivery of their first child.
Bauer’s due date of May 20 is just days away while Wallace is due on June 17. Both have received plenty of suggestions for names with Bauer – who is having a girl – especially inundated with ideas for names from her players who would love to have a namesake.
“They’re always saying, ‘You should name her this, you should name her that,’” Bauer said. “Or someone will say, ‘You’re really close to my birthday. You only have to hold it for nine more days and then it will be my birthday.’”
Both have pulled off the feat of coaching while pregnant look amazingly easy.
“I have been fine,” Bauer said. “The heat gets to me sometimes.
“Now it’s getting a little harder to scream because I have allergies as well as being pregnant.”
Wallace credited her players for helping to make her job easier.
“They’ve been good,” she said. “I’m so used to doing everything, so it’s hard for me to rely on people to help me. They’ve been really good at helping and knowing my limits.”
She acknowledged it has been a lot different this season.
“I’m so used to being able to be very physical and demonstrate stuff,” Wallace said. “I go to demonstrate defense, and my stomach gets there first. They’re like, ‘Whoa, baby, get out of here.’ The stress on my body has been unbelievable. I can’t even imagine Nicole – I think I would have died a few weeks ago.”
For Wallace, the differences aren’t just on the lacrosse field.
“It’s hard because you have so much to think about and do when usually all I did in spring was lacrosse,” she said. “It was 130 percent lacrosse. I hardly even talked to my husband.
“Now there are things I can’t ignore. I have to really take some time to do them, and it’s a big adjustment.
“I’m also extremely tired. Every day I reach a new level of tired that I didn’t know existed the day before. I figure it’s good training, but recently, I’ve hit a wall. It’s hard to stand an entire game - I’m still able to stand, and I’ve been standing at practice, but my ankles are paying for that.”
Bauer’s players threw her a surprise baby shower several weeks ago, complete with baby shower games. Wallace’s seniors were in attendance at her baby shower recently.
Both say they wouldn’t have wanted to miss the experience of coaching their respective teams this spring.
“It keeps my mind off of things,” Bauer said. “I think if I was sitting around, I would think about all the pains and aches a little bit more.”
With her due day just two weeks away, the Souderton coach says, ‘I’m hoping I’ll have it this weekend.’”
Look for a baby announcement real soon!
Plappert hits century mark – Hannah Plappert had a hand in 10 goals in Council Rock North’s 15-7 win over Central Bucks East on Thursday. The gifted sophomore – one of five freshmen starters on last year’s varsity - scored six goals and assisted on four others and in the process surpassed the 100-goal plateau.
“Hannah has had a lot of people saying things to her, baiting her, trying to make her lose her poise,” coach Pat Toner said. “And she’ll know sometimes there will be people draped all over, but she’ll still manage to get some of her goals.
“Other times – if they shut her down, she’s not selfish. She’ll pass to the other kids, so she has a ton of assists also. When they try and shut her down, it allows some of the other kids to score even more. We’ve been trying to balance our attack as much as we can. It’s really nice to have some of the younger players being able to score. It’s such a huge accomplishment for Hannah because she worked so hard.”
SuburbanOneSports.com’s Fab Five
- North Penn 13-1 (It’s hard to penalize the Maidens – who were without their top offensive weapon in Abbie Hartman – for dropping their non-league game to Archbishop Wood.)
- Upper Dublin 14-0 (The Flying Cardinals have clinched at least a share of their third straight American Conference crown.)
- Council Rock North 12-1 (The Indians fell by one to Abington, but they still share the National Conference’s top spot with the Ghosts.)
- Abington 10-4 (The Ghosts might well be the most improved team in the league, and after a shaky start, they are in line to win a share of their fourth consecutive conference crown.)
- Wissahickon 13-2 (The Trojans only losses of the season came at the hands of Upper Dublin.)
Under consideration: Hatboro-Horsham (The Hatters battled North Penn tough before falling by three.)
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