Check out Thursday’s SOL boys and girls lacrosse results.
Boys
HATBORO-HORSHAM 11, CENTRAL BUCKS EAST 10
The Hatters won a thriller on Thursday, holding off a late Patriot charge to earn the electrifying win. The win not only gave the Hatters a sweep of the defending champions but also gave them a two-game lead in the standings with two games remaining, ensuring them at least a share of the coveted conference crown.
“The kids played their tails off,” Hatboro coach John Kurek said. “We went in with a game plan, but the kids are really something special this year.
“They really play hard, they really play for each other. My hats are definitely off to them.”
Coming as no surprise, the outcome of this one wasn’t decided until the final whistle. The Patriots jumped out to a 2-0 lead, but the Hatters scored a pair of goals in the closing seconds of the first quarter to make it a 3-3 game. Hatboro reeled off four unanswered goals – two on man-up opportunities - to go on top 7-3 only to watch the Patriots score two goals in the final three minutes of the half to make it a 7-5 game at the intermission.
East opened up a 9-5 lead, but the Hatters trimmed that lead to two at the end of three quarters (9-7). East rallied to knot the score 9-9 with one of those goals on a two-man advantage.
“It was back and forth,” Kurek said. “Both teams just really wanted it.”
The Hatters scored goals at the 5:09 and 3:04 marks to go on top 11-9, but the Patriots didn’t go down quietly. East made it a one-goal game at the 1:58 mark and then won the ensuing face off.
Hatboro goalie Marc Poust turned away a Patriot shot, but with the Hatters trying to run out the clock, East recovered a ground ball on a caused turnover by Matt Milici and called its final timeout with 1:07 remaining to set up the potentially tying shot. Once again, Poust was equal to the task, coming up with yet another huge save to preserve the big win.
Poust turned away 18 of 28 shots he faced.
“Marc’s one of those kids – he’s got talent,” Kurek said. “He started in this program since he was a freshman. Now it’s his junior year, and you’re starting to see a kid who is a good player turn into a leader. What he does out there – he tells the defense what to do, he knows the calls, he knows what the other team has. He takes the scouting report very seriously, so he’s always ready to take command out there.
“Granted, we gave up 10 goals, but they had a ton of shots, and he made some great saves.”
Kurek pointed to his team’s out-of-season conditioning as a key to Thursday’s big win.
“Our kids are in such great shape,” he said. “My one assistant coach really took it on to get the kids in shape, and they all bought into it. They all bought into – no one is going to outwork us on the field.
“Even though East kept chipping back – I’ve seen it before in our program’s history. At some point, it’s almost like, ‘Man these guys just keep punching.’ We might lay down, and they might get the best of us.’ Today our kids said, ‘It’s fine. We’re okay. We’re going to keep pushing. We’ll push them back,’ and they really did. I can’t get over the effort today.
“I think they beat us in the ground ball war, but they kept hustling, they kept pushing, and it just worked out for us.”
Ben Cellini (three goals), Ryan Higgins (two goals, one assist), Zach Erwine (two goals), Jimmy Murphy (one goal, two assists) and Jimmy Durkin (one goal, two assists) led the Hatters offensively. Connor Kreston and Matt McPoyle added one goal apiece.
Kreston and Jake Cresta led the Hatters with five ground balls each. Cresta, McPoyle, TJ Keleher and Keith Cameron came up big defensively.
For the Patriots, Matt Milici (two goals), Matt Schmidt (two goals) and Matt Heim (two goals, one assist) led the offense. Geoff Kuhn, Cole Rushworth, Zach Kane and Anthony Casselli each had one goal. Kane also had an assist. Rushworth won 15 of 20 face offs.
Goalies Sean McGovern (six saves) and Sean McSherry (four saves) turned away 10 shots. Tyler Butler and Dustin Buchanan both had seven ground balls while Casselli had five.
While the Patriots fell to 8-2 in league play, the Hatters are 10-0 and can clinch solel possession of the league title with a win over visiting North Penn on Friday night (7 p.m.).
“This is huge,” Kurek said. “They get it. They know East is a perennial (power). My hat is off to Bruce (Garcia) and his program. They’re unbelievable.
“Year in and year out, no matter who they graduate, they always reload, they’re always ready to go. The kids came together. It’s unbelievable the group of kids we got this year.”
Hatboro-Horsham 3-4-2-2 11
Central Bucks East 3-2-2-3 10
UPPER DUBLIN 14, SPRINGFIELD (MONTCO) 3
The Flying Cardinals led 4-2 at the end of one quarter and took a 5-2 lead into halftime before blowing the game wide open with a 9-0 second half.
Ben Winebrake (five goals, two assists), Michael Sowers (two goals, four assists), Nicholas Vernacchio (one goal, three assists) and Ryan Swinski (two goals) all had multi-goal efforts. Zach Hanson, Michael Mullen and John Minehart each added single goals. Mullen also had an assist. Jack Deragon had eight saves.
Upper Dublin 4-1-4-5 14
Springfield 2-0-1-0 3
ABINGTON 19, HARRY S TRUMAN 0
The Ghosts, who did all of their scoring in the first half, opened up a 13-0 lead at the end of one quarter on their way to the decisive win. Brian Gallagher’s seven-goal effort led the Ghosts. Will Dulin (two goals, four assists), Joe Bisaquino (three goals), Hunter Jones (one goal, one assist) and Joey Lomady (one goal, three assists) also had multi-point games. Cameron Leech, Matt Gormley, Mark Ludwig, Austin Pifani and Mike Martin each added one goal. Alex Gordon had a pair of assists.
Lomady and Pifani led the defense with nine ground balls each. Lomady was 12-0 on face offs while Pifani was 10-0. Blake Freidman had six saves in goal for the Ghosts.
Abington 13-6-0-0 19
Harry S Truman 0-0-0-0 0
Girls
CENTRAL BUCKS SOUTH 11, SOUDERTON 10 (OT)
Devon Dietzel used an assist from freshman Sara Poli with 2:37 remaining to propel the Titans to the dramatic come-from-behind win. Dietzel’s late-game heroics didn’t seem likely after the Titans spotted the Indians a 6-1 halftime lead and still trailed 8-2 early in the second half after back-to-back goals by Alyssa Ziegler.
The Titans trimmed that lead to four (9-5) after a goal by junior Lauren Roberts at the 16:12 mark, and it was a three-goal game after Emily Cliggett (Megan Hamilton assist) connected less than a minute later.
A Poli goal with 8:32 remaining pulled the Titans to within two, and a Hamilton goal (Corrine Kenney assist) 12 seconds later made it a 9-8 game. Souderton’s Brittany Royan broke the Titans’ run with a goal at the 6:30 mark to put the Indians on top by two, but the Titans answered with goals by Dietzel and Cliggett – the tying goal coming with 1:22 remaining. The Indians won the ensuring draw but came up empty, setting the stage for overtime.
East goalie and senior captain Leslie Searles recorded 12 saves on 24 shots. Kenney had four caused turnovers while freshman Kelly Senour had three caused turnovers. Hamilton had a team-high seven ground balls, and Cliggett and freshman Courtney Dietzel both had three draw controls.
The Indians were led by Chessie Rehmer (two goals, three assists), Amber Lambeth (two goals, two assists), Alyssa Ziegler (two goals, one assist) and Brittany Royan (two goals, one assist). Natalie Bulger (one assist) and Jess Ziegler both had one goal, and Rachel Judge had one assist.
Poli led the Titans with the hat trick while Dietzel and Cliggett each had two goals. Hamilton, Roberts and Kenney all added one goal.
While the Indians fell to 5-6 in the league (7-7 overall), the Titans improved to 3-7 in the league (7-8 overall).
UPPER DUBLIN 14, SPRINGFIELD (MONTCO) 12
The Flying Cardinals rode to big offensive performances of Julie Cross (four goals, one assist), Taylor D’Ginto (three goals, two assists) and Rachel DiFrangia (three goals, two assists) to earn the hard-fought win and clinch at least a share of the conference title with three games remaining.
The Cardinals trailed 7-6 at the intermission.
“As bad as we played – we were inconsistent and couldn’t get the draw control, but we were only down one, which was a good thing,” coach Dee Cross said. “To Springfield’s credit, I know they had a tough loss to Cheltenham the day before, but they came in firing on all cylinders. They were going to goal hard, and we just couldn’t stop them.
“We talked at halftime about taking it one goal at a time, one ground ball at a time and just focusing on what we needed to do to win. We came out flat in the first half, and we’ve been doing that the last couple of games, and then we have a really good second half. It’s a bad habit to get into.
“We’re not over-confident. My team is too young and inexperienced to be over-confident. We just didn’t make the right adjustments. Even with that, they get better each game making those adjustments in the second half and doing what it takes to win.”
The Cardinals had a 7-4 edge in draw controls in the second half and outscored the Spartans by that same margin.
“We won by two, but it was a battle to the end,” Cross said. “Our goalie, Sarah Gallagher, had 10 saves, and a couple of them were point blank shots on her at the end of the game. She’s been very steady for us in goal.
“Defensively, Anna Petrucci and Alycia Hildebrand really came up with some nice double teams in the second half to really get us settled down.”
Shelby Kenny and Dominique Coleman added single goals for the Cardinals, who improved to 11-0 in the league (12-3 overall). The Spartans are 7-4 in the league (7-6 overall).
PLYMOUTH WHITEMARSH 19, NORRISTOWN 9
The Eagles and Colonials battled to a 6-6 tie at the intermission, but PW seized control in the second half.
“We came out in the second half controlling the draw and being smart with each possession,” PW coach Ellen Reilly said.
Kirsten Monte scored five goals and Morgan Nagy added the hat trick to lead the Colonials. Maddie Berman, Kayla Wisniewski, Sarah Naylor and Monica Dresnin each scored two goals. Kyra Brown, Steph Fazio and Aurora Mills closed out the PW scoring with one goal each.
For the Eagles, Kerri Harner led the way with four goals while Keifonna Ferguson and Natalie Mitchell both had two goals. Megan Grande added a single goal.
The Colonials are 3-7 in the league (4-9 overall) while the Eagles fell to 1-11 (2-13 overall).
WISSAHICKON 16, UPPER MERION 12
Laura Frankenfield scored nine goals to lead the Trojans, and Lauren Irvine had five goals and three assists. Zoe Gomez turned in a solid all-around effort, contributing one goal and five assists while committing zero turnovers and controlling four draws. Lindsay Andersen added one goal, and Rachel Zucker and Bailey Weber each had one assist to close out the scoring for the Trojans.
Frankenfield and Jackie Hibbs led the defense with four ground balls each.
The Trojans are 9-3 in league play (10-4 overall) while the Vikings are 6-6 in the league (8-7 overall).
CHELTENHAM 15, UPPER MORELAND 8
Emily Hawkins scored four goals and Allison Hawkins added the hat trick to lead the Lady Panthers, who opened up an 8-3 halftime lead and never looked back. Gabby Szczpanek and Sammie McManus both added a pair of goals. Alix Macklin, Allie Liss, Cosette Carter and Annie McGoldrick scored single goals to close out the scoring.
For the Golden Bears, Ashley Duff had four goals while Veronia Baez, Maddie Mauro, Maura O’Leary and Samara Santry each had one goal. Baez also had an assist, and Brittany Dumproff had two assists.
Kaitlin Taylor turned away nine shots in goal for the Golden Bears while her counterpart had seven saves.
The Lady Panthers are 7-4 in the league (7-7 overall) while the Golden Bears are 1-10 in the league (3-12 overall).
HATBORO-HORSHAM 17, CENTRAL BUCKS WEST 9
The Hatters received big offensive performances from Katie McKay (four goals, three assists), Colby Eldridge (four goals, one assist), Rachel Rausa (four goals, one assist) and Casey Swezey (three goals). Also contributing were Annette Desipio and Sydney Rausa with one goal each. Maria Guerra and Lauren Hill both had one assist. Junior Elena Romesburg led the Bucks with six goals.
Hatter goalie Jackie Giovinazzo was credited with 12 saves.
The Hatters are 10-0 in league play (12-1 overall) while the Bucks are 5-6 in the league (8-7 overall).
PENNSBURY 10, CENTRAL BUCKS EAST 8
Liana Eyre turned away 19 of 27 shots she faced in a standout performance in goal, allowing the Falcons to rally from a 6-4 halftime deficit to earn the win in a spirited non-league battle at War Memorial Field.
“She had an amazing game,” coach Kelly White said. “Especially in the second half, she really stepped her level up and came through with some big saves.
“We’re kind of a second half team. It just seems to be the way we’re going at this point. They really turned it around in the second half. They just seem to get themselves organized in the second half. They came up with the draw, they go to goal, and they seem a little more confident and calm in their offensive movement. I think we come out a little unsettled and nervous at the beginning, and then by the second half, they seem to do what they need to do to win.”
The Falcons were led by the two-goal efforts of Kelsy Gumbert, Missy Frankil, Joy Hopkins, Jackie Sweeney and Alyssa Matthews. Sweeney also had three assists, and Gumbert had one assist. Carson Smith had two assists.
While the Patriots are 9-6 overall (5-5 SOL), the Falcons upped their record to 10-2 overall (6-0 SOL).
“At this point, all of the rest of our games are must-wins for seeding purposes going into the playoffs,” White said. “They have to learn they’re a first place team, and you have to play like a first place team.
“They did great. I’m proud of them. They’re hard workers. (Dipi Bhaya) is doing a nice job with (CB East). They’re a nice team.”
COUNCIL ROCK SOUTH 14, ARCHBISHOP WOOD 7
The Golden Hawks received big offensive performances from Mollie Sheehy (four goals, one assist), Gabi Rosenfeld (three goals, two assists), Jamie Damirgian (two goals, three assists), Meg Sheehy (two goals, one assist) and Leann Hurley (four assists). Nikki Boyd (one goal, one assist) and Christine Besselman (one assist) also contributed. Goalie Claire Quist turned away 10 shots for the Golden Hawks, who upped their record to 8-4.
Wednesday, May 1
CHELTENHAM 11, SPRINGFIELD (MONTCO) 9
Cheltenham jumped out to a 2-0 lead and never trailed in defeating Suburban One American Conference rival Springfield, 11-9.
"For the first time all year, we played a complete game from start to finish, against a very good opponent,” coach David Burton said.
Allison Hawkins and Sammie McManus scored three goals each, Gabby Szczepanek scored twice, and Allie Liss, Cosette Carter and Emily Hawkins all scored once to lead a balanced Panthers’ attack.
"Game after game, we have told the girls that they are capable of really good lacrosse,” Burton said. “We have seen it in short spurts in games, but we had yet to see a complete game - until today. Lacrosse is a simple game, in many ways - control possession, get loose balls, and play good defense. We have really struggled with those simple things for most of the year, but today, the girls really responded. Their performance says so much about their resiliency and toughness. With so many frustrating performances, it would be easy to back off at this point in the season, but they truly played with great purpose and aggression today. They played with discipline, they played with passion and they played great lacrosse."
Gabby Szczepanek led the Panthers with seven ground balls and four draw controls. Kelly Stuetz had a standout game in goal, with eight saves.
"Kelly is playing lacrosse for the first time in her life this year,” Burton said. “After Steena (the Panthers’ goalie) tore her ACL, Kelly stepped in and has played incredibly well. She is a competitor and a leader, and the combination of her play and her passion inspires everyone on the field. She has been a real asset to our team.
"The season has been disappointing in many ways. We have a senior-laden team with experience, and we all had high expectations coming in to this year. For whatever reason, we have struggled to play up to our capabilities. Today, however, was exactly what we have been looking for - and expecting - in every game prior to this one. I am happy for the girls and proud of their effort today. It was a well-deserved win against a good team."
- Log in to post comments
