Check out the results for SOL boys/girls lacrosse teams in action Thursday.
Girls
UPPER DUBLIN 9, UPPER MERION 8
Julie Cross picked the most opportune time to reach a milestone, scoring her seventh goal of the game to give the Cards a 9-7 lead with 8:26 remaining. That goal turned out to be the difference in the game as the Vikings scored just over a minute later to make it a one-goal game.
Cross is just the third player in UD program history to reach the prestigious 200-goal mark, joining siblings Amy and Kelly Cross.
“We’ve only had two other girls do it, and it is kind of equivalent to scoring a thousand points in basketball because you don’t hear about it a lot,” coach Dee Cross said. “These are quality goals Julie is scoring this year, and we need her to do that. That’s what makes it even more special.”
The Syracuse-bound senior is coming off a basketball season that saw her lead the Cardinals to an SOL American Conference title and a berth in the state tournament. For her efforts, Cross was named to the elite all-state squad, earning third team honors.
“Coming off such a great basketball season, coach (Morgan) Funsten also looked for her to be a leader,” Cross said. “I said to her, ‘You have to do the same thing in lacrosse because we have a lot of inexperience, and you have to take on that same role.’
“She wants to win, and she’s obviously used to winning. I think at first it was just a matter of adjusting her mindset – I’m going to be the leader. She’s really good at trying to feed the ball to the other girls on the team because she wants to spread the scoring around, but in a game like today, we weren’t catching the ball. She wanted to win, she had a chance to take it to goal, and we needed her to do that.
“Normally, I don’t let girls score seven in a game, but with the type of game it was, we needed every one of them, and I just let it happen.”
It looked as though the Flying Cardinals were in command when they took a 6-2 lead into halftime, but the Vikings had other ideas, outscoring the Cards 6-3 after the intermission.
“They played a great second half, and we did not play a good second half,” Cross said. “They were very good the second half. They had great connecting passes.
“There were some forced turnovers, but we had some unforced turnovers where we threw the ball away. They definitely took it to us the second half. We basically held on for the win.”
In addition to Cross, Carly Bernstein and Jess Grodsky each scored single goals. Hannah Reape added three assists.
For the Vikings, Julia Reinert led the way with three goals and two assists. Haley O’Malley connected for the hat trick. Anna Davis had a goal and an assist, and Lizzy Goernemann had one goal.
Defensively, Gabrielle Struckus had an interception for the Vikings. Goalie Jordan Cabahug-Almonte faced 16 shots and was credited with seven saves.
UD goalie Sarah Gallagher was credited with seven saves.
Upper Merion2-6 8
Upper Dublin 6-3 9
WISSAHICKON 14, SPRINGFIELD (MONTCO) 6
The Trojans sprinted to an 8-2 halftime lead on their way to a win in their SOL opener. According to coach Patty Kovacs, the team showed patience and perseverance.
"Playing on grass was a challenge as Wissahickon had to work hard to gain the ground ball war," said the Trojans' coach, whose team was credited with 16 ground balls.
Midfielders Lauren Irvine and Emily Vervlied led the attack with four goals each while Shannon Stagliano added a hat trick. Mary Matthews, Claire Tarzia and Carolyn Wilde each scored one goal. Stagliano had two assists followed by Vervlied, Irvine, Tarzia and Wilde with one each. Goalie Julie Silverman was credited with three saves.
Meg Chandler contributed one goal, two assists, two draw controls and two ground balls to lead the Spartans. Marley Berger had one ground ball and two goals. Bailey Krewson had two caused turnovers, one ground ball and one goal while Lindsey Smith had one draw control, one ground ball, two assists and one goal. Caroline Pape had one draw control and one ground ball, and Emily Giampietro added one draw control two ground balls and one goal.
Wissahickon 8-6 14
Springfield 2-4 6
PLYMOUTH WHITEMARSH 17, CHELTENHAM 1
The Colonials sprinted to a 12-1 halftime lead on their way to the big win in Thursday’s SOL opener.
“(We) took control of the early draws which led to early goals,” coach Ellen Reilly said. “We had a team effort on offense with six girls scoring goals.”
Kirsten Monte led the Colonials with five goals while Ali Diamond had a hand in eight goals, scoring three and assisting on five. Maddie Berman and Rita Trainer each had a hat trick. Sophie Kolkka had two goals and one assist, and Steph Fazioj added one goal.
Liz Becker scored the Lady Panthers’ lone goal.
Reilley credited the defensive effort of Cate Golden, who had three caused turnovers.
Cheltenham 1-0 1
PW 12-5 17
ABINGTON 11, HATBORO-HORSHAM 7
The Ghosts entered Thursday’s game with the singular goal of controlling the draw. They did just that, and by the time the Hatters won their first draw of the night, the outcome had been all but decided.
“We definitely worked on the draw a lot more,” senior captain Jeannie Van Buren said. “That’s really our key to winning the games because we can get the ball in the back of the net.
“We just have to get it off the draw. We do a lot of drills during practice, and we have a bunch of different girls that can take it with different styles.”
The Ghosts’ success in the center of the field – where they won 13 of 18 draws – began with Mikki Raymond and Van Buren, who had six and four draw controls respectively. The tone was set when the Ghosts won the game’s opening draw, and Lindsay Baer put them on the scoreboard just over two minutes later. That was followed by goals from Raymond, Rachel Morris and Sam McGee, and before five minutes had elapsed, the Ghosts led 4-0.
Gwyn Acker interrupted the Ghosts’ run by turning an interception into a goal. It was only a temporary reprieve as the Ghosts reeled off four unanswered goals to go into halftime with an 8-1 lead. They stretched that to 11-2 before the Hatters rallied.
“This is huge for us,” coach Mary Kate Lomady said. “This is something we have been striving for since last season.
“We lost to them by two goals last year (11-9). Could we have beaten them last year? I think so, but we weren’t mature enough. We’ve matured an immense amount over the past year, and we were ready for this. It’s a league win, and it’s huge for our program.”
For the Hatters, the loss snapped a 36-game SOL winning streak. Their last loss before Thursday night was May 3, 2011, when they fell to North Penn 11-9.
For three years since then, the Hatters rolled to conference crowns, and coach Duncan Swezey knows the Hatters are a marked team.
“Guess what – everybody is playing our game like it’s a Super Bowl,” the Hatters’ coach said. “North Penn went crazy, CB West went crazy, these guys went crazy because they haven’t beaten you for so long.
“I said to the girls, ‘You have to go out there every day thinking this is your Super Bowl. You can’t go out soft.’ They’re looking at this like it’s their league championship, so they came out playing like it was their league championship. We came out like, ‘It’s another game.’ That’s not the way it works.”
McGee led a balanced Ghost attack with three goals and two assists. Baer, Morris and Casey McAllister each added a pair of goals while Van Buren had a goal and an assist, and Raymond added one goal.
For the Hatters, Gwyn Acker finished with the hat trick. Teammates Sydney Rausa Morgan Crostorosa, Carly Daley and Kaitlyn Wallace each added one goal. Rausa also had an assist. Casey Swezey added a pair of assists, and Kerryn MacBride had one assist.
While the Ghosts improved to 4-1 overall (1-0 SOL), the Hatters are 1-5 (0-1).
“Definitely, we’re not where we want to be,” Swezey said. “I’ve been around on both sides, and I said to them, ‘Gang, keep your heads up, keep working, try and get better. Don’t get down on yourselves.’
“They were encouraging each other in the second half, saying, ‘We can do it.’ We just ran out of time.”
Abington 7-4 11
Hatboro-Horsham 1-6 7
CENTRAL BUCKS SOUTH 19, COUNCIL ROCK SOUTH 3
The Titans scored early and often in their SOL opener on Thursday. Sarah Poli led the way with five goals and four assists. Courtney Dietzel had four goals and two assists, and Tori Wigand added four goals and one assist. Kristen Bernsten finished with the hat trick and also had an assist. Kasey Dietzel had one goal and one assist, and Krysta Reading and Ali Fisher both chipped in with one goal.
For the Golden Hawks, Neena Culleton, Caroline McGovern and Anna Didonato each scored single goals.
Rock South goalie Erin Putnam turned away 11 of 14 shots she faced.
SOUDERTON 19, NESHAMINY 12
Amber Lambeth scored six goals to lead a high-powered Indian attack. Natalie Bulgier and Carlie Doughty both added four goals. Kyra Shank had a pair of goals while Brittany Roynan, Krista Schneider, Kristen Gibbs and Jill Miller each added one.
For the Redskins, Bridget Carrezola scored six goals in a strong outing while Katelyn Davis and Fran Donato each added a hat trick.
Souderton 10-9 19
Neshaminy 6-6 12
NORTH PENN 13, PENNRIDGE 9
The Maidens opened up a commanding 10-2 halftime lead and then withstood a second half rally by the Rams, who outscored their visitors 7-3 after the intermission.
“The first half North Penn dominated the draw and the game,” Pennridge coach Karen Schnurr said. “The second half was our game.
“The team came out strong and (worked) together. The team worked on their high pressure defense and getting the ball safe to the attack. The team hustled until the end of the game.”
Karen Pfifer led a balanced Maiden attack with three goals and one assist. Sydney Lear had two goals and two assists while Jenn Delongis and Emily Schulze both contributed two goals and one assist. Chloe Novak had one goal and two assists, and Mikayla Bowman added one goal and one assist. Kylie Winton and Bri O’Donnel both had one goal.
For the Lady Rams, Jen Rodzewich led the way with three goals and one draw control, and Grace Loughery added two goals, one assist and two draw controls. Jess Csaszar also had two goals, and Maddie Dachowski had one goal and two assists. Kate Ziegler added one goal, and Devan Rimmer had two assists and three draw controls.
Michelle Dyck was credited with eight saves in goal for the Maidens.
North Penn 10-3 13
Pennridge 2-7 9
Boys
UPPER DUBLIN 19, UPPER MERION 2
Michael Mullin led the Flying Cardinals with eight goals and one assist. Michael Sowers (one goal, five assists) and Max Winebrake (four goals, two assists) both had a hand in six goals. Nicholas Vernacchio and Jack Rapine each had a pair of goals. Adding single goals were Jerry Bardol, Paul Chung and Evan Scott.
Steve Ferguson scored both UM goals while Will Borkowski had an assist.
Bobby McPeak had four saves in goal while Sean Bowers and Dillon Lojeski each had one. Troy Minnich was credited with eight saves for the Vikings
Upper Merion0-0-1-1 2
Upper Dublin 8-10-1-0 19
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