The Hatboro-Horsham girls’ lax team earned a berth in states on Thursday, but the Central Bucks East boys’ squad saw its season come to an end.
#11 HATBORO-HORSHAM 15, #5 SPRINGFIELD (DELCO) 13
Lizzy Carr and Julie McKay had just heard the news that their team was the first Hatboro-Horsham lacrosse team to earn a berth in the state tournament, ensuring itself a place in history.
“On my god, I literally got chills,” Carr said.
“I think I might cry,” McKay said.
Emotions ran high for a Hatboro-Horsham squad that was down to its last chance to keep its season alive when the Hatters took on the fifth-seeded Cougars on Thursday.
“Everyone was just expecting so much of us, and going in and losing the last two games – there was so much pressure on us,” Carr said. “I feel as though we really needed to win to prove everyone wrong.”
The win avenged last year’s season-ending 14-10 loss to Springfield (Delco) – also in the seventh place game with a berth in states on the line.
“They knocked us out, and I said, ‘Girls, this is a payback,’” coach Duncan Swezey said. “We were winning that game, and then Cortnee Daley got a yellow card, and Lizzy got a broken nose, and bingo, in the next four or five minutes, they scored four goals, so this was a huge payback.
“We told them before the game, ‘This is retribution. You have an opportunity to pay them back what they did to us last year.’”
Carr led the Hatters with four goals and four assists while McKay and Caroline Hagan both added three goals and one assist. Nicole Beck had two goals and one assist, and Katie McKay, Rachel Rausa and Laura Cresta each had one goal. Cortnee Daley had three assists.
The Hatters served early notice that there would be no reruns of last year’s heartbreaking ending, opening up a 6-4 lead and taking a 7-6 lead into halftime.
“We came out on point, knowing we had to win this game,” McKay said. “We had to leave everything on the field. Like we had been talking about all week – it could be our last game we played as a team. We had to give it everything we had.”
The Hatters could have folded after the Cougars opened the second half with a 3-0 tear to go on top 9-7, but that didn’t happen. Carr set up back-to-back goals by Beck and McKay to knot the score.
The Cougars answered with a goal to regain the lead, 10-9. A goal by Hagan (McKay assist) knotted the score, but the Cougars answered with a free position goal by Rachel Charamella to go on top 11-10 midway through the half.
Carr scored the equalizer a minute later, and the Hatters led 12-11 after a goal by Katie McKay (Carr assist) The Cougars scored off the ensuing draw to make it a 12-12 game, but with 9:32 showing on the scoreboard clock, Hagan scored, using a Carr assist, to give the Hatters a lead they would not lose.
Back-to-back McKay goals - the first on a breakaway with a Beck assist and the second with a Hagan assist -put the Hatters on top 15-12. Emily Paulus scored for the Cougars with 1:23 remaining, but it was too little too late.
“They just clicked, and they all played together,” Swezey said. “We cut down on the mistakes. We still had quite a few whistles but nowhere near the high double digits.
“They wanted it today, and everybody helped.”
The difference in Thursday’s win was the performance of the Hatters’ defense. After allowing 56 goals in its last three games, the defense and goalie Jackie Giovinazzo (11 saves) came up huge.
“Our defense did amazing,” Carr said. “At the beginning of the game, they had it down in our end a lot, and if it wasn’t for the defense and (goalie) Jackie (Giovinazzo) saving a lot, they would have been up by a lot more than they were.”
“That’s all we did at practice yesterday,” McKay added. “It was 100 percent team effort. Not one person played better than the next. Everyone was out there giving it their all. It was really great to see.”
The Hatters will face District One champion Radnor in Wednesday’s opening round state game at 4 p.m. at West Chester East High School.
#8 RADNOR 15, #3 CENTRAL BUCKS EAST 9
The Patriots and Raiders were deadlocked 2-2 at the end of one quarter, but the Red Raiders used a 6-3 second quarter to go into halftime with an 8-5 lead. They all but sealed the Patriots’ fate with a 6-1 third quarter, taking a 14-6 lead into a final quarter.
Parker Self led the Patriots with four goals while Chris Vetter had three goals and two assists. Peter Donovan and Anthony Casselli both chipped in one goal. Ethan Debuque, Chris Lavin and Eric Riva each had one assists to round out the scoring. The Patriots closed out their season with a 19-3 record.
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