Abington was the lone SOL girls’ lacrosse team to survive Thursday’s second round of the District One 3A Tournament.
#7 ABINGTON 9, #10 CENTRAL BUCKS SOUTH 5
Abington lacrosse.
In Thursday’s second round win, the Ghosts were deliberate on offense and disciplined on defense, and although the Titans rallied from a 3-0 deficit to knot the score at halftime, the second half pretty much belonged to the Ghosts, who outscored their visitors 6-2 and – according to coach Amanda Kammes – played Abington lacrosse.
“When we play Abington lacrosse, we are very good,” the Ghosts’ coach said. “What I mean by that is celebrating the little things, looking for the assists, cutting hard to get someone else open instead of myself, and when attack turns it over, ‘D’ causing a turnover and getting it back.”
The Ghosts also had reason to celebrate early, opening up a 2-0 lead less than six minutes into the game after back-to-back goals by Sam McGee and Lindsay Baer (Sam Simon assist). A goal by Jules Greco with 7:16 remaining gave the Ghosts a 3-0 lead, but the Titans – behind the strong play of Kasey Dietzel and Courtney Taylor – came back to knot the score 3-3 by halftime.
A goal by McGee (Kaley Ehnow assist) early in the second half gave the Ghosts a lead they would not lose, and when Lindsay Baer scored on a free position, the Ghosts led 5-3.
“At halftime, Amanda talked about refocusing and playing our type of game that we played towards the end of our season and really working together and not focusing on the other team,” Baer said. “I think Sam (McGee) and Casey (McCallister) being face guarded – Casey being face guarded was kind of new, but I think we adjusted to it. We re-adjusted our plays and made it work.”
A free position goal by Taylor pulled the Titans to within one, and then McCallister went to work, scoring back-to-back goals to put the Ghosts on top 7-4 with 11:19 remaining.
“Amanda told us at halftime – this could really be our last game,” McCallister said. “I was like, ‘No, that’s not happening. We can win this game,’ we can move on.’”
A Dietzel goal on an eight-meter shot pulled the Titans to within three, but goals by McCallister and Baer gave the Ghosts their final margin of victory.
“I’ve been telling them all year - it takes everybody,” Kammes said. “It’s the next-man-in mentality. Oh, you want to take (Sam) McGee out, Casey (McCallister) is going to score. You want to take Casey out, Lindsay (Baer) will score. You want to take all three of them out, Jules (Greco) will score - really understanding and getting them to buy in that no one of them is more important than the other.”
The Titans were without one of their top offensive weapons, University of Cincinnati commit Anna Green. The sophomore attack player (51 goals, 28 assists) was sidelined with a knee injury.
“(Since) every single play we have had Anna involved, the last two games it really changed our play, and I don’t think we had enough practice playing with one less player,” Taylor said. “Things weren’t quite in place (tonight).
“We were dropping balls and just making silly mistakes. Although we were working as hard as we could and giving 100 percent, the little mistakes cost us the game.”
Taylor (two goals, two assists) and Dietzel (three goals, one assist) accounted for all of the Titans’ scoring.
“Today it came down to the draw control,” South coach Janique Craig said. “It was number 21 (Kaley Ehnow) and #33 (Sam McGee) that kept coming up with the draw controls.
“I couldn’t be more proud of the girls because every single person from Laura (Robinson), our goalkeeper, all the way up through defense and in transition – everyone was trying their very hardest, but our shots weren’t going in. We should have had better shot selection.”
Abington (15-4, 9-0 SOL) will travel to second-seeded Conestoga for a quarterfinal game on Saturday at 11 a.m. while the Titans (15-4, 6-2) saw their season come to an end.
“Going through two ACL injuries, two foot injuries and a dislocated shoulder – we’ve had five major injuries this year,” Craig said. “I kept telling them the motto this year was mental toughness, and that’s what we did.
“We were the comeback team for about three or four games now. We ran out of time. I think we could have done it. If we would have had a little bit more time, we wouldn’t have been rushing.”
“With all the injuries we had, including myself – still playing on a bad foot, I give credit to every single person on the team,” Taylor said. “Everyone came out every day to practice hard, and everyone gave 100 percent in the games.
“At the end, we just needed to get as many goals as we could, and I think that’s why our shots were off. Their goalie (Kiki Brasher) had a really good game.”
Barber finished with eight saves for the Ghosts while Robinson had 10 for the Titans.
Central Bucks South 3-2 5
Abington 3-6 9
#17 DOWNINGTOWN EAST 6, #1 CENTRAL BUCKS WEST 5
The Cougars broke a 5-5 tie in the closing seconds of regulation to bring a special season to a heartbreaking end for a West team with its sights set high entering the postseason. The Bucks and visiting Cougars battled to a 3-3 halftime tie, and not a whole lot changed in a second half that saw Downingtown East hold a 3-2 edge.
“Playoff games are about showing up and having perseverance and fighting for every ball,” coach Tara Schmucker said. “I have to give it to Downingtown East – they outran us to loose balls and got most draw controls and rebounds.
“Defensively, West should be proud. We held them to few goals and did a good job of executing our game plan. We simply could not convert with a 29 percent shooting percentage, and the chemistry we are known for did (not) show up tonight.”
Bryn Boylan scored a pair of goals while Casey Reichwein, Dani Dundas and Finley Ueland had one each. Dundas also had an assist.
Lauren Devlin had six saves in goal for the Bucks, who closed out their season with a 17-2 record and a perfect 9-0 mark in SOL Continental Conference play.
“We had a poor ending, but there are many reasons they should be proud,” Schmucker said. “They had an outstanding regular season.”
Downingtown East 3-3 6
Central Bucks West 3-2 5
#9 GARNET VALLEY 12, #8 UPPER DUBLIN 5
It was a tale of two halves.
In the first half, the Flying Cardinals matched the Jaguars goal for goal and went into halftime deadlocked 4-4. The Jaguars outscored the Cards 8-1 in the second half.
Upper Dublin (8-1 SOL) closed out its season with a 13-5 record.
Garnet Valley 4-8 12
Upper Dublin 4-1 5
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