Check out the recaps for SOL girls’ lacrosse teams in action Tuesday.
Class 3A
No. 14 Abington 15, No. 19 North Penn 4
Two COVID-related shutdowns and a 2-4 start didn’t have Abington in great standing near the midpoint of the season, but the Ghosts turned things around.
Abington ran its winning streak to eight on Tuesday, thanks to a dominant second half and an inspired defensive effort.
“We played the best game I have ever seen,” Abington coach Amalie Kreitman said. “Some of our girls had the best games I’ve ever seen. What a win – especially for our seniors who didn’t get a chance to have a season last year. They come out, they show up constantly and work so hard. Our biggest thing is – we celebrate every moment, whether it’s a goal, whether it’s a turnover, whether we gain possession. We celebrate every moment as a family.
“All season we have been talking about – this is your family. When you fall as a family, you have to pick yourself up as a family, and they are. They’re a true family.”
The first half was a slow one. Although Abington controlled the draw and time of possession, it had a hard time scoring on North Penn, thanks to some big saves by goalie Kiera Holt.
Despite a constant face-guard, Ghosts senior Lesha Karaba had two goals in the half that allowed Abington to take a 3-2 lead to the break, but the hosts knew they needed to be sharper offensively.
On the defensive end, it was a masterful performance. Senior goalie Chloe Hergheleiu made seven saves while the players in front of her – Caroline Hughes, Audrey Silverman, Zoe Freedman and Lilly Alessandro – gave the Knights headaches by forcing a ton of turnovers and usually coming up with the ground ball.
“We’ve been working on sliding and communicating and that’s been our biggest thing all season,” Hughes said. “Our practice yesterday was the most important part for us. At halftime, we just reminded everyone – it’s playoffs, you have to really zone in and show them who we are because in the first half, I don’t think we played as confident as we could.”
North Penn tied the game 3-3 off the opening draw of the second half but Abington’s defense got right back to work, causing turnovers with a midfielder or Hughes rushing the ball down on offense and usually a goal coming soon after.
Kreitman wanted her defense to be prepared, but the unit even played above expectations.
“I watched some film on North Penn, so I knew how their attack was going to happen,” the Ghosts’ coach said. “They keep a low girl around the crease, she tries to come in and score right on top of the goalie, so we practiced that a lot – sliding and making sure we didn’t give her any room coming in, and it transitioned into today. It happened a few times, but we kept her out for the rest of the game.
“Our defense played phenomenal. Caroline Hughes had maybe the best game I have ever seen her play – she had checks that were huge for us. She checked the ball a few times where we gained possession when we lost it, which was amazing. Audrey Silverman, who is one of our top defenders, also played one of her best games. She has such good body as a defender, and she’s like a brick house – you just can’t get through her, amazing. Lilly Allesandro is not only a phenomenal person but her speed – when she gets that ball, she’s running. She’s not stopping. Then there’s Zoe Freedman who did her job tonight. She showed up and she was part of the family and kept them out. It was amazing.”
Karaba would finish with five goals while Shea Gormley added four for the game. Abington broke the tie and the contest wide open with seven straight goals after the Knights tied it and the Ghosts assisted a staggering 13 of their 15 tallies.
Senior Maddie Hinkle, who had a hat trick, had the eyes for goal on Tuesday with a team-high five assists.
“It’s all about communication and working together. We’ve all played together so long we can all read each other and work off each other, and getting those open cuts is what we look for,” Hinkle said. “We know the people feeding the ball are going to be spot-on and we trust when we make the pass, they’re going to catch the ball and finish their shot.”
Holt finished with nine saves. North Penn senior Alli Lindsay had a hat trick while Emily Varilla had the other goal.
Abby Johnson scored two goals and assisted three for Abington. Emma Warner tallied a goal for Abington, while Avery Sullivan had three assists, Mei Mei Cheng had two helpers and Gormley added an assist
Hinkle is one of nine seniors on the Ghosts’ roster and she and Hughes, a junior, agreed the two shutdowns early in the season only added more motivation to enjoy whatever season they got.
“It’s so much more fun to play this way,” Hinkle said. “This was our eighth win in a row, which is so great for us with how the season started and we celebrate everything. We’re so excited and it’s great to see we had this potential the whole time and now we’re playing like it.”
The Ghosts (10-4, 8-3 SOL) will travel to No. 3 Garnet Valley in Thursday’s second round. North Penn closed out its season with a 9-6 record (8-2 SOL).
ABINGTON 3 12 – 15
NORTH PENN 2 2 – 14
No. 23 Plymouth Whitemarsh 12, No. 10 Council Rock South 11 (OT)
The Colonials ask a lot of senior Max Leszczynski and the Duquense recruit delivered big time on Tuesday.
Leszczynski, who tore an ACL in November of 2019 and spent much of the spring and summer of 2020 rehabbing under quarantine, had a signature moment by scoring the overtime winner to send PW through. Getting to that point required navigating a back-and-forth game that required effort from everyone on the Colonials’ roster.
“I told my kids – the bottom line is it was a team win because in overtime they got the draw,” PW coach Ellen Reilly said. “They came down on offense, and we played really good defense. We held them.
“They took a shot that went over the cage, and we were on the goal line, and we got possession. We worked the ball down to Max – Max drove and scored.”
The Golden Hawks, who were playing under the lights at Council Rock North, took advantage of some off-target PW offense early to build a 3-0 lead despite the Colonials winning the early draw controls.
However, possession is a key factor in lacrosse and the Colonials kept coming up with the ball on restarts.
“My kids started to settle down,” Reilly said. “We had a game plan. We settled down and started plucking away at the score and we went ahead 5-4.
“One of the major reasons was Max (Leszczynski). Max dominated the draw tonight – she won the majority of them.”
Leszczynski totaled four goals with two assists as part of a main trio on offense that included Brianna Austin’s four goals and a pair of scores from Meghan Wendler. It added up to a 7-5 halftime lead for Plymouth Whitemarsh to complete the comeback from the early deficit.
“They followed the game plan, they pushed the ball so South couldn’t get their backers set up, but when they did, we had a couple plays we worked on to try and beat it,” Reilly said. “The girls ran them well, and we were able to score on them.”
CR South managed to make up some ground in the second half on the draw control and by extension, the scoreboard.
“After half, we lost a couple of the draws and South has a play they do with two girls in front of the crease, and my kids didn’t follow our game plan,” Reilly said. “They didn’t do what they needed to do that we talked about to stop that from happening. I think they just panicked a little bit because in the first half they managed that play.”
Carley Irvin powered the Golden Hawks back, scoring five goals and assisting on two more for a seven-point night. She was also the facilitator of the play that seemed to flummox PW’s defense in the second half.
“Any film I heard about this play – they score every time on it,” Reilly said. “Number 23, Carley Irvin, is a really good player, and she feeds them.
“If she can’t get the feed off, she comes around on the left side of the cage and shoots herself around the crease. South uses the crease phenomenally.”
Rianna Shields added four goals and an assist for South, while Cailey Hiscox and Amy Loving each netted a goal. The Hawks scored a pair of late goals to erase an 11-9 Colonials lead and force overtime.
South had the first crack in overtime, holding the ball for about a minute-and-a-half before the Colonials forced a high shot and won the race for possession that set up Leszczynski’s eventual winner.
“Brianna Reynolds and Hailey McCourt are strong defenders for us, but it really was a team effort,” Reilly said. “Our goalie (Clancey Lynch) made some good saves and had some really quick clears to our middies and attack to move the ball so we got down on transition and could score.”
PW (10-9, 8-3 SOL) will head to No. 7 Downingtown West for a 5 p.m. start in Thursday’s second round. Council Rock South closed out its successful season with a 14-5 record (8-2 SOL).
PLYMOUTH WHITEMARSH 7 4 1 – 12
COUNCIL ROCK SOUTH 5 6 0 – 11
No. 16 Souderton 12, No. 17 Spring-Ford 11 (OT)
The goal that got Reiley Knize to a hat trick was one worth celebrating.
Down a player going into overtime, Souderton’s plan was to wait for the right opportunity off the draw. Knize didn’t wait, but she got the right opportunity by drawing a foul and burying the eight-meter shot for an overtime winner to extend the Indians’ season.
“Reiley Knize got the opening draw of overtime,” Souderton coach Claudia LaMarca said. “Our plan was to stay spread, work the ball and find the open drive, but she took it right off the draw and went to cage.
“She got fouled, they set her up on the 8-meter, and she finished the shot, so it was really exciting.”
The sudden victory ended a wild game between the teams that saw Souderton trail early, take several leads then give up a late advantage to the Rams that resulted in extra time. Even then, it was anything but a standard finish.
Lauren Hallman scored to put the Indians up 11-10 with 30 seconds on the clock, but the Rams got the ball and leveled the score with about 10 seconds to play. A yellow card on Souderton put the hosts down a player and potentially in position to end their season.
“They put their girl on the (eight-meter) with .3 seconds left, and I don’t even know if that’s enough time to get a shot off, but instead of getting the shot off, she dropped the ball and time expired,” LaMarca said.
The second chance was all Souderton needed to find a way to move on.
“It was a great game. Spring-Ford was really, really good. It was competitive all around. It came down to who won that first draw in overtime and who capitalized off that. It was crazy,” LaMarca said. ““Our whole MO was – don’t let this be our last game and then don’t let this be our last half and then overtime – don’t let this be our last five minutes together. They have so much fun together, and I think they just want to continue having fun and continue working hard. It was really good.”
Hallman paced Souderton with four goals while Knize had the hat trick including the game-winner.
“Lauren Hallman is consistent – she plays hard, she plays tough. Scoring on the offensive end – they generated a lot of opportunities for us, and that starts with them on the draw as well. They’re our ball handlers, so they contribute a lot,” LaMarca said.
Clark Trowbridge put away two goals for Souderton, Isabel John had a goal and assist, Sydney Rohrbach scored one and set up two and Ang Borisow tallied a goal.
Tegan Farina made six saves as part of a gutty defensive effort by defenders Halina Saydam, Grace DeMarzio, Julia Mangini and Sophia Ofalt.
“Our defense as well came up with a ton of caused turnovers, a lot of really big ground balls. They busted their butt to crash on Spring-Ford’s drives, sliding to body, not getting those fouls that we so frequently got in the regular season. The whole defensive unit is a huge reason why we won today,” LaMarca said. “Tegan Farina came up with a lot of big time saves. It was all working.”
Souderton will face No. 1 Conestoga on Thursday.
SOUDERTON 7 4 1 – 12
SPRING-FORD 6 5 0 – 11
No. 11 Great Valley 14, No. 22 Upper Dublin 6
The Cardinals weren’t able to keep up with a potent Great Valley attack as their season concluded on Tuesday.
Kaitlyn Giandonatino was a force for the Patriots, scoring eight goals with Sydney Lacon adding a hat trick.
Upper Dublin was paced by senior Jenn McCarry, who netted four goals in her final game before heading to UMass-Lowell. Senior Maise Hanson and freshman Aditi Foster contributed the other goals for UD.
Also making her last appearance for the Cardinals, goalie Riley Brady made 10 saves.
“Jenn McCarry as always played her heart out from start to finish. All of the seniors were great leaders this year and it is always hard to have your season and career come to an end,” UD coach Dee Cross said. “We could not have asked for more out of these girls and they came through every time. They have been a great example to our younger girls and set the bar high for them in The future. Thank you Jenn, Allie, Maisie, Sarah, Riley, Meg, Ellie and Lauren. We will miss you.”
Upper Dublin closed out its season with a 9-8 record (8-3 SOL).
GREAT VALLEY 6 8 – 14
UPPER DUBLIN 2 4 – 6
Class AA
No. 7 New Hope-Solebury 18, No. 8 Pottsgrove 12
Rachel Saxton wasn’t the least bit concerned about personal milestones.
So when the New Hope-Solebury senior scored her sixth goal to reach the 100-goal milestone late in Tuesday’s District One 2A opener against Pottsgrove, she was not interested in celebrating just yet.
“I scored it, and the first thing I said was, ‘Let’s get this done,’” said Saxton, who surpassed the 1,000-point milestone in basketball this winter. “I’m so grateful to be out here and to get this win. Our team is full of positive energy and positive vibes, and we have a great attitude. I think we can go far.”
The game didn’t start out on the most promising of notes for the Lions, who found themselves on the short end of a 4-1 score just over six minutes into the game. The players acknowledged they were concerned as the Falcons controlled the draw and – as a result – possession.
“You know what – I have to give all the kudos to this one right her,” Saxton said, nodding at teammate Kate Dougherty. “Her strategy (on the draws) was amazing, and I just think that not only was she smart about it, but just the toughness our team brings to every draw.”
“On the draw, I know I can trust the people on the circle,” Dougherty said. “I think that’s part of why we started coming back. We just had that trust and that teamwork that we rely on.”
The Lions still trailed 5-2 after the two teams exchanged goals but closed out the half with an 8-2 tear. Madie Thistlewaite got the ball rolling with a goal, and then it was Dougherty turning a Rylie Hepp pass into a goal. Saxton’s unassisted goal evened the score 5-5 midway through the half, and the Lions took a lead they would not lose when Hepp scored. Dougherty found Thistlewaite for her third goal of the half and a 7-5 lead, a NHS run that was interrupted briefly by a Pottsgrove goal, but Saxton – after a Lions’ takeaway on the defensive end – answered for the Lions. Margaret Tresler came around goal for the score, and Dougherty closed out the half with a free position goal with 3.8 seconds remaining, sending the Lions into halftime with a10-6 lead.
Coach Betsy Dougherty was not surprised to see her team come back from an early deficit.
“We’ve done that before,” the Lions’ coach said. “I didn’t thing that was going to happen this time, but you have to give credit to Pottsgrove. They had it down. They had really good draw control. Number 19 (Sydney Wasdick) is super strong, and I think we were surprised because we typically are good at the draw.
“With Rae (Saxton), Lilly (Smith) and Madie (Thistlewaite) – those three are dominant on the circle. I think we got taken by surprise that they were going to be as scrappy as we are. It took a little while until we figured it out. I wasn’t worried because I know our defense is very smart, and they always figure it out when someone has a move or play that works. J Corvino and Sam Kruopas have been my senior leaders, and they are just so, so smart. They anticipate so well. If I could make 10 of them, I would do it.”
The Falcons pulled to within one (11-10) five minutes into the second half, but Saxton turned a leaping interception of a goalie clear into a goal that sparked a 7-2 NHS run to close out the game.
Saxton scored six goals and assisted on three others in a dazzling performance. Dougherty also had a huge game, adding five goals and two assists. Thistlewaite finished with a hat trick, and Hepp had two goals and two assists. Adding one goal each were Tresler and Emma Ives.
The win avenged a 16-15 heartbreaking loss to Pottsgrove in a second round district game in 2019, and with enthusiastic fans there to support the Lions’ every move, there was a feeling that things are returning to normal.
“Coming off basketball where we didn’t have anyone in the gym until towards the end of the season when we could finally have some fans – their loudness and their support just really drives us,” Saxton said.”
“The boys lacrosse team was here to support us,” Kate Dougherty said. “And I think that also pushed us harder, having that fan section and having that extra push. I think it made us play that much harder.
“It was huge for Rachel to get her hundred goals, for sure, but this win is something we’ll never forget. I will definitely remember this one.”
New Hope-Solebury (13-5, 8-3 SOL) will travel to No. 2 Strath Haven on Thursday for a 6 p.m. contest.
POTTSGROVE 6 6 – 12
NEW HOPE-SOLEBURY 10 8 – 18
No. 5 Springfield Township 14, No. 12 Upper Moreland 3
Maddie Yoder scored six goals to lead the Golden Bears to the win in an opening round district game in a battle of conference rivals.
Also for the Spartans, Lauren Corrado, Raya Davis, Fiona Rizzo and Emma Yoder added two goals apiece.
UM’s Meredith Marsteller scored a pair of goals and Sophia Hopf had one. Reagan Cummins and Bree Knox each had an assist.
Goalie Emma Hurley had another big game for the Golden Bears in goal, turning away 18 shots.
“She had a really great game,” UM coach Kim Frantz said. “This was a tough game for us, but definitely better than the first time we played (a 21-4 loss).
“As I looked over at our bench towards the end of the game with two players in boots and two players in knee immobilizers after tearing their ACLs, we looked like a rough bunch, but we were just grateful to have an extra game this season.
“We were very fortunate to make playoffs and get that one extra game on the season. We made a lot of improvement over this year – with a very young team we have grown and I am proud of how these girls came together. We wish Springfield the best of luck in the next round.”
Springfield Township (15-4, 8-3 SOL) will travel to Villa Maria Academy for Thursday’s second round game. Upper Moreland closed out its season with a 7-12 record (3-8 SOL).
About the Author
