Check out the recaps for SOL girls’ lacrosse teams in action Wednesday. Hatboro-Horsham/CR South photos provided courtesy of John Gleeson. Check back for a gallery of photos.
Non-league
HATBORO-HORSHAM 10, COUNCIL ROCK SOUTH 6
Gabrielle Liott and Abby Roesing each connected for a hat trick to lead the Hatters to the non-league win. The game was a marked contrast to last year’s non-league contest between the two teams – an 8-3 Rock South win.
“I have a very young team,” HH coach Marie Schmucker said. “We had a couple of scrimmages, and this is our first game. I just think their determination and drive out there – it’s coming from within. They want to work hard, and they want to be successful.
“As a team, they’re very unified in picking each other up, so it’s nice to see the support throughout the team from defense to midfield to offense. They’re just a great group of girls. They’re willing to empty their tanks and play hard.”
Megan Acker, Cam Ryan and Lindsey Coats each added single goals for the Hatters. Ryan and Camryn Hughes both had a pair of assists while Liott and Arielle Hammer had one each.
The Hatters took a 6-1 lead into halftime, but the Golden Hawks didn’t go down without a battle, reeling off five straight goals at one point.
“They were relentless knocking at the door,” Schmucker said. “I called a timeout, and I just said, ‘Let’s regroup, let’s tweak some things. It’s one minute at a time, and you have to be in control. You have to make fewer mistakes and get 50-50 balls.’
“We have some things we have to work on, but they didn’t quit. It’s the kind of team that’s going to be relentless regardless of what the score is, whether they’re ahead, whether they’re behind.”
Wednesday’s non-league win was a big one for a young Hatters’ squad that won just three games last year.
It’s nice to see this group of kids and how hard they’re working every day at practice,” Schmucker said. “They never complain. I think they want to see nothing but positive results.
“It was a nice win. (Madison Hurwitz) does a nice job coaching her girls. She has some nice players, but our kids are listening, they’re extremely coachable, and they’re pushing each other, and that’s important. Overall, you want to work as a team, and that’s what your main objective is – to get everybody working together.”
Hatboro-Horsham (1-0) will travel to Upper Dublin for Thursday’s SOL opener. Council Rock South (1-1) will host Central Bucks South on Friday.
Hatboro-Horsham 6-4 10
Council Rock South 1-5 6
PENNSBURY 18, UPPER MORELAND 13
The visiting Falcons found themselves on the short end of a 10-8 halftime score but regrouped to outscore the Golden Bears 8-3 in the second half to earn a win in their non-league opener.
It was an impressive comeback for a Falcon squad that graduated 12 seniors – 10 starters – from last year’s squad.
“Being that it was our first game of the season, the first half was when we were getting our kinks out,” coach Shannon McPherson said. “Defensively, in the first half, we weren’t really talking. Our second slide wasn’t there, and we had a couple of turnovers that hurt us.
“In the second half, we talked to the girls, and they just got it together defensively. We were talking, sliding, crashing. We were working well as a unit. Attack was running our plays, and we were taking care of the ball. In the second half, we played as a whole team, and we did everything well as an entire team, including our transitions – in the first half, it was more individualized.”
Emelie Curtis led the Falcons with five goals to go along with two assists. Maddy Spratt had a hand in nine goals, scoring four goals and assisting on five others. She also had 10 draw controls, a key to the Falcons’ second-half turnaround.
“That was a huge game changer,” McPherson said. “Brooke Weaver did a nice job of keeping the attack calm and getting them into their plays. She’s one of our captains and is a great leader on the field.
“Emelie Curtis did a nice job with five goals.”
Darrien Furiness added four goals while Lexie Snyder had three goals and an assist. Sarah Walcott and Maggie Golder both had one goal. Golder also had a pair of assists.
According to the Falcons’ coach, it was the defense that kept the Falcons in the game in the second half.
“They were still coming down to goal even in the last couple of minutes, and we were able to hold them,” McPherson said. “Caitlin Doyle did a great job. She’s our voice on defense this year.
“Darrien Furiness is one of our midfielders, and overall, she did a good job of getting back on ‘D’ and talking back there. We have a brand new goalie in cage this year, so defense is really stepping up. They essentially won that second half for us.”
For an inexperienced Falcon squad, it was a good start to the season.
“This is huge for them,” McPherson said. “We’ve kind of been embracing the whole idea – ‘This is your team, this is your season. What you guys want starts today.’ I think they started off on the right foot.
“Even at halftime, we were down, and to come back from an 8-10 halftime score and end up winning 18-13 just shows they’re not going to give up. They’re extremely coachable, they took everything we said at halftime, and they went out 110 percent, did everything we asked and more.”
For the Golden Bears, Emma Meakim led the way with four goals and three assists while Meghan O’Donnell had a hat trick and one assist. Alexis Lamb also had three goals. Moira Olexa contributed one goal and two assists while Cassidy Hirsch had one goal and one assist. Bryanna Gordon added one goal.
“This was a great game by both teams,” the Golden Bears’ coach said. “Both teams played hard and the score went back and forth throughout the game.
“Going into halftime, (we were) leading by two goals. We couldn’t hold onto that lead, but we played hard all the way until the final buzzer. We are starting to come together as a team.”
Hirsch also was credited with six draw controls. O’Donnell and AbbyEllen Wood each had two draw controls. Olexa and Meakim both had one draw control.
“The draws really made the difference as we came up with 12 draws while Pennsbury was able to get 21 draws,” Frantz said.
In goal Sarah Pickard had 15 saves for the Golden Bears.
Pennsbury (1-0) will host Plymouth Whitemarsh Tuesday in a non-league game while Upper Moreland (1-2) will host Pottsgrove in non-league contest Thursday.
Pennsbury 8-10 18
Upper Moreland 10-3 13
PLYMOUTH WHITEMARSH 10, CENTRAL BUCKS WEST 9
The Colonials took a 6-5 lead into halftime only to watch the Bucks reel off four unanswered goals to go on top 9-6. Down but hardly out, the Colonials came roaring back to earn the win.
“My kids just came out and played well today,” PW coach Ellen Reilly said. “We still made mistakes that we need to continue to correct.
“It was pretty even back and forth. West came out in the second half and scored the first four goals. My kids slowly worked back, played some tough defense, and they made their offensive opportunities count.”
The win came 24 hours after the Colonials fell to a Downingtown East squad (16-3) that the Bucks had defeated in their opener. The Colonials lost to Radnor 16-3 in Friday’s opener.
“We played two really tough teams,” Reilly said. “I have seven kids back from last year. They’re still young, but they were getting that experience last year playing under Ali (Diamond), Sophie (Kolkka) and Vic (Betterly).
“I would have thought they’d have a little more self confidence, and they really didn’t. Yesterday we shot 15 times and scored three, and today our percentage of putting the ball in the cage was much better. We did a lot of things better today that we’d talked about – being aggressive off the draw, getting possession, being patient on attack and then communicating on defense and playing together.”
Reilly lauded the play of defenders Lily Hanlon, Haley Zygmunt, Haley McCourt and Jess Margulies.
“My three middies – Kennedy Reardon, Natalie Lannie and Max Leszczynski – really worked hard on both ends of the field today and off the draw,” the PW coach said.
The Bucks scored a goal to go on top 9-6 with 16 minutes remaining in regulation. Nine minutes later, the Colonials tied the score when Max Lesczczynski found the back of the net. Lexi Petrakis scored a goal that turned out to be the game-winner with six minutes remaining.
“My kids were feeling bad, so this was good for them today,” Reilly said. “I told them CB West beat Downingtown East. They talked a good game yesterday after our game, and now it was about action. This should give them some good confidence.”
Leszczynski, a sophomore, led the Colonials with four goals and two assists while Petrakis added four goals. Reardon and Raquel Baskin each added a single goal.
For the Bucks, Shelby Hahn and Casey Reichwein each contributed three goals and an assist. Reichwein also had seven draw controls. Emma Haring and Julie Carey both had one goal while Maddy McGarry contributed a goal and an assist.
“We let the game get ahead of us,” West coach Rebecca Cartee Haring said. “We had our chances at the end. We just needed to finish.
“PW came out to win today. We will take this as an early season lesson and keep working.”
PW goalie Clancy Lynch recorded six saves.
Plymouth Whitemarsh (1-2) will host Haverford Friday in a non-league contest, and Central Bucks West (1-1) will be on the road at Avon Grove on Friday for a non-league game.
Central Bucks West 5-4 9
Plymouth Whitemarsh 6-4 10
SOUDERTON 13, BOYERTOWN 12
There are a lot of new faces in Souderton’s lineup this year. The Indians lost 10 seniors to graduation – seven them were starters, and they struggled in back-to-back losses to open the season.
On Wednesday, the tide turned as they rallied from a two-goal halftime deficit to earn their first win.
“I was a nice win – we needed it,” coach Nancy Offner said. “We’ve had a rough start.
“Obviously, the first two games were very challenging for us. We were pretty close at the half and went down significantly in the second half, so it’s been finding the right mix of people in the right areas on the field and just working on our connections and our drive to the ball and coming up with possession and ground balls.”
The Indians trailed 7-5 at halftime but outscored the visiting Bears 8-5 in the second half.
“The girls played really hard, and they played hard for the entire 50 minutes,” Offner said. “We got a few more possessions off the draw in the second half.
“Kylie Norbeck was taking the draw most of the time. That’s not something she’s done in the past a lot, so she’s learning that position as well. She’s doing really well. We’ve had a couple of rough second halves, and the girls were really motivated tonight to just keep working hard. Our midfield transitions were better.
“Boyertown is an excellent team. We’re always challenged by them. It was nice to see the girls come out and play that hard for an entire game.”
Temple-bound Riley McGowan once again led the Indians with five goals and one assist.
“Riley is definitely key offensively for us,” Offner said. “She obviously has excellent stick work and an excellent shot, but she also works really well with her teammates and creates space and creates opportunities for her teammates as well. They’ve been coming through and playing off of her. We had some really nice connections tonight.”
Norbeck added a hat trick and two assists while Sophia Sclafani and Randi Hess both added a pair of goals. Caroline Kelly added a goal and an assist. Lauren Kenah had two assists and Clark Trowbridge had one helper.
“We got a lot of contributions,” Offner said. “This is Soph Sclafani’s first year on varsity, and she’s really been very consistent for us and playing very well.”
Offner also credited her defense.
“This is an entirely new unit – we graduated our entire defensive set last year, and they had been playing together for a couple of years,” the Indians’ coach said. “We have five or six girls that are coming in and playing on our low defense, and they’re really melding well, sliding and talking.
“We’re getting a lot of solid, consistent performances from Sophia Ofalt, who’s a sophomore. A senior who’s back there now – Jamie Beardsley – has been very steady and really good at getting the ball out of our defensive end. We’re depending on them a lot this year. Obviously, Lauren Scott is a very strong goalie, so we expect a lot out of her, and she’s been having a very good year so far.”
Souderton (1-2) will travel to Pope John Paul II for a non-league game on Monday.
Boyertown 7-5 12
Souderton 5-8 13
WEST CHESTER RUSTIN 11, CENTRAL BUCKS EAST 10
ARCHBISHOP WOOD 8, COUNCIL ROCK NORTH 7
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