SOL Girls’ Lacrosse Wrap (4-13-22)

Check out the recaps for SOL girls’ lacrosse teams in action Wednesday.

SOL National Conference

North Penn 10, Central Bucks South 9

The Knights shook off a slow start and then fought through fatigue late to make sure a late goal by Emily Varilla held up as the winner in a back-and-forth SOL matchup.

North Penn fell behind 4-1 in the first five minutes of play on one of the first warm days of the spring before starting to chip away. The Knights tied things 4-4 and the sides traded goals up to the half with a 7-7 deadlock.

“They didn’t panic,” North Penn coach Heather Mellow said. “I think that’s what I’ve been trying to show them. Even if a team goes up by a couple of goals, by three or four goals – we’ve seen it happen to us against CR North, it doesn’t mean you’re out of the game. You can’t hang your head. You fight back, there’s a lot of game left to play, and you can score a lot of goals in a short amount of time in lacrosse.

“It’s not like soccer or field hockey. It can happen. That momentum can shift and change at any moment, so my girls kept their composure and just chipped away. They finally got draw control, went down, made a nice offensive play and we scored. We did it again and we did it again and again. It was great. They stayed really composed today, which was awesome.”

Kayla Stressman led North Penn with four goals, none more important than the one-v-one drive she put away with six minutes left in the second half that tied the score 9-9. The Knights had jumped out to an early 8-7 lead to start the second half but found themselves down 9-8 when the Titans’ Addy Geary scored with 19 minutes to go.

Stressman added four draw controls while Varilla, who had two goals including the game-winner, had five draw controls and Kerry O’Donnell added three draws to her two goals and assist. Controlling the draw played a pivotal part in North Penn’s recovery after the sluggish start.

“We started to win draw controls and slowly chipped away at their lead,” Mellow said. “We finally took the lead with about four minutes remaining in the game. Knowing my team was exhausted, they did a great job trying to hold possession for the rest of the game. We did slip up a couple times, but we were fortunate to get the ball back and hold on to the ball for the last couple seconds.”

Grace Gannon had a hat trick to lead CB South. Tegan Mullen, Addy Geary and Kate Victor all posted identical two-goal, one-assist stat lines.

Gabby Mayo had a strong effort in goal making 13 saves.

“We had too many turnovers,” Titans coach Janique Craig said. “North Penn did a great job and capitalized well on our mistakes.”

The Knights’ starters played heavy minutes, with Mellow using her timeouts in the second half as a way to give them a break. Kerry O’Donnell was able to find a last burst in her legs to run out the clock and seal up a hard-earned win.

Jordan Bailey had a goal and assist for North Penn, Lauren Blanch assisted on a goal and Riley O’Donnell scored one, assisted on one and caused three turnovers. Hannah Malitz was an impact player defensively with four ground balls and three caused turnovers.

“The defense as a whole for the last 19 minutes did a great job,” Mellow said. “Our offense held possession for the majority of that time as well and did an outstanding job transition-wise of getting the ball back.”

North Penn (5-2, 3-0 SOL) will host Pennsbury on Wednesday, and Central Bucks South (4-2, 2-1) will travel to Springfield Township for a non-league game on Thursday.

NORTH PENN 7 3 – 10

CENTRAL BUCKS SOUTH 7 2 – 9

Council Rock South 10, Council Rock North 4

The Golden Hawks picked up an important win over the rival Indians in a game that always means more than just position in the standings.

South jumped out early, building a 6-1 lead at halftime and managed the second half with plenty of possession.

“The girls came to play today. Their favorite business trip of the year,” Hawks coach Madison Hurwitz said. “I’m very proud of our girls for acting like a team on and off the field. We have great senior leadership.”

Julia Levin had four goals to pace CRN on offense, while Megan Rafter was a playmaker with three assists, but the standouts on the day were the midfielders. Amy Loving (goal), Zoe Brossman (goal, assist) and Cailey Hiscox (goal, assist) contributed just more than stats.

“The midfielders were incredible – winning draws and transitioning the ball,” Hurwitz said.

Amanda Green, Karissa Smedley, Montanna Chambers, and Grace Franchini were strong on the defensive end, especially in the second half as the Hawks had to manage playing down a player over the final eight minutes.

“Kaya Mallon, our goalie, was a brick wall,” Hurwitz said.

CR South’s varsity team got a boost before even taking the field thanks to a 15-0 win by the JV team spurred by a birthday shutout from goalie Lizzie Agnella.

Council Rock South (7-0, 3-0 SOL) will travel to Pennridge on Monday, and Council Rock North (6-4, 2-3) will host Archbishop Wood in a non-league game on Monday.

COUNCIL ROCK SOUTH 6 4 – 10

COUNCIL ROCK NORTH 1 3 – 4

Pennridge 22, Central Bucks East 6

The Rams offense was on a blistering pace Wednesday, scoring double-digit goals in each half to pick up the conference win.

Kate Unzicker set the pace with five goals and an assist for Pennridge, which led 11-4 at halftime. Grace Rosica matched Unzicker’s point total of six, thanks to four goals and two assists, while the trio of Leah Verespy, Maddy Edinger and Kendall Posey were all responsible for scoring a hat trick and an assist.

Amelia Loughery and Natalie Yilanjian both tallied two goals and an assist with Sophie Craig adding an assist to round out Pennridge’s offensive output.

Between the pipes, Anjali Verma made 10 saves.

Paige Keller had a hat trick to lead the Patriots while Ericka Zimmer, Riley Surovec and Courtney Curry also scored.

Pennridge (4-3, 2-1 SOL) will travel to Pennsbury on Tuesday, and Central Bucks East (1-7, 0-4) will host Abington next Friday.

PENNRIDGE 11 11 – 22

CENTRAL BUCKS EAST 4 2 – 6

Souderton 17, Bensalem 5

The Indians’ offense turned in a productive outing paced by a couple of its main scorers.

Lauren Hallman led Souderton with six goals while Reiley Knize was just a step behind by finding the net on five occasions. Freshman Tatum Andrews was the other player with multiple goals, scoring two and assisting on another.

Ava Jones, Ang Borisow and Yasmin Khatri all scored one goal with Khatri adding an assist while Jess Burns set up two goals and added one of her own. Peyton Clemmer tacked on two assists.

Tegan Farina stopped three shots on her way to the win in goal.

Souderton (5-2, 2-0 SOL) will travel to Neshaminy on Wednesday, and Bensalem (2-3, 0-2) will be on the road at Central Bucks West on Tuesday.

SOUDERTON 7 10 – 17

BENSALEM 3 2 – 5

SOL American Conference

Springfield Twp 18, New Hope-Solebury 5

The Spartans may have been short-handed – with just 11 available players – but their offense certainly wasn’t lacking any punch on Wednesday.

“I’m very proud of my girls again for working their tails off,” Springfield coach Marissa Conover said. “Middies Emma Yoder, Maddie McDevitt, and Shannon Meder contributed to beautiful transitions, strong defense, and collaborative offense.”

Fiona Rizzo had three goals and six assists in a terrific performance as the “low” attacker on the offensive end.

Emily Smith posted three goals and four assists while Emma Yoder lit up the scoreboard with six goals and an assist and Sam McDevitt racked up four goals and a helper. Maddie McDevitt’s goal and assist and a goal from Shannon Silvius rounded out the Spartan’s scoring.

Tess Talbot stopped six shots in goal.

Springfield Township (4-4, 2-1 SOL) will host Central Bucks South in a non-league game Thursday, and New Hope-Solebury (2-5, 1-2) will host Abington on Monday.

SPRINGFIELD TWP – 18

NEW HOPE-SOLENBURY 5

Plymouth Whitemarsh 15, Quakertown 4

Brianna Austin and Meghan Wendler were all but unstoppable in front of goal for the Colonials on Wednesday.

The pairing posted identical lines of six goals and one assist as PW zipped out to a 9-3 lead at the half. Rhianna Gooneratne helped facilitate the offense with three assists to go with a goal while Sophie Gartland and Bri Reynolds also scored for the Colonials.

Aniya Boyd picked up six saves to get the win in goal for PW.

Plymouth Whitemarsh (4-1, 3-0 SOL) will travel to Lower Moreland on Monday, and Quakertown (1-5, 0-3) will be on the road at Hatboro-Horsham on Tuesday.

PLYMOUTH WHITEMARSH 9 6 – 15

QUAKERTOWN 3 1 – 4

Upper Moreland 18, Cheltenham 3

Nine different Golden Bears players scored a goal in Wednesday’s win.

Annalise Messina paced UM with four goals and three assists, Olivia Meakim had four goals and two helpers, Isabelle Leiter had a hat-trick and Kathleen Smith had two goals. The Bears also received scoring from Molly Meakim, Jenna Piantieri, Charlotte James, Reagan Cummins and Willow Taylor.

Cummins and Taylor also added two assists each while Molly Meakim and Leiter tacked on one assist apiece.

Emma Hurley got the win in goal with five saves.

Upper Moreland (7-1, 3-0 SOL) will host Upper Dublin on Monday, and Cheltenham (0-4, 0-2) will host Springfieldl Township on Monday.

UPPER MORELAND 10 8 – 18

CHELTENHAM 2 1 – 3

Non-league

Upper Dublin 17, Cape Henry Collegiate High Scholl (VA) 6

The Flying Cardinals faced off with an Upper Dublin legend on Wednesday, then came out with a high-octane offensive effort in a big win.

Cape Henry is coached by Kim Decker, a member of both the Upper Dublin and Old Dominion Hall of Fame. Decker didn’t play lacrosse but was an exceptional field hockey goalie, earning three NFHCA All-American honors at ODU and went on to play with the US Olympic team.

Decker still holds the NCAA single-season Division I record for goals against average with a 0.13 GAA in 1992, and shutouts, with 21 that same season. She also holds the NCAA record for minutes played and is second all-time with 56 career shutouts.

“It was just a really cool experience,” UD coach Dee Cross said. “We had a really tough game on Monday, and to come back, it was a special time for the team.”

Crossing state lines did little to slow the torrid offensive output of Aditi Foster, who led the Cards with seven goals and an assist. Tess Reardon and Paige Dinkel had twin hat tricks, with Reardon adding an assist and Cami Rosenthal found the back of the net twice.

Julie Zlotnikoff had a goal and an assist, Anna DiMartile scored a goal and Caitlyn Darcy tacked on an assist.

DiMartile and Allie Gay were a dynamic duo on draws, with DiMartile winning four and Gay coming up with five as part of a balanced line that included two assists and two caused turnovers.