Check out Wednesday and Thursday’s SOL girls lacrosse action.
National Conference
PENNSBURY 9, COUNCIL ROCK SOUTH 7
Motivating players can be the difference between an average season and a championship one.
On a rainy day, with a great deal on the line even in this early league season, Pennsbury and Council Rock South, two highly motivated lacrosse teams, battled it out for first place. Using a combination of smothering defense and a balanced attack, Pennsbury took sole possession of first place with a hard-fought 9-7 victory over CR South.
Sitting in first place for the first time in program history is exciting for Pennsbury coach Kelly White.
“What I was really pleased about today’s game is we came out the first 14 minutes of the North Penn game (a 10-9 Pennsbury loss) and we did not show up to play, so today was really about correcting the mistakes we did yesterday,” the Falcons’ coach said. “My concern is we still have to get a full 50 minutes and that the last 10 minutes we don’t disconnect from the game.
“I thought Council Rock South did a great job of getting that momentum back, but I’m also proud of the girls for making really good decisions with the ball offensively.”
Pennsbury’s Kelsy Gumbert (Sara Benzinger assist) scored the first two goals of the game before Leann Hurley put CR South on the scoreboard.
Jackie Sweeney made it 3-1 in favor of Pennsbury with a spin move and duck inside goal. CR South’s Gabi Rosenfeld scored to bring CR South within one, 3-2. Goals by Carson Smith (assisted by Gumbert) and Sweeney, with a CR South goal from Hurley sandwiched in between, gave Pennsbury a 5-3 lead at the half.
Those two early Pennsbury goals proved to be crucial as CR South was never closer than two goals for the remainder of the game.
In the second half, Pennsbury added three more goals, two by Gumbert and one by Sweeney, upping the score to 8-3 at the 13:43 mark. CR South’s Meg Sheehy responded by scoring her first goal of the game on an assist from Christine Besselman before Pennsbury’s Carson Smith (assisted by Joy Hopkins) made it a five-goal lead once again.
But, motivated teams do not give up and CR South was not done. The last 5 minutes and 30 seconds saw CR South reel off three unanswered goals to bring the score to 9-7 on tallies by Gabi Rosenfeld, and two more by Hurley with 1:42 remaining. Pennsbury goalie Liana Eyre came up with a key save with one minute remaining. and Pennsbury was able to run out the clock.
Pennsbury’s Kelsy Gumbert (4g, 2a), who will continue her career at West Chester University, found herself in uncharted territory being in sole possession of first place.
“It’s awesome,” the Pennsbury senior said. “This has never happened before. This year we improved so much with all of our seniors, and we just work so well together. On attack today, we slowed down the ball and we didn’t force any goals.”
Despite being on the losing end of a 9-7 score, CR South’s Leann Hurley dominated with four goals of her own.
“We need to step it up more, and coming off the North game (a 14-8 CR South win), we need to get into the mindset that it’s going to be tougher than we think it is so we need to play harder,” Hurley said.
First year coach Ashley Muenker agreed that CR South could have had a letdown after the North game.
“It took us too long to get going,” she said. “We must be more aggressive from the first whistle to the end of the game.”
The Golden Hawks are 3-0 in league play (6-2 overall) while the Golden Hawks fell to 2-1 in the league (4-3 overall).
ABINGTON 11, COUNCIL ROCK 9
It’s been a rocky start for the Ghosts this season, but they took a huge step in the right direction with Thursday’s win over the three-time defending conference champion Indians.
“As a coach, I thought we could have played better and made it easier on ourselves,” coach Chris Aquilino said. “We’re trying to get better every day. We have to cut down on our mistakes and change the way we play a little bit, and we’re doing that.
“It’s hard when you lose close games, but today was a big win. Winning cures a lot of ills.”
The two teams were deadlocked 5-5 at halftime, and the Indians reeled off three straight goals out of the intermission. The Ghosts had an answer, outscoring the Indians 4-1 to close out the game.
“For them to come back and not lose focus is what was important,” Aquilino said. “We started to win the draw, and we started to fight for ground balls. Our defense played well, but then we were a little more patient on offense.
“We had good opportunities in the first half. We just couldn’t find the net. In the second half, we moved the ball well together.
“We had a big goal by Meredith Cox. They were trying to faceguard her, and she started moving off ball. Meredith is a good player, but she’s more effective when she’s moving off ball and getting all of her teammates involved. She did a nice job of doing that.”
Cox led the Ghosts with six goals. Jeannie Vanburen and Mikki Raymond both added a pair. Allison Rooney scored a single goal. Raymond also had three assists, and Katarina Thallner had one assist for the Ghosts, who held a 24-18 advantage in shots on goal.
“Mikki Raymond, who’s a freshman, had a great game,” Aquilino said. “She had seven caused turnovers. She had a well-rounded game for us today.”
Abington goalie Kate Margolis had six saves.
“She played good,” Aquilino said. “In the second half, she made some big saves, and she didn’t have any turnovers in the game, which was very big. She didn’t give anything away.”
The win was the first ever over the Indians for the Abington seniors.
“Today was huge for the girls,” Aquilino said. “I’m happy for them. There’s no rest for the weary. We have Springfield (Montco) on Saturday and Cheltenham on Monday night. We have some tough games coming up.”
Natalie Maher led the Indians with three goals and one assist. Marina Schriner had a pair of goals. Katy Lehman and Taylor Campbell both had one goal and one assist, and Tori Lyon and Laura Kwasnowski each added one goal. Rock North keeper Abby Kopytko had eight saves.
The Ghosts evened their league record at 2-2 (2-4 overall) while the Indians, who are still without starting goalie Taylor Beck (concussion), are 1-2 in the league (3-5 overall).
Continental Conference
HATBORO-HORSHAM 10, CENTRAL BUCKS EAST 7
The Hatters snapped a six-game CB East winning streak on Thursday night, rolling to a 9-1 halftime lead and then fighting off the Patriots’ second half comeback attempt.
Katie McKay led the Hatters with the hat trick while Colby Eldridge and Rachel Rausa each added two goals. Casey Swezey had one goal and two assists, and Annette Desipio and Sydney Rausa both had one goal. Maria Guerra had two assists.
For the Patriots, Mary Kate Schwartz had four goals and one assist. Marissa Glatt had a pair of goals, and Maggie Stella had a goal and an assist. Katt Miller had one assist.
The Hatters are 7-0 in league play (8-1 overall) while the Patriots are 3-4 in the league (7-4 overall).
CENTRAL BUCKS SOUTH 6, PENNRIDGE 5
Defense was the name of the game when the Rams faced the Titans under the lights at Central Bucks South.
Sparked by the 11-save effort of goalie Danielle Nichols, the Rams allowed just two goals in a first half that included a 19-minute Titan scoring drought, and they took a 3-2 lead into halftime.
“We were on fire in the first half,” Pennridge coach Brieann Wolfe said. “We started out really well.”
The Titans got on the scoreboard first when Courtney Dietzel found Corrine Kenney for a goal at the 21:29 mark. Three minutes later, Pennridge senior Taylor Dachowski knotted the score, and the Rams went on top 2-1 after a Leah Alcott goal. Jackie Stevens went from one end of the field to the other for the score, and the Rams led 3-1 with just under three minutes remaining in the first half. The Titans used a perfectly executed quick stick goal by Megan Hamilton (Dietzel assist) to make it a 3-2 game at halftime.
“We really just talked about our offense and just slowing it down, taking our time and really being smart with the ball instead of rushing,” said South junior Kirsten McPoyle. “That’s what really happened in the first half.
“(The attack) definitely got it together in the second half. At the end in key moments, they really stepped it up, controlled the ball and really possessed.”
Did they ever.
Sophomore Emily Cliggett scored back-to-back goals within a one-minute span, the second with an assist from Annie Danyluk, to put the Titans on top 4-3. They led by two after another Cliggett goal. Pennridge’s Sam Ryder scored on a free position to make it a one-goal game, but Cliggett answered off the ensuing draw with her fourth goal that put the Titans on top 6-4. The Rams made things interesting with a goal by Allison Fugate with 3:47 remaining in regulation, but the Titans regained possession and effectively ran out the clock.
“We needed this one, and we really wanted this one,” McPoyle said. “Our goalie (Leslie Searles) played great.
“It was intense. We were going back and forth with a couple of goals. Our offense came up with some key goals.”
The win upped the Titans’ record to 2-5 in the league (3-6 overall) while the Rams fell to 0-7 in the league (1-8 overall).
“Our team is extremely young,” South coach Janique Craig said. “It’s been taking us a few games to get it all together. We’re working at different aspects of our game, and our defense is really coming together.”
Notes: Wolfe lauded the performance of Nichols and also credited Allison Whitmore for playing strong defense…the Titans were without senior captain Courtney Wasson and junior Devon Dietzel because of injuries.
SOUDERTON 18, CENTRAL BUCKS WEST 14 (Wednesday, April 17)
The Indians and Bucks found themselves deadlocked 8-8 at halftime, but the Indians won it with a 10-6 second half tear.
Alyssa Ziegler, Chessie Rehmer and Natalie Bulgier scored four goals each to lead the Indians. Ziegler also had an assist. Rachel Judge connected for the hat trick, and Amber Lambeth had one goal and two assists. Nikki Palmer (one goal, one assist) and Jess Ziegler (one goal) closed out the scoring for the Indians.
Souderton goalie Jen Bergey was credited with 13 saves in the win.
The Indians are 5-2 in league play (6-2 overall), and the Bucks are 3-4 in the league (4-5 overall).
American Conference
PLYMOUTH WHITEMARSH 10, UPPER MORELAND 8
Kirsten Monte scored five goals to lead PW while teammate Morgan Nagy added the hat trick. Maddie Burman and Monica Dresnin each added single goals for the Colonials, who led 5-3 at halftime.
Maddie Maure led the Golden Bears with three goals. Ashley Duff and Lily Sgro both had one goal and one assist, and Veronica Baez, Maura O’Leary and Delaney Smith each had one goal. Emily Zanine had one assist.
PW goalie Emily Miller had 12 saves while Upper Moreland’s Kaitlin Taylor had 11.
The Colonials are 2-4 in league play (3-5 overall), and the Golden Bears are 1-6 in the league (3-6 overall).
UPPER DUBLIN 11, WISSAHICKON 7
The Flying Cardinals took a giant step toward capturing yet another American Conference crown. Thursday’s win over the Trojans gives the Cards a two-game lead over their closest competition.
Julie Cross had another big game for the Cardinals, contributing five goals and one assist. Taylor D’Ginto had two goals and two assists. Rachel DiFrangia, Anna Trentini, Kayla Mullen and Samantha Boyd all had single goals to close out the Upper Dublin scoring.
For the Trojans, Zoe Gomez and Lindsay Andersen both had two goals. Laura Frankenfield, Jackie Hibbs and Rachel Zucker all had one goal for the Trojans, who trailed 6-4 at halftime.
Coach David Schlesinger lauded the defensive effort of Audrey Mack, noting she came up with some tough ground balls and added toughness to the back line.
While the Trojans fell to 6-2 in the league (7-2 overall), the Flying Cardinals are 7-0 in the league (8-2 overall).
UPPER MERION 17, NORRISTOWN 5
Krysta Zadroga, Haley O’Malley and Amanda McAteer each contributed a hat trick to lead the Vikings to the decisive win. Liz Botto and Katie Schauble each had two goals, and Dominique Gambone, Mia DiBella, Danielle SanFelice and Jackie Schauble all had one goal. Schauble also had two defensive interceptions.
For the Eagles, Natalie Mitchell had a pair of goals. Amelia Schunder, Megan Grande and Kerri Harner also scored.
The Vikings are 4-4 in league play (6-4 overall) while the Eagles fell to 0-8 in the league (1-8 overall).
Wednesday, April 17
NORTH PENN 10, PENNSBURY 9
The Maidens might have felt as if they had a point to prove after Tuesday night’s disappointing loss to Hatboro-Horsham, and they sprinted out of the gate to a 7-0 lead over the stunned Falcons midway through the first half.
The Falcons recuperated nicely, rallying to make it a 7-4 game by halftime and making things interesting by outscoring the Maidens 5-3 in the second half.
Falcon coach Kelly White credited Ali Hickman, Kelly Devlin and Keir Dregnan for their performances on low defense.
“They played fantastic,” the Falcons’ coach said. “Carson Smith and Anna Cruser played very well in the midfield. It was a good effort by all.”
The Maidens were led by the three-goal, two-assist effort of Kaitlin Suzuki, and Lauren Green added the hat trick. Emily Schulze scored two goals. Brittany Tyson had a goal and two assists. Hannah Young added a single goal.
Alyssa Matthews and Kelsy Gumbert led the Falcons with two goals and two assists. Jackie Sweeney had two goals, and Missy Frankil, Sara Benzinger and Joy Hopkins each scored one goal.
North Penn goalies Jenna Stover and Lauren Stover combined for six goals.
The win upped the Maidens record to 6-2 while the Falcons are 5-2.
- Log in to post comments
