Check out the results for SOL girls’ lacrosse teams in action Wednesday. Photos of the CR South/Neshaminy game provided courtesy of John Gleeson. Check back for a gallery of photos…CLICK HERE to go directly to the SOS girls' lacrosse gallery.
American Conference
ABINGTON 7, PLYMOUTH WHITEMARSH 6 (OT)
Sam McGee scored on an eight-meter shot with one second remaining in the first overtime period, propelling the Ghosts to the dramatic come-from-behind win. The win avenged last year’s heartbreaking 7-6 loss to the Colonials, who went on to capture the SOL American Conference crown.
“It was redemption from a year ago,” Abington coach Amanda Kammes said. “It was the same kind of game.
“It was really chippy – they had three yellows, we had four. There were lots of fouls going on. In the last two years, it’s really grown into a good, old-fashioned conference rivalry, which is really fun. They’re good games.”
Making the win even more remarkable was the fact that the Ghosts were down a player for the final 31 minutes after they were assessed their fourth yellow card. They trailed the Colonials 6-3 at halftime.
“Hats off to PW,” Kammes said. “They played a great backer ‘D’ and really frustrated us in the first half.
“They gave us a little something different than what we’ve been seeing. We’ve been seeing face guards on McGee all year, and this game they didn’t face guard McGee at all. They just packed it in and played a really solid zone. It was a battle down to the end.”
The Ghosts rallied to knot the score on a goal by Casey Mccallister late in regulation.
“We won the (ensuing) draw, turned it over with about 44 seconds left on the clock,” Kammes said. “They went down, and Claud (Claudia Grossi) made a point-blank save as time expired basically.
“We went in overtime, and we were still a man down. We won the first possession, ran offense for two minutes straight, got a couple of shots off. I called a timeout with 56 seconds left, set up a play. We ran it, and they defended it pretty well. Lindsay Baer took it to cage and missed high. There was maybe five seconds left at this point. Cathy (Staerk) hit Sam with a zip of a pass, and she drew a shooting space call. McGee whipped it right off the whistle from the eight-meter and just scored top shelf.”
McGee finished with two goals, one assist, two ground balls and five draw controls. Mccallister led the way with three goals and one caused turnover, and Lindsay Baer had two goals, one assist, two caused turnovers and three ground balls. Staerk had one caused turnover, one ground ball and three draw controls. Maddie Sjoholm had one caused turnover and three ground balls, and Hecka Morris had three caused turnovers and two ground balls. Becca Gable and Campbell had one caused turnover each. Anna Joseph had one ground ball.
“It goes a long way having so many seniors on the field for me,” Kammes said. “I have a great leadership core, and after last year and all the overtime wins and losses, they’re seasoned now.
“You saw a really calm group down the stretch, and they got the job done. It wasn’t pretty, but again, it’s early in the season. We needed, from a conference perspective, to take care of this one.
“They lost by a goal to CB West, and I knew they were going to come in hungry, and they totally were hyped and brought it right to us. It’s a credit to them. They really did fight to the end. It was a blue collar, scrappy, neighborhood playing neighborhood battle.”
Lexi Petrakis had a hat trick to lead the Colonials. Ali Diamond added a pair and Victoria Betterly had one goal.
“It was a hard fought game,” PW coach Ellen Reilly said. “My girls fought so hard.
“We are dealing with a lot of adversity, injuries, and my girls keep pushing and the younger players are doing their best. My upperclassmen have to continue to lead and show the younger players the way.”
Claudia Grossi was credited with four saves in goal for the Ghosts.
Plymouth Whitemarsh 6-0-0 6
Abington 3-3-1 7
UPPER DUBLIN 13, HATBORO-HORSHAM 9
The Cardinals opened up a 9-4 halftime lead and then fought off a Hatter comeback attempt in the second half. Jackie Rama played key role in the win. The freshman standout finished with five goals, one assist, eight draw controls and four turnovers
“It was a team win tonight,” coach Dee Cross said. “We were able to win a lot of draws – Jackie Rama was able to get us key possessions on the draw.
“The defense played together, and they were able to come up with key ground balls when they were making a run in the second half. We have a lot of new players, and each one contributed when we needed it. Hatboro-Horsham had a lot of speed through the midfield, and we had to work hard for every possession.”
Also for the Cardinals, Lindsey Schreiber added three goals, one assist, two ground balls and one caused turnover. Mack Moore had two goals and two assists while Maddie Templeton and Becky Browndorf each had one goal and one assist. Browndorf also had three draw controls, one ground ball and one caused turnover. Aly Breslin and Emma Mead both chipped in a goal, and Elizabeth Barber had one ground ball and two caused turnovers.
For the Hatters, Gwyn Acker had a hat trick and one assist while twin sister Gabby Acker had two goals and one assist. Kaitlyn Wallace had a pair of goals. Both Camryn Ryan and Audrey Leibfreid added one goal and one assist.
Upper Dublin goalie Sarah Herchenroder was credited with three saves, and HH goalie Arielle Hammer turned away 11 shots.
Upper Dublin 9-4 13
Hatboro-Horsham 4-5 9
SOUDERTON 12, SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP 10
The Spartans took a 7-6 lead into halftime, but the Indians turned up the pressure in the second half, limiting the Spartans to just three goals while scoring six goals.
Kaitlyn Mardi, Sarah Goodwin, Riley McGowan and Maddie Knight each contributed a pair of goals to a balanced Souderton attack. Mardi and McGowan also both added an assist while Goodwin had four draw controls, one ground ball and one caused turnover. Megan Walbrandt (one goal, one assist, four draw controls, one ground ball, two caused turnovers) and Carlie Doughty (one goal, two draw controls, one ground ball, one caused turnover) both filled a stat sheet. Randi Hess and Jenny Ubowski scored one goal each.
For the Spartans, Lindsey Smith turned in a glittering six-goal effort. She also had one caused turnover, three ground balls and two draw controls. Emily Walsh added two goals, one caused turnover, one ground ball and one draw control. Ellie Hamilton (one goal, one assist) and Jameson Krewson (one goal, one ground ball) closed out the scoring.
Emily Giampietro added three ground balls, and Gracie Woron had a pair. Hannah Grouthusen had one ground ball and one draw control. Deejay Bosca was a force on defense for the Spartans with one caused turnover, two ground balls and two interceptions.
Souderton goalie Lauren Scott was credited with nine saves. Springfield goalie Emily Henry had eight saves in the tightly contested game.
Souderton 6-6 12
Springfield 7-3 10
UPPER MORELAND 15, QUAKERTOWN 1
The Golden Bears were operating on all cylinders in a first half that saw them jump out to a 12-1 lead.
“Jess Flanagan and Sydney Bachmayer both had great games with four goals,” coach Kim Frantz said. “Jess also contributed four draw controls and dominated the ground balls all over the field.”
Meghan O'Donnell added two goals and three assists. Allison Felicetti, Caitlin Corr, Chloe Leiter, and Kaitlin Kelly each had one goal. Felicetti also had a pair of assists.
“Emma Meakim had a great game, contributing three assists,” Frantz said. “On defense Kayla Meakim did a great job being one step ahead of the offense today with interceptions and hustling to get loose ground balls.”
Quakertown's goal was scored by Hangey and assisted by Foster.
Quakertown 1-0 1
Upper Moreland 12-3 15
WISSAHICKON 15, CHELTENHAM 0
The Trojans controlled the draw and displayed some shutdown defense on their way to the convincing win in Wednesday’s conference opener.
“Strength came on the offensive side as the girls were patient and got good shots off on goal,” coach Patty Kovacs said. “Double teaming and transition worked well on defense to keep Cheltenham from scoring.”
Emily Vervlied led the Trojans with four goals and three assists. Carolyn Wilde and Sam Intrieri each contributed three goals. Intrieri also had three assists and Wilde had two. Lauren Donofrio had two goals and two assists. Scoring one goal each were Caroline Testa, Brooke Berry and Caroline Marta. Berry also had two assists.
Kyra Myers had three saves in goal for the Trojans. Cheltenham coach Didi Dean lauded the strong play of Morgan Sloan, who turned away 20 shots in a standout effort in goal.
National Conference
CENTRAL BUCKS SOUTH 14, NORTH PENN 13
Janique Craig has been preaching the theme ‘mental toughness.’ The Titans – down a pair of starters and another slowed by illness – needed all the mental toughness they could muster to hold off an inspired Knight squad that rallied all the way back from a 9-3 halftime deficit to knot the score 13-13.
A free position goal by Kristen Berntsen with two seconds remaining allowed the Titans to escape with the thrilling win.
“We are going through a lot of injuries right now, and Kasey Dietzel had a fever out there,” Craig said. “I have a player out with a concussion. We’re overcoming some obstacles, and today’s motto was mental toughness and not worrying about those things and coming together as a team because every single person can contribute.
“We played as a team today. They listened and they were smart, and that is key – not getting flustered when they were coming back, being poised under pressure.”
Berntsen and Kasey Dietzel led the Titans with four goals each, and Berntsen was grace under pressure with the score deadlocked and time about to expire.
“I don’t think about it,” said Berntsen of her free position shot. “If I overthink it, that’s when I freak out and shoot randomly. You just have to take that extra second and breathe and just say, ‘You’ve got to place it.’
“I’m just happy I didn’t know how much time was left because after I shot it, she was like, ‘All right, two seconds,’ and I freaked out a little bit, but thank god I made it.”
Courtney Taylor added two goals and four assists, and like Bernsten, she was unaware that time was about to expire as the Titans spread the field and ran time off the clock, holding for the last shot.
“The girl at the other end on their team was like, ‘There’s just under two minutes’ when she was on the eight-meter,” Taylor said. “I was thinking – ‘She should probably not shoot right now.’
“I had no idea, but I know KB is really good on the eight meters, so I knew she wasn’t going to miss.”
In the opening half, the Titans were clinging to a 3-2 lead after North Penn’s Victoria Braeunle score on a free position with eight minutes remaining in the first half. Taylor’s free position goal ignited a 6-1 Titan run to close out the half. The run included a pair of goals by Dietzel as well as single goals by Molly Sullivan, Anna Green and Berntsen, who found the net with four second remaining in the half.
“We shot at the keeper,” NP coach Heather Mellow said. “Our attack definitely needed to clean things up.
“We were careless with the ball in the first half, and that really put a strain on the midfield and defense. We’re apparently a second half team.”
Kristin Varilla had something to do with that. The diminutive freshman went on a four-goal tear in the opening minutes of the half. Her fourth made it a 10-7 game at the 21:37 mark.
“She did a really nice job,” Mellow said. “She found the net. The last couple of games, she’s had her fair share of hitting the keeper in the feet, but this game she really figured it out and put it together. She had a great game.”
The Titans responded with goals by Dietzel and Green to go on top 12-7, but back-to-back goals by Kelly Mcnamara made it a 12-9 game, and another goal by Varilla trimmed the Titans’ lead to two with 11:13 remaining.
Berntsen scored out of a South timeout, but Bri O’Donnell came right back with a pair for the Knights to make it a 13-12 game with just under nine minutes remaining. With 6:31 showing on the game clock, Varilla connected on the equalizer on a free position, setting the stage for the dramatic finish.
The Titans – minus several key players from last year’s conference championship squad – admit it’s been an adjustment.
“There’s definitely a big adjustment, but a lot of our new girls are really doing well in practices, and you can see their improvement,” Taylor said. “I think today they stepped up, and it was a good game for them to get into it because it was a close game.”
In addition to Varilla’s six-goal effort, the Knights – who were without their top scorer (Kaitlyn Phifer) – received a hat trick from O’Donnell. Julia Keffer added a goal and an assist. Mcnamara had two goals and one assist, and Kaitlyn Varilla had an assist.
“We have a really good team, but we just have to put all the ingredients together,” Mellow said. “We’re going to get there.”
Also for the Titans, Green and Sullivan each had a pair of goals.
North Penn 3-10 13
Central Bucks South 9-5 14
CENTRAL BUCKS EAST 13, PENNSBURY 5
The Patriots opened up an 8-4 halftime lead and then allowed just one goal in the second half in a strong showing in their conference opener.
Riley Forman led the attack with four goals and one assist. Maggie Vetter, Mel Burian, Brigitte Bishop and Mackenzie Boyle each added a pair of goals. Bishop and Boyle both had a pair of assists while Burian had one helper. Quinn Ferry added a single goal. Sara Donnelly had two assists, and Erin McGovern had one.
For the Falcons, Annie Price had two goals and an assist to lead the attack. Nell Webber, Sarah M Davis and Emelie Curtis each had one goal.
East goalie Lauren Maurer had six saves in the win.
Central Bucks East 8-5 13
Pennsbury 4-1 5
PENNRIDGE 15, COUNCIL ROCK NORTH 1
The Rams received big offensive performances from the trio of Jen Rodzewich (four goals, two assists), Grace Loughery (three goals, one assist) and Maddie Dachowski (four goals). Emily Price and Morgan Wahlers both added one goal and two assists, and Katie Ziegler had one goal and one assist. Alex Lippman scored a single goal.
Goalie Alex Machado turned away 10 shots in goal for the Rams, who led 6-1 at halftime.
“Alex Machado came up huge this game,” coach Karen Schnurr said. “The defense also played extremely well, working as one unit.
“Our transition looked picture perfect, and we were able to move the ball fast down the field.”
Council Rock North 1-0 1
Pennridge 6-9 15
COUNCIL ROCK SOUTH 13, NESHAMINY 2
The Golden Hawks got in the win column on Wednesday, opening up a 6-1 halftime lead and never looking back.
“I’m so happy for them,” coach Madison Hurwitz said. “We got our subs into the game, and everyone was enthused and having fun.”
Caroline McGovern came up big on attack, scoring six goals and assisting on another. Caitlyn Thornton added three goals and one assist.
“Caroline an Caitlyn did awesome controlling the ball off of draws,” Hurwitz said.
Mary Kate Simpson added two goals, and Sarah Womer had a goal and an assist. Dominique Marino contributed one goal, and Emily Keller had an assist.
Council Rock South 6-7 13
Neshaminy 1-1 2
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