Pennridge & CB West were winners in SOL girls’ lacrosse action Friday. Pennridge/CR South photos courtesy of John Gleeson. CB West/Methacton photos courtesy of Tracy Valko. Check back for galleries of both games.: https://solsports.zenfolio.com/f683838916
SOL National Conference
Pennridge 12, Council Rock South 7
It was a day they’ll never forget.
The rainy, chilly day in May they made the trip to Council Rock South for a game that meant everything. The weather was irrelevant to the Lady Rams. They had business to take care of in Friday’s regular season finale after dropping their first game of the league season to Pennsbury on Monday.
A win over the Golden Hawks, and a share of the SOL National Conference crown – the program’s first title since 1989 – was theirs.
“We all wanted this so bad, and after our loss to Pennsbury, we felt really defeated, but we knew today – if we win, it’s ours,” senior Ava Fantaskey said. “Yeah, we share it, but it’s ours.”
The game itself had an unexpected start.
“We were nervous, but we got there at 3 o’clock, and we were like – ‘Okay, jayvee plays first. We have a little bit of time,’” Fantaskey said. “Jayvee warmed up. They called the captains’ meeting, and they were like – ‘It’s varsity, right?’
“All of us were just sitting there eating our food, waiting for jayvee to play, and then they called the varsity and gave us only a couple minutes to warm up.”
“We were so shocked when our coach told us,” senior Kendall Posey said. “She said, ‘You have 10 minutes, everyone get ready.’
“We just kind of wanted to show them – okay, we don’t need all this time to show up big and win, but it was crazy. Totally unexpected. I don’t think that’s ever happened before to us.”
Posey had just settled in to do the jayvee book when she heard about the sudden change in plans.
“Schnurr turned around to us and says, ‘Girls, get up and go,’” Posey said.
Showing no ill effects from the abbreviated warm-up, the Rams took care of business.
“I do think the game started out okay because I think expecting to play at five but then being told 10 minutes before we were playing at 3:30 gave us all a rush of adrenaline, so I think we came out ready to go,” senior Kate Unzicker said. “I do think it started off better than we expected.”
On Friday, just four days removed from their first league loss of the season to a Pennsbury team that will share their league crown, the Rams bounced back for their most important win of the season.
“We knew going into Monday’s game we would have off on Tuesday, and I think that really helped us set our minds straight after our loss to Pennsbury – prepare ourselves for strong practices Wednesday and Thursday,” Posey said. “We came in on Wednesday, and we were focused and ready to get to work because we knew Friday was going to be all or nothing.
“We really focused on our attack and our defense. We knew Council Rock played a backer zone, and we really worked on how to break that at practice the past two days. It was focused and intense because after the loss Monday, there was no going back.”
The Golden Hawks scored first in Friday’s game. It was their first and only lead of a game that belonged to the Rams.
“With a hiccup of the start time and only a 10-minute warmup, the girls came out on fire and with lots of passion,” Pennridge coach Karen Feher said. “Waiting all week to play after Pennsbury, we worked on our offense and movement, and it showed tonight.
“Defense was clean and able to hold their ground. It was a true team win tonight.”
For the Rams, who received contributions up and down their lineup, Fantaskey had three goals, one assist, one caused turnover, one ground ball and three draw controls. Unzicker also had a hat trick and added a team-high three caused turnovers and one draw control. Madigan Posey contributed two goals, one assist, one ground ball and four draw controls, and Kendall Posey had one goal and one assist.
Leah Verespy was key in the center of the field, winning five draw controls to go along with one goal and one ground ball.
“Leah Verespy dominated on the draw controls,” Feher said.
Also for the Rams, Cayla Wurz had one goal and one assist, Gianna Leuthe added one goal, and Taylor Burkett had two assists. Delaney Dodge had one caused turnover and two ground balls.
Pennridge finished the regular season with a 13-5 overall record (9-1 SOL), and Council Rock South closed out the regular season with an 11-7 record (5-5 SOL). The Golden Hawks were 24th in the latest District 1 3A power rankings, awaiting the final ranking to determine the 24-team tournament field that will be finalized Saturday.
Non-league
Souderton 15, New Hope-Solebury 6
Senior Avery Farina made her final high school game a memorable one, turning in an eight-point game to lead the Indians to the non-league win in their season finale. The Weidner University-bound senior led the Indians with six goals, two assists and three caused turnovers.
Junior Tatum Andrews had a seven-point night with six goals and one assist to go along with two caused turnovers.
Also for the Indians, Caroline Kelcy had two goals and two draw controls, and Carly Gavetti added one goal and five caused turnovers. Savannah Smith added one assist and two caused turnovers, and Addie Yost had one assist and one caused turnover.
Alyssa Winebrenner led the Indians’ defense with seven caused turnovers and three ground balls. Abbie Quinn added two draw controls.
Nicole Kleckner recorded six saves in goal for the Indians.
For the visiting Lions, Maddie Thistlewaite had three goals and 10 draw controls. Emerson Thistlewaite added two goals.
Souderton closed out its season with an 8-10 overall record. New Hope-Solebury (8-10, 4-7 SOL) will be back in action in an opening round game of the District 1 2A playoffs on Wednesday.
New Hope-Solebury 3-3 6
Souderton 7-8 15
Central Bucks West 12, Methacton 7
The Bucks celebrated the team’s five seniors with an impressive Senior Night win.
“We had a great Senior Night celebrating the seniors of CB West and Methacton,” West coach Jordan Sanocki said.
The Bucks opened up a 6-2 lead after one quarter and extended that to 9-3 by halftime on their way to non-league win.
Once again, it was a team effort for the Bucks, who had a lengthy list of contributors.
Kalena Mandeville was credited with five saves in a winning effort in goal to go along with two ground balls.
Olivia Barrett had a team high four draw controls and also had one caused turnover while Zola Morelli had one caused turnover and one draw control. Contributing one caused turnover each were Nina Mayro, Eve Damsker and Abby Rogers. Aida Ierubino had one ground ball and one draw control.
Isabella Carter led the attack with four goals and one assist to go along with one caused turnover. Kamryn Brownlow added three goals, one assist and three draw controls. Bella Schrandt contributed two goals and one ground ball, and Chloe Schrandt had two goals, one assist and one draw control. Ashley Lott had one goal and one ground ball.
Central Bucks West (13-4, 8-2 SOL) – 13th in the latest District 1 3A power rankings – will find out its final ranking after Saturday’s seeding meeting.
Methacton 2-1-2-2 7
Central Bucks West 6-3-0-3 12
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