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North Penn 9, Hatboro-Horsham 8TOWAMENCIN – Eighty-five seconds remained in regulation of a tie game when North Penn’s Rachel Shaw came out of nowhere near midfield to make a leaping interception of a goalie clear in Friday’s SOL showdown against Hatboro-Horsham.
“I was ready for an overthrow, and when Rachel got it, I just went crazy,” Maiden defender Carly Ball said.
In that one split second, everything changed for both teams.
Seconds later, Shaw found a streaking Brenda McDermott, who scored despite taking a hit, but the whistle sounded as she shot to wave the play dead for a shooting space violation against the Hatters.
Unfazed, McDermott – despite taking another blow - found the net yet again, and the Maidens led 9-8 with 1:16 remaining. It was McDermott’s fourth goal of the game.“Brenda was fouled two times and got hacked in the head two times, and to be able to make that shot – I thought that was a real brave and gutsy play for her,” Maiden coach Jami Wilus said.
The Maidens came up with the ball on ensuing draw, but the Hatters gained possession as time was winding down.
With 10 seconds remaining, sophomore goalie Jenna Stover came up with a save of a Hatter shot for the tie, and the Maidens ran the remaining seconds off the clock to earn the dramatic win on a rainy, cold day on their home turf.
“I like when we’re up by a little more because it’s less stress, but these games get your adrenaline going, and it’s more fun in the end,” said Ball, who noted that the inclement weather wasn’t a factor. “We practice in this weather, so it really doesn’t affect us that much. We’re practicing in rain, snow and anything.”
Ball was part of a defensive unit that saved the day for the Maidens against a skilled and fast Hatter attack. Ball was joined on low defense by Tory Brady, Emilie Ikeda and Alex Kajari.
“I think they were a stable force in the backfield for us,” Wilus said. “Our midfielders – Macie Hauck, Brenda McDermott and Laura DeLongis – played really well for us. They were able to get back in transition a lot.” “We have a game plan for our defense,” Ball said. “We really just have to work on executing it. I think we did a good job, and our goalie comes up with big saves – she saves our butts sometimes.
Stover turned away nine shots for the Maidens.
“She’s a sophomore, and she’s learning every game how important those saves are at the end of the game and what she needs to do to keep us in the game,” Wilus said.
In addition to McDermott, Shaw had three goals and Macie Hauck had two goals and one assist for the Maidens.
Lizzy Carr led the Hatters with three goals while Nicole Beck (assist), Julie McKay (assist), Caroline Hagan, Cortnee Daley and Laura Cresta each added single goals on a day that saw the young Hatters give the Maidens all they could handle.
“I told the girls – ‘This was an awesome game. This is not anything to be disappointed about. I was proud of you guys,’” coach Duncan Swezey said. “This game could have gone either way. We had one or two tiny mishaps.
“(On the Shaw interception), normally the girl who goes and gets the ball out of the back of the goal cage in that situation wasn’t in the game. People don’t realize – you put a puzzle together, and guess what – those two pieces were missing. If she was in there, that wouldn’t have happened, but fate is fate.”
The Hatters had the better of play in the first half, opening up a 5-3 lead, and they still led 5-4 heading into halftime.“I know we have a lot of speed, and we’ll set a lot of off-ball stuff and different picks, and when we execute it, it can be a great system,” Swezey said. “We have a habit of not executing all the time.”
The Hatters were still clinging to an 8-7 lead when Hauck scored the equalizer at the 7:06 mark. That set the stage for Shaw’s interception and game-winner by McDermott.
“Rachel had a turnover on the end line, and she’s one of those kids – she knew she needed to get it back,” Wilus said. “We kept positively telling her, ‘Get it back, get it back,’ and she came flying in out of nowhere and made that interception, which was huge for us.
“Our attack really wasn’t doing much today at all. We were lucky we scored nine goals. We shot a lot at the goalie, we missed the net a couple of times – wide open shots, and we missed some eight meters. I thought we played a pretty good game defensively. We just came up short on the offensive end.”
Lacrosse fans will want to circle their calendars for the rematch between the two squads on May 3.
“It’s our home game, so we’ll see what happens the next time,” Swezey said. “We had our opportunities today.
“It’s not like it was taken away from us.”
Both teams came into the game with perfect records. The Maidens remain perfect – they are 4-0 in league play and 7-0 overall while the Hatters fell to 3-1 in the league (5-1 overall).
“Hatboro is very well coached,” Wilus said. “You could tell they were trying to move the ball on offense, and they have a good solid defense. They came up with some draw controls.
“They’ve always been athletic. They have a group of juniors that have been playing together since their freshman year, and you can really tell. We don’t have much of a feeder program. When we get the kids in 10th grade, that’s it. We have to get them to know and understand each other. They’re fortunate enough that those kids have been playing together for a while, and I think it shows out there on the field.”
NORTH PENN 9, HATBORO-HORSHAM 8
Hatboro-Horsham 5 3-8
North Penn 4 5-9
Goals/Assists: Hatboro – Lizzy Carr 3-0, Julie McKay 1-1, Nicole Beck 1-1, Caroline Hagan 1-0, Cortnee Daley 1-0, Laura Cresta 1-0. North Penn – Brenda McDermott 4-0, Rachel Shaw 3-0, Macie Hauck 2-1.
Shots: H-20, NP-21
Saves: Jackie Giovinazzo (HH) 5, Jenna Stover (NP) 9.
Souderton 15, Central Bucks South 8
The Indians came into Friday night’s game against the Titans with a collective chip on their shoulders after Wednesday’s 16-3 loss to North Penn. Behind the five goal effort of senior Danielle Notvest, who finished with a team-high six goals, the Indians sprinted to an 11-2 halftime lead and never looked back.
“I think CB South heard the score of North Penn’s game against us and didn’t expect much, and our girls decided to play,” said assistant coach Kim Dudek. “They went all out tonight.
“It was pass, pass, pass, shot. They didn’t hold back. Danielle Notvest was face guarded during the North Penn game, and I think she had one shot. Today she had four shots right off the bat.”
Junior Liz Mower added four goals while Kirstin Russell had four goals.
“Our upperclassmen decided they were going to set the tone,” Dudek said. “Kirstin’s goals don’t show it, but she was really a big presence on the field. She was definitely a playmaker. She was in the right spot, got the ball and distributed really well.
“After a disappointing game against North Penn, our key players all played really well.”
Dudek was pleased with the Indians’ passing game on a cold and rainy night.
“Actually, except for our game against Wissahickon, I don’t think we’ve had one sunny day when we’ve played,” she said. “I wouldn’t say our passing was perfect tonight, but they didn’t hold the ball too long.
“They knew when we played North Penn they held the ball too long. They passed much faster, and there were a lot of nice passing patterns.”
The Indians improved to 2-1 in league play (3-1 overall) while the Titans are 2-2 in the league (4-2 overall).
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