#1 Downingtown East 12, #9 Upper Dublin 6
WEST CHESTER - The Flying Cardinals came into districts feeling a whole lot like the Rodney Dangerfield of the SOL – they weren’t getting a whole lot of respect. All of that changed in one magical afternoon last Thursday when Upper Dublin defeated a North Penn squad that is the SOL’s standard bearer.For those who still weren’t convinced that the Flying Cardinals were for real, Upper Dublin wheeled out yet another argument for earning respectability by more than holding their own against the district’s top-seeded squad in Saturday’s quarterfinal game at West Chester East High School.
“We don’t get much respect coming out of our league,” junior Kelly Cross said. “It’s definitely sort of an underdog kind of feeling where we have to prove to ourselves and to everyone else that we can play at this level.
“This is actually the first year that even people from our school are saying, ‘Wow, you guys are actually good.’ They knew we were good in our league, but I think we’re finally making a name for ourselves.”
Cross certainly showed she could compete at a higher level, beating Notre Dame-bound goalie Allie Murray for four goals, which included back-to-back goals early in the second half to trim a 6-1 Downingtown East halftime lead to 6-3, igniting the Flying Cardinal faithful.
“The fans are a big part of our team,” Cross said. “There’s a group of steady fans that come to every game, and just hearing them and the jayvee players that come to our games – it definitely picks up our intensity, and we want to play harder and better.”
The Cougars went on to open up a 9-3 lead, prompting coach Dee Cross to call a quick timeout with 15:33 remaining.
“I just think Downingtown East didn’t make many turnovers, and when they did, they got it back,” Kelly Cross said. “That’s something we try and work towards every day.”
Another Cross goal made it a 9-4 game, and when Taylor D’Ginto scored on a free position, it was a 9-5 game.
“I think the key is to just stick together as a team and work hard,” said goalie Anna Lauer, whose seven first-half saves kept the Flying Cardinals in the game. “We were in a place that we had never been before, and we just wanted to show them what we had and do our best.”
East answered with a goal McKenzie Rafferty, and after the Flying Cardinals came up empty on several opportunities to cut into the Cougars’ lead, East’s Ashley Poli scored, and then it was Rafferty scoring again to make it a 12-5 game before Brooke Callahan scored on a come-around goal. The Flying Cardinals were setting up to score again when the final horn sounded.
“They’re number one in the district, and we weren’t even supposed to be in this game,” coach Dee Cross said. “I thought the defense played a great game. They drew a couple of charging calls, they made them work for every shot.
“I was pleased. I said to them, ‘You guys should be mad that you lost but not upset.’ Downingtown East has been here before, and we haven’t.
“We didn’t have that excitement or intensity or the ‘let-me-have-them’ look that we had against North Penn. It was more like, ‘Oh no, here we are in this beautiful stadium.’ It took us a little while to get into the game, and once we did – they saw they could play with them. Obviously, it’s the farthest we have gone with any of these girls, so it’s a learning experience to take into the next round.”
The Flying Cardinals – one of four teams vying for three state playoff berths - will face Harriton in Tuesday’s playback game. Harriton, the tournament’s number four seed, fell to fifth-seeded Springfield (Delco) 13-12.
“This is awesome,” Lauer said. “We’re doing something our school has never done before, and just the team – we’re really working well together.
“We’re just going to do our best and hope for the best. I think we’re pretty confident after North Penn.”
“The road is just beginning,” Kelly Cross added. “It’s an awesome feeling to be in this place.”
#3 Garnet Valley 15, #11 Council Rock North 6
WEST CHESTER – Pat Toner had just watched her squad suffer a decisive loss to the third-seeded Jaguars in Saturday’s district quarterfinal round at West Chester East High School
“If the world was going to end, I wish it would have happened an hour ago,” the Indians’ co-coach deadpanned.
In truth, it had been a rough day for the Indians, who were coming off an emotional win over perennial district power Radnor.
“I expected a letdown,” Toner said. “In the years I’ve coached – it’s almost impossible to get them back up to that level for another game of that magnitude.”
That being said, Toner tipped her hat to her opponent.
“Garnet Valley is excellent,” she said. “They have beautiful stick work, beautiful offense – they did a great job.
“They shut down Kara Magley. Their settle defense was excellent, their re-defending was excellent. I can’t say enough about them. I thought they were terrific. On top of that, we did not play well.”
The Indians briefly found themselves deadlocked with the favored Jaguars 1-1 after junior Hannah Plappert scored just over three minutes into Saturday’s quarterfinal game.
Garnet Valley answered with a 9-1 run to close out the half, a run that was briefly interrupted when Lindsay Rheiner scored a free position goal with 1:42 remaining in the opening half.
“Everybody’s plan is to put two or three (quick) balls in the net,” Toner said. “That’s the plan we’ve had all season long, and I’m sure it’s the plan they had.
“It definitely puts (the other team) in a hole. We did so many things today that were uncharacteristic of us, but they’re high school kids, and they’re going to have days when they just don’t play well. We didn’t play well, and we played one of the top teams I’ve seen. They’re excellent.”
The Jaguars went on to open up a 14-3 lead before Plappert, Rheiner and Becky Ely scored to make it a 14-6 game. Garnet Valley’s Lizhan Visser scored to close out the contest.
“We knew it would be tough, but the second half we did a good job of coming back and keeping our heads in it,” said Plappert, who led the Indians with the hat trick. “That’s the biggest hole we have ever been in.
“We’ve come back on teams before. We just wanted to do a good job in the second half and give them a run for their money.”
Plappert acknowledged that there may have been a letdown after Thursday’s big win over Radnor.
“It was hard to get us as pumped up as we were at Radnor because we were so pumped up for that, and our minds were still in our game on Thursday,” she said. “We just want to keep our season going as long as we can because we’re having such a great time.
“We overcame a lot of adversity this season like Molly (Doyle) being out and I wasn’t able to play the first half (of the season). We’re just thankful we could get this far and want to go as far as we can.”
The Indians will face Boyertown – a 17-15 loser to Great Valley – in a playback game on Tuesday.
“The bottom line is I’m thrilled to be here,” Toner said. “I have sat in these bleachers the past couple of years and watched everyone else. I’ve watched North Penn and Unionville and Strath Haven, and I never thought I’d be on the field actually coaching a game.
“I figured it was above our reach for a while, but I’m very proud of the team for being here. We’ll pick ourselves back up and see if we can get them to play better. We played poorly, and I think they know it.”
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