Upper Dublin 12, Council Rock North 5
One state playoff berth. Two SOL schools vying for that one spot.In the end, the Flying Cardinals had just too many horses for the depleted Indians, and they rode the seven-goal effort of junior Kelly Cross to the convincing win and the school’s first ever state playoff berth. It is the furthest any Upper Dublin lacrosse squad has gone in more than a decade.
The Flying Cardinals accomplished all of this with just one senior in their starting lineup.
“This was not a goal,” coach Dee Cross acknowledged. “Our first goal is to win the league, and that’s how we start our season off. Then it’s to go to districts.
“Once we started seeing what we could do – I kept saying to the girls, ‘You can’t wait until next year.’ Everybody kept saying, ‘Oh, we’re young, we’re young,’ but look at Council Rock North and Kara Magley. I kept saying, ‘Don’t wait until next year because you have to take what’s given to you this year.’ It kind of gave them a different outlook, and they seized the moment. They started to believe.”
The Indians were, for all intents and purposes, without their best offensive weapon in Thursday’s must-win game. Junior standout Kara Magley was injured 10 seconds into Tuesday’s playback game against Boyertown, and although she played on low attack and scored one goal in Thursday’s game, she was not a factor.
“I know the game would have been a whole lot different if Kara Magley were 100 percent,” Cross said. “I feel bad she got hurt because I know it affected the whole team.”
The Flying Cardinals seized control from the outset with Cross scoring just seconds into the game off the opening draw.
“That was definitely one of the things we wanted to do,” coach Cross said of controlling the draw. “I know Lindsay Rheiner is a state champion in cross country, and she can run. We did not want to get into a running match with her, so we knew we had to control the draw, and that way we could set the tone.
“They have some great athletes, and we had to come up with the ball. I think that really did help us settle the game down in the first half.”
Cross connected on back-to-back goals to make it a 3-0 game with her third coming after an interception of a goalie clear that she deposited into the wide open net, prompting the Indians to call a quick timeout.
It didn’t help as the Flying Cardinals went on to open up a 7-1 halftime lead. The Indians were outscored by just one in the second half.
“We knew they would make a run,” coach Cross said. “Every team makes a run, and Council Rock was right there.
“It came down to the draw, and I think all the girls were on the same page. They were ready to help each other out and did a nice job with controlling that.”
In addition to Cross, the Flying Cardinals received the hat trick from Brooke Callahan while Michele DeVincent added two goals and Taylor D’Ginto, one assist.
For the Indians, Rheiner had three goals and one assist while Magley and Becky Ely (one assist) each had one goal.
Anna Lauer had another solid outing in goal for the Flying Cardinals, picking up 14 saves.
As a result of their win, the Flying Cardinals have earned the district’s seventh and final spot in the state tournament. They will have an opening round rematch with a Downingtown East squad that – after defeating Upper Dublin in Saturday’s quarterfinals – went on to win the district crown. The game will be played on Wednesday at West Chester East High School.
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