Charter a victim as GA lax starts to roll

Virginia McMunigal (22) and Annie McKenna (15) of Penn Charter
pursue GA’s Heather Rittenhouse. (Photo by Lene White)

by TOM UTESCHER

The Girls Inter-Ac schedule-makers haven’t been kind to the Penn Charter lacrosse team. On April 15 the Quakers opened the league with a 15-8 loss to pre-season favorite Agnes Irwin, and last Tuesday PC slipped to 0-2 in the Inter-Ac (9-5 overall) with a 10-7 setback against defending champ Germantown Academy. GA, which hosted Tuesday’s tilt, improved to 5-2 overall and 2-0 in league play.

In the first minute of the GA-PC match Jenna Washabaugh put the Patriots on the board, but Charter countered to take a 3-1 lead with nine minutes gone. A high-low feed from Marie McKenna to Marghi Walters got the Quakers started, then Margaretha Ehret found the lower left corner after pocketing a pass from Annie McKenna.

Driving through the left side of the arc, PC’s Danielle Yorko shot the visitors’ third goal, but this time Germantown answered less than a minute later, when Colleen Magarity placed a free-position shot high on the right. With GA back on offense, Magarity scooped up a ground ball to the right of the cage and went in to net the tying goal.

Sarah Warner assisted Allie Fishbone to move the hosts ahead, but with six minutes left in the half the score was knotted again as Ehret’s free-po made it 4-4. Germantown went up for good when Niki Finelli intercepted a PC clearing pass and took the ball back in for a goal, and an unassisted drive by Washabaugh made it 6-4. As time wound down GA keeper Kyra Dwinell (nine saves) deflected a PC shot by Nora McGurkin, then Charter’s Allie Pearce retrieved the ball behind the cage and passed it out front to Marie McKenna. The senior rippled the net with one second left to make it 6-5 at the interlude.

Both teams had turned the ball over through careless passing in the first period, and Germantown solved this problem, for the most part, in the second frame. Carolyn Burnett traded goals with the Quakers’ Ehret for a 7-6 tally, but Charter didn’t score again until just a minute remained. With under ten to go, Magarity dodged in to put the Pats up by two, then GA freshman Heather Rittenhouse scored twice in less than a minute-and-a-half (9:15 and 7:50). With 1:01 on the board, PC finally acquired its second goal of the half when McGurkin hit the lower right corner, but the Quakers simply didn’t have the time to mount a serious comeback. Charter goalie Robin McDowell, a ninth-grader, finished the day with a dozen saves.

UPDATE: Agnes Irwin, impressive in early contests in and out of the Inter-Ac League, received a shock from visiting GA on Friday. Breaking out of a 3-3 halftime tie, the Patriots overcame the Owls, 9-6, as Rittenhouse, Washabaugh and Caitlin McGovern each rang up two goals.

Lexie Barker and Tori Johnson each scored a pair for Irwin, but senior center Beth Seigfried was held to just one goal by the Germantown defense, and junior threat Alison Heffernan was shut out altogether.

After Irwin went up 2-0 in the match, GA pulled even by the break and then took command in the middle of the second round, going up 8-4. Coach Ginny Hofmann praised the efforts of Finelli, who had numerous interceptions and knock-downs in the midfield, and of goalie Kyra Dwinell, who chalked up 14 saves. Burnett, Magarity, and Heather Sherlock were the other scorers for Germantown.