EA’s Steidle sticks it to GA, again

GA’s Jenna Washabaugh, who recorded eight goals and two assists in the Inter-Ac playoffs, will play for the Upper Atlantic Region First Team in the U.S. women’s national tournament at the end of May. (Photo by Lene White)

by TOM UTESCHER

For the second time in a week, Britt Steidle lifted her Episcopal Academy lacrosse team to a one-goal victory over Germantown Academy in a key Girls Inter-Ac League contest. When the teams met at GA for the last game of the regular season, the sophomore scored with 16 seconds remaining to give the Churchwomen a victory that made the two teams the official 2005 co-champions of the league.

Bragging rights – if not the championship – were on the line last Saturday in the finals of the postseason Inter-Ac tournament, and here Steidle stung the Patriots again, finding the net with 20 seconds left as Episcopal prevailed on its home field, 9-8.

Steidle and Megan McFarland each scored twice for the winners, and Logan Greer notched a hat trick for the Churchwomen (8-1 Inter-Ac, 12-4 overall) while goalie Ali Hillyard made eight saves. Kyra Dwinell stopped 11 shots in the Germantown goal, and four goals by Jenna Washabaugh and two goals and two assists by Colleen Magarity fueled the offense for the Patriots (7-2, 15-4).

Two days earlier, a pair of intense semifinal contests had served as the prelude to the tourney final. At Germantown Academy, the host Patriots broke out of a 6-6 tie late in the first half to lead third-seeded Agnes Irwin at the interlude, 8-6.

GA remained in front for much of the second period, then the Owls rang up the last two goals in regulation to send the game into overtime at 12-12. Each team scored once early in the first of the two three-minute timed overtime periods (which are played in full), but right at the end of this initial extra session GA’s Washbaugh fired from the middle of the eight-meter arc. The ball was deflected by the stick of Irwin’s Lexie Barker, then out to the right of the cage it caromed off of Magarity’s knee and rolled back into the Owls’ nest.

Germantown made its 14-13 advantage hold up through the second OT segment, with Dwinell, the GA keeper, stopping a shot by Irwin’s Katie Beers with nine seconds to go. Magarity deposited seven goals and Washabaugh booked four goals and two assists for the winners, and Irwin received hat tricks from Alison Heffernan and Sarah MacIntyre.

In the other semifinal, host Episcopal headed Penn Charter at the half, 6-4, and in the second period the Churchwomen doubled their lead, making it 8-4. In the last ten minutes, the fourth-seeded Quakers chiseled away at their deficit, but EA’s Hillyard turned assist a PC shot in the final minute to help the hosts pull out an 8-7 victory. Marie McKenna struck twice for the visitors and five other Quakers each scored once, while Episcopal was paced by a hat trick from Greer and two goals from Lizzy Waples.

Right from the start of Saturday’s tournament final both teams played tenacious defense, curbing the ambitions of opposing attackers with well-timed checks.

“I had a feeling this would be more of a defensive battle than a shooting battle,” remarked GA coach Ginny Hofmann. “Both teams wanted to keep possession of the ball and look for good openings, and not turn it into a sort of track meet, tearing up and down the field.”

Episcopal’s offensive players passed well in close quarters, and after Magarity assisted Washabaugh on the opening goal of the game, the Churchwomen came back to take a two-goal lead with under nine minutes to go in the half. Lizzie Waples first found Megan McFarland in front of the the Germantown cage for EA’s first goal, then Waples put in a sidearm shot off of a pass from Callye Komlo. Receiving the ball from Waples, McFarland freed herself with a roll dodge to fire her second goal of the game. Later, GA’s Washabaugh hit the crossbar of the Episcopal goal, and EA came right back up the field and gained a 4-1 advantage on a strike by Greer.

GA scored its first goal in 19 minutes when Magarity carried the ball down the field and then dished off to Washabaugh at the last second. Capturing the following draw, Washabaugh raced down to score again just eight second later, making it 4-3 with 1:01 on the clock. The hosts had the last word though, as Greer slipped through a doubleteam at the eight-meter loop and went straight in to ripple the net with seven seconds remaining, setting the halftime score at 5-3.

Episcopal stayed ahead as the scoreboard moved slowly through most of the second half, reaching 7-5 when Steidle scored from close range off of a feed from Anne Marie Person with 5:49 remaining. Germantown suddenly came to life as Washabaugh scored just eight seconds later, romping down off the draw. Just 16 more seconds had slipped by when the Pats tied it up, 7-7, with Heather Sherlock penetrating up the middle.

Not long after that, Magarity broke through a double-team to give GA an eighth goal with 3:42 on the clock, putting the visitors in front for the first time since the opening minutes of the game. The Patriots pared time off the clock in EA’s defensive zone, but turned the ball over to Komlo at the right sideline with just under a minute to go.

On a free position shot, Greer found the upper right corner to level the score with 32 seconds left. Steidle got the draw, went down the field, and drew a foul in the middle of the eight-meter arc. She converted on a low shot to the right side with 20.5 seconds on the board. GA secured the subsequent draw back near its own restraining line and drove down the right side of the field. EA’s Ashley Aruffo checked the ball loose to disrupt the Patriots’ final assault, and the celebration began for the Churchwomen.

During the latter part of the season, Germantown increasingly put its offensive eggs in two baskets; in the Patriots’ last three games 24 out of their 33 total goals came from Magarity and Washabaugh. Just four of the Pats appeared in the scoring stats last Saturday.

“That wasn’t by intention,” GA’s Hofmann said. “We wanted other players to go to goal, but they kept passing off to the same people. We had some isolation opportunities on offense that we really didn’t try to take advantage of.”

For the Churchmen, eight different players had at least one goal or assist in the tourney final.

“That’s been a blessing all season long, the fact that we’ve had multiple threats,” commented Episcopal mentor Kim Piersoll. “We’ve had five or six scorers in almost every game.”