Mount lacrosse runner-up at AACA

by TOM UTESCHER

They say that it’s very difficult for a team to beat a particular opponent three times in one season, but apparently they didn’t say it to the lacrosse team at Merion Mercy Academy.

At the start of last week, fourth-ranked Mount St. Joseph Academy staged a 10-9 overtime upset of top-seeded Villa Maria in the Athletic Association of Catholic Academies semifinals, but in the championship match three days later the Magic suffered a 16-5 setback at the hands of first-time finalist Merion Mercy, who had swept the home-away series between the two schools during the regular season. Those games had been much closer, one of them extending into overtime before the Golden Bears prevailed.

Second-seeded Merion had gone on to win the other league semifinal, 14-10, over number three Gwynedd Mercy, the 2004 AACA champion.

In Monday’s semifinal at Villa Maria neither team ever led by more than two goals, and the score was tied five times before it reached the 9-9 count that would send the game into overtime. After Villa went up 2-0 in the first 94 seconds, Katie Reinprecht got the Mount moving and Amanda Jones added back-to-back markers to move the Magic ahead, 3-2. The Hurricanes evened it up with 11 minutes left in the opening period, but Mount St. Joe led 4-3 at the half after Katie Burke came from behind the cage on the left to score with 12.6 seconds on the clock.

A little over five minutes into the second stanza the visitors were still up one, at 6-5, then over the course of the next 12 minutes Villa’s lone senior starter, Kelly Driscoll, scored a natural hat trick to give the hosts an 8-6 advantage. The teams quickly traded goals, then the tally remained at 9-7 until the clock dropped under two minutes.

The Hurricanes lost the handle on the ball while trying to clear it out of their defensive zone, and Reinprecht scooped up the loose nugget and flung it down to Liz Roberts, who completed her own hat trick for the day with 1:50 to go in regulation. Reinprecht then scored her second goal of the game (she also had three assists), driving in from he left side of the arc after receiving the ball from Burke. Neither squad could break the deadlock in the last 65 seconds of regulation play, and sudden-death overtime ensued.

Burke had a free-position shot saved by Villa’s TiMarie Riordan early in OT, but Jones was on the money with the gamewinner two minutes and eight seconds into extra time. Coming from the rear on the left side, she faded away from the cage in the left side of the arc and sent a shot across into the top right corner. The Magic had made it to the finals.

Because the lacrosse pitch at Ursinus College was getting a makeover, the AACA title bout was moved from its customary location in Collegeville to City Line Ave., namely the artificial turf field at St. Joseph University. Merion Mercy is only about a mile away, and the Golden Bears were able to practice on the unfamiliar turf the day before the finals.

At the start of Thursday’s championship contest, it appeared as though the Preakness had begun a few days ahead of schedule. Sophomore thoroughbred Chloe Keating galloped up the field to post three goals for Merion in the first two minutes, and she and Kiely Fagan boosted the Bears to a 5-0 lead before the game was eight minutes old.

“We’re a really fast team, and that’s how we knew we’d win games – fast-breaking down the field,” noted Merion mentor Danielle McCaffrey.

Mount St. Joe coach Ted O’Neil acknowledged “It’s a much faster game on this turf, and we just didn’t adjust quickly enough.”

A shooting-space call on Merion set up a free position bouncer by Burke, breaking the shutout with 10:19 left in the half, but despite an unassisted goal by Reinprecht later on, the Magic trailed 9-2 at the half. Never able to score consecutive goals all afternoon, Mount St. Joe’s had no chance of climbing back into contention as Merion deposited the first four markers of the second half. Contrary to what the score suggests, the Magic did not lack scoring opportunities, but goalie Sabina Degisi made a dozen saves at the mouth of the Bears’ den.

Keating led the way with a total of five goals and two assists, while Kate Narzikul added a hat trick for Merion and Fagan and Mattie Seigfried rang up two goals apiece. In the second half, two goals by Jones and one by Liz Roberts rounded it out for the Mount, with Reinprecht and Charlotte Flynn each picking up an assist. Caitlin Cumpstone made eight stops in goal for the Magic.

“It’s unfortunate that we had to wind up on this note, because I don’t feel this game was representative of where we are as a team,” MSJ’s O’Neil remarked. “I think the girls came a long way; we improved dramatically throughout the season.”