Mount lacrosse meets nationally ranked Penn Charter

by Tom Utescher
Posted 5/19/21

Two league leaders in lacrosse met last Thursday afternoon at Mount St. Joseph Academy, and the result was decisive. The host Magic, tied with Villa Maria for first place within the Athletic …

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Mount lacrosse meets nationally ranked Penn Charter

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Two league leaders in lacrosse met last Thursday afternoon at Mount St. Joseph Academy, and the result was decisive. The host Magic, tied with Villa Maria for first place within the Athletic Association of Catholic Academies, suffered a 15-2 setback at the hands of Inter-Ac League leader Penn Charter.

The Quakers, who led 10-0 at halftime, raised their record to 16-1-1 overall. On Tuesday, Charter had reached a mark of 9-1 within the Inter-Ac with a 20-12 win over the Academy of Notre Dame that featured a seven-goal performance by senior Kaylee Dyer.

Also on Tuesday, Mount St. Joe's had gotten a five-goal effort from senior Devon McGarvey as it completed a season sweep of Gwynedd Mercy Academy with a 12-7 decision. The Mount was 13-3 overall following Thursday's game.

"Penn Charter has a strong program," said MSJ head coach Dipi Bhaya, "but the thing that bothered me is that we didn't show up today. We didn't find out how we really match up with them because we didn't play as a team and we didn't execute our game plan."

Within the AACA, the Magic's lone loss was to Villa in an early season game that followed a period of COVID quarantine during which the team could not play or practice. In the rematch with the Hurricanes, the Mount broke loose in the second half for a 13-8 victory.

Penn Charter has not had completely smooth sailing in the Inter-Ac. In addition to its loss to Agnes Irwin, Charter has had several one-goal victories, including one in overtime against the Irwin Owls. The second loss on second-place Irwin's ledger was another one-goal affair, this one with Notre Dame.

PC came into Thursday's match ranked 18th in the US Lacrosse Magazine national poll. The Quakers were on the board in less than 90 seconds, thanks to senior Mia Ferraro. She was one of six Norwood Fontbonne Academy graduates in the game. In addition to her own teammate, junior Chalotte Hodgson, the Mount had four former NFA Bears: senior Maggie Woolley, juniors Campbell Donovan and Emily Riethmiller, and sophomore Devon Loome.

A St. Philip Neri alum, junior Maddie Shoup, put the Quakers up 2-0 with 2:57 elapsed, but after a Mount time-out about half-a-minute later, the Magic had a chance to score. PC senior goalie Jamie Kubach withstood two Mount free positions, and after the second one junior Grace Turner came up with the ground ball and ran it upfield for the visitors.

Less than 10 minutes into the game, Penn Charter had a 5-0 advantage, thanks to a score by Hodgson and back-to-back goals by her 11th-grade classmate Lane Murray. The Quakers carried on to a 10-0 halftime lead and then deposited the first five goals of the second half, reaching their final total with 13 minutes left to play.

Junior Devon Diehl got the home team on the scoreboard with a free position goal with 5:50 remaining, and another restart goal, this one by junior Lauren Maher, locked in the final score at 15-2 with 28 seconds remaining.

Ferraro, Murray, and Shoup each recorded a hat trick for the winners. Freshman Grace Walter scored twice, and there were single goals by Hodgson, junior Darcy Felter, and sophomores Alex Glomb and Gracie Shoup (Maddie's sister).

Unusually for the Mount, senior high scorer Devon McGarvey was shut out in the game, often being marked by PC senior Maggie Turner.

"Devon has led us on offense, and in the goal Annie Shields (a sophomore) has been great after not getting to play last season," Coach Bhaya commented. "When we follow our game plan and play as a unit, we can be excellent," she continued. "Unfortunately, you didn't get to see that today. This game can be a wake-up call and a learning experience for us, though, especially heading into (PIAA) Districts. We lost the game, but we don't want to lose the lesson."

UPDATE: On Friday Penn Charter defeated Germantown Academy, 14-6, to officially win the 2021 Inter-Ac League championship with a record of 10-1 (A second game against last-place Baldwin School was cancelled). Felter had a hat trick and two goals apiece were scored by Dyer, Glomb, Hodgson, sophomore Bea Buckley.