Stanford-bound senior Mikaela Watson took charge in SCH’s match against Episcopal Academy last Friday, scoring seven times to lead the Blue Devils to a 15-8 upset. (Photo by Tom Utescher)[/caption]

by Tom Utescher

“And you’re a prima ballerina on a spring afternoon – change on into the Wolfman, howlin’ at the moon!” - New York Dolls

The girls of Springside Chestnut Hill Academy experienced a bit of a personality crisis on the lacrosse field last week, and they resolved it in a very positive way.

The Blue Devils’ schedule was bookended by Inter-Ac games against the very evenly-matched powerhouses from Agnes Irwin School and Episcopal Academy. In their regular season series, the Owls and Churchwomen had each beaten the other by a single goal, and were tied atop the league standings at the beginning of May.

Both of these Main Line teams had beaten SCH handily in the first round of Inter-Ac matches, and last Tuesday Agnes Irwin thumped the Devils in their rematch, 20-2. Despite an 11-7 non-league victory over Hill School the following day, Springside Chestnut Hill looked to be facing very long odds in its rematch with visiting Episcopal on Friday.

At times during the season, there’d been stretches when the Blue Devils had shown signs of being a team that could be competitive with the top franchises in the Philadelphia region. They’d rarely been able to sustain that level of play for more than a few minutes at a time, but in Friday’s home field outing they did it for the entire game on a cold, wet afternoon.

Jumping out to an early lead, SCH held a 9-6 advantage at halftime and then proceeded to play even better in the second period, outpointing the Churchwomen 6-2 to complete an astonishing 15-8 upset. The victory brought the Blue Devils’ overall record up to 11-6, and they improved to 4-6 in the league.

Going back to the days of the old Springside School, no one seemed to be able to remember the last lacrosse victory over EA. An all-male institution for most of its first 200 years, Episcopal hit the ground running when it began to field girls’ varsity sports teams in the 1980’s, and very quickly its lacrosse program developed into a successful, classy outfit.

In past decades, even Springside teams with multiple future Division I college players stumbled over the Episcopal obstacle. Not this time.

“We came out stronger than we have in a long time, with a lot of confidence,” commented fourth-year SCH head coach Allison Thomas. “The girls weren’t worried about who they were playing against. It was exciting to see them playing so well together and supporting each other for the entire game.”

Mikaela Watson, a 5’11” senior midfielder who has signed with Stanford University, stamped her name all over the stat sheet, with seven goals, one assist, six draw controls, six ground balls, and four caused turnovers. Her diminutive classmate Elsa Rall, a William & Mary recruit who is a fifth-year varsity goalie, made nine saves against the Churchwomen.

“It didn’t feel like it was me who was playing so well,” Watson said. “It was our whole team raising our level.”

“Everything clicked,” Rall related. “We all played to the best of our ability and we really played together.”

Last Wednesday, in between the Irwin and Episcopal games, the Blue Devils topped Hill School by four goals but still did not display the standard of play that would take them past the Churchwomen two days later. In last week’s league matches, the 18-goal loss to Irwin and the seven-point victory against EA amounted to a 25-goal swing in three days against two very similar opponents. So how did a somewhat disoriented Mr. Hyde transform into a masterful Dr. Jekyll so quickly?

The Irwin Owls had beaten Springside Chestnut Hill 16-7 in their first encounter back in April, and in last Tuesday's rematch, Watson said,

“From the minute we started Agnes Irwin very aggressive and they were all over every ground ball. I think that was deflating for us, and we were just unable to match their hustle and catch up.

“It was such a bad feeling across the board,” she continued. “I think we just decided to flush those emotions and not let it affect us. Dwelling on that game could’ve really hurt us the rest of the season.”

Coach Thomas added, “No one felt that the score of that game reflected who we are as a team. But to move forward, they all had to step up together. We don’t have a lot of subs, and we rely on a number of young players, so we have to fit people into whatever position we need them in certain games.”

Wednesday’s win diluted the bitter aftertaste of Tuesday’s outcome, and a very productive practice session on Thursday followed.

On defense, Rall explained, “It was important to put the Irwin game behind us. On Thursday one big thing we worked on was containing the transition. We went over how we were supposed to slide in different situations, and how to recognize when it was okay to gamble and leave somebody open for a little bit.”

When the team came out to the field on Friday, Rall presented freshman Riley Redpath with a Hawaiian lei, which she wore during warm ups.

“Of course, that became the reason why we won, so I guess we’ll be keeping that around,” the senior goalie said with a laugh.

It would’ve been natural for Episcopal expect the morale of the SCH squad to be at low ebb after the Irwin debacle. Neither the Churchwomen, nor almost anyone else, expected to see a Blue Devil team so totally transformed.

This time, SCH was the early aggressor, jumping out to a 3-0 lead in two minutes as Watson got into gear early.

“It was the best game I’ve seen her play; she was making shots I’d never seen her take before,” Thomas said. “This one thing was like she’d taken a slam dunk from the basketball court to the lacrosse field. Mikaela is a true student of the game and she’s been putting in a lot of work off the field watching film and always trying to increase her knowledge of lacrosse. She had some really clutch caused turnovers against Episcopal and in the midfield she was very poised and was directing our team in maintaining possession of the ball.”

Watson said she’s studied a lot of video of the University of Syracuse team, and of the most potent attacker for the Orange, three-time Atlantic Coast Conference MVP Kayla Treanor.

“Seeing what they do around the crease as far as drawing the ball and dumping is really helpful,” pointed out Watson. “I like the way they suddenly change speed close to goal, the faking the pass and then re-attacking, and the whole explosiveness of that.”

The SCH standout said that she’s able to employ some of those strategies along with classmate Natalie Schwartz, another four-year varsity player. “We’ve been playing together so long that we read each other very well,” Watson said. “I think especially this season I’ve been using my height better. It helps that we have some other tall players so we can sort of do things at the same level. I feel like things are coming together and I’m really starting to play up to my potential.”

After the Blue Devils gained an early foothold last Friday, Watson said, “The main thing was that we needed to get the draws, possess the ball, and use the clock. The coaches went over with us about trying to take a certain amount of time off the clock with each possession.”

Denying the opposition the ball was a priority not only in the midfield, but in the defensive zone.

Senior Elsa Rall, a William & Mary signee, made nine stops in the SCH goal last Friday. (Photo by Tom Utescher)[/caption]

“We didn’t want to give them a lot of second chances after they shot,” Rall said. “I came out and got some rebounds and the other girls got some rebounds. One key thing was that Morgan [Fitton-Zellers, a junior] and some of the younger defenders were able to slow down their fast breaks.”

When halftime arrived with SCH up by three goals, the hosts were a little reluctant to take a break.

Rall recounted, “It was cold and we almost didn’t want to stop playing because we thought we might get all tight and lose our momentum. But we came out strong in the second half and we were able to pull it together.”

Episcopal scored first in the second half, but the Blue Devils answered and never let their lead diminish to a single goal.

“Episcopal’s a very good team and we knew they were going to change some things up and come at us hard in the second half,” Thomas said. “The key for us was to play disciplined defense. We wanted to cut out the swinging sticks and not help them get back in it by fouling them. Some of our players who can tend to do that were really patient and played under control.”

For much of the season, Thomas and the other coaches had been preaching to their defenders about communicating with one another, so that they could better adjust to offensive threats on-the-fly.

“We have some younger players back there who are naturally a little hesitant to speak up, and we have some older players who are mainly leaders by example and aren't that vocal,” she pointed out. “It was a process of them learning to communicate, and eventually they figured it out.”

The Blue Devils wound up increasing their lead in the second half for a seven-goal victory. While Watson was the primary engine of the offense, six other players scored, as well. Juniors Taylor Ferry (one assist) and Gabby Dunning split the pipes twice, and there were single goals for Schwartz, Redpath, junior Mason Rode (one assist), and Watson’s ninth-grade sister, Kianah. Fitton-Zellers assisted on one goal and caused three turnovers.

“We learned we’re capable of anything when we put our minds to it and play as a team,” Rall summed up.

Thomas said, “The girls have proven to themselves what they can achieve, and that’s an exciting way to go into these last weeks of the season.”