Mount sophomore Brooke Blanche (left) vies for ball possession with a C.B. South player. At right is MSJ junior Erica Brocato. (Photo by Tom Utescher)

by Tom Utescher

Last Friday afternoon the fields and pavement were still damp from rain earlier in the day, but Mount St. Joseph Academy’s lacrosse match at Central Bucks South High School proceeded as planned.

Eight minutes into the second half the visiting Magic were just one goal behind at 6-5, but after that the host Titans pulled away to an 11-6 victory and improved to 9-3 overall.

The Magic were just coming off of a league setback against Merion Mercy, which gave them a split with the Golden Bears in their season series. In other Athletic Association of Catholic Academies games, the Mount defeated Nazareth Academy, Sacred Heart and Villa Joseph Marie, while losing to Gwynedd Mercy and Villa Maria.

Last Friday, C.B. South missed a free position shot about a minute into the game, then Mount St. Joe went down on the attack. With a feed from behind the cage by sophomore Margaret Anne Borneman, senior Cara Sheedy started in on a personal hat trick for the day, depositing the first goal of the afternoon with two minutes and 45 seconds elapsed.

Just under two minutes later, Anna Green answered for the host team. The MSJ defense would have a lot of trouble trying to stop drives to the cage by the Titans junior, who has made a verbal commitment to play for the University of Cincinnati.

Over the next five minutes, Mount sophomore goalie Bern Shields saved two C.B. South free position shots. At the other end, Titans keeper Laura Robinson stopped a shot by MSJ junior Liz Meister, and there was a close miss by the Mount’s Elise Smigiel, a freshman out of Norwood Fontbonne Academy.

In a short stretch as the clock dropped from 14:09 to 12:17 remaining in the first half, Central Bucks South went ahead for good on three goals by Green, two of them coming on free position opportunities. A free position for the Mount resulted in a shot under the crossbar by Meister for the Magic’s second goal at 10:53.

At 7:35, the home team’s Green scored yet again, but the visitors would have the final word in the first period. From the rear of the cage on the left, Borneman passed the ball out front to sophomore Brooke Blanche, and she cashed in with 1:19 remaining to set the score at 5-3 for halftime.

Just over 30 seconds into the second half, Green had the Titans up 6-3, then in the third minute the Magic picked up their fourth goal in a curious manner. Their feeder, Borneman, once again sent the ball out front from behind the goal, and when it went into a clump of players in front of the crease it bounced off the leg of junior Erica Brocato and into the cage.

Both Brocato and sophomore Caroline Kelly worked hard all game in the Mount’s transition out of the defensive end, and in the midfield and on attack energetic and feisty freshman Kennedy Cliggett displayed her usual enthusiasm and hustle.

In front of the MSJ goal, sophomore Kristen O’Connor blocked a C.B. South shot with her stick a little over seven minutes into the second period, but just after that the Mount had a player sent off the field with a yellow card. The short-handed Magic played well during this stretch, with Sheedy earning a free positon on the center hashmark and converting on a high shot. This got the Mounties back within one goal of the leaders at 6-5, and the Titans called time-out with 16:52 left to play.

After the action resumed, the Magic’s penalized player was just coming back on the field when C.B. South’s Kasey Dietzel scored with 16:33 on the clock. A senior headed for the U.S. Naval Academy, Dietzel seized the following draw and dashed down to score again just a dozen seconds after her first marker. The Magic had gone from a one-goal deficit to a three-point shortfall very quickly.

They got one back around the 15-minute mark, when Sheedy drove at the cage and then faded to the right to score. That made it 8-6, but this would be the Mount’s last goal of the game. The Titans reached their final total with a seventh goal by Green and with scores by Francine Richick and Katie Jennings.

Shields ended up with eight saves in goal for the Mount, and the Titans' Robinson was credited with five stops.