by Tom Utescher

Last month, the first girls’ lacrosse contest between Springside Chestnut Hill Academy and Penn Charter was tied three times (including 2-2 at halftime) before the visiting PC Quakers came away with a 7-6 victory. Last Tuesday’s rematch looked like it was going to be another nail-biter at the midway point, as host Charter held a slim 2-1 halftime lead over the visiting SCH Blue Devils.

It remained a one-goal affair more than nine minutes into the second half, then Charter got some separation by scoring three goals in a four- minute span. SCH got one back with 11 minutes left, but that was the last marker for the Blue Devils and the Quakers went on to win, 7-2. In league play, PC improved to 4-3, while SCH went home with a 3-6 mark.

Springside Chestnut Hill earned a lead at the outset, thanks to junior Riley Redpath. Sophomore Leah Sax and freshman Kaylee Dyer found the net for Penn Charter to fashion the home team’s 2-1 halftime edge.

It was the first of last week’s truly warm afternoons, and PC head coach Colleen Magarity felt that could work to the Quakers’ advantage.

“I thought we might wear them down because we play a lot of lines [of midfielers] and a lot of attack players,” she explained. “Their team actually did a good job of setting up and slowing it down a bit, and we sometimes we let ourselves get drawn away from the way we wanted to play.”

It remained a one-goal game for some time after the intermission, then with 15:21 left to play eighth-grader Darcy Felter furnished a third goal for Penn Charter. Springside Chestnut Hill called time-out, but over the next few minutes senior Greer Guyer and junior Emma Wilson built the Quakers’ lead up to 5-1.

Penn Charter goalie Hayley Hunt winds up to send the ball up the field on a clear. (Photo by Tom Utescher)

During the time-out, Charter’s Magarity said, “We just continued to emphasize pushing the pace. I tried to keep it going fast.”

Shortly after PC’s fifth goal, SCH junior Kianah Watson brought the ball into the top of the arc and passed it off to her right to her classmate Catie Brook. Brook scored to make it 5-2 with 11:05 remaining, but soon after that the Blue Devils found themselves shorthanded due to a penalty.

At 10:02, the home team’s lead was back up to five goals thanks to sophomore Vanessa Ewing. Springside Chestnut Hill wouldn’t score again, and the final tally was rounded out by a second marker for the Quakers’ Dyer, who converted off of a free position with 4:21 to go.

Sophomore goalie Hayley Hunt made six saves for the winners, and junior Delaney Sweitzer turned aside five shots for the Blue Devils.

In front of Hunt, Coach Magarity was pleased with the work of her starting defenders, senior Lexi Joseph (a Duke signee), junior Molly Visco, freshman Ava Coyle and eighth-grader Grace Turner.

“They won the game for us today,” Charter’s skipper stated. “They were very disciplined, sticks up, sliding well, seeing the middle.”

With a young team overall, it has taken a little time this spring for the attack players to get all of the details down.

“We put in a lot of different offenses, and now the girls are really starting to understand them,” Magarity said. “We’re doing a good job distributing the ball and having different people score – everyone’s a threat when we run our motion offense well.”