Mount St. Joseph’s lacrosse has gaps to fill
by TOM UTESCHER
If the Mount St. Joseph Academy lacrosse team is to make its way back
to the championship game in the Athletic Association of Catholic Academies,
the Magic will have to undergo a successful makeover.
After pulling off an overtime upset of top-seeded Villa Maria in the
league semifinals last year, the Mount was schooled in the final by Merion
Mercy, 16-5. Six members of the 2005 team have graduated, and two of last
year’s top freshmen are also absent from the current roster. They
are field hockey standout Katie Reinprecht, who has decided to focus her
attention elsewhere, and Amanda Jones, who transferred to Germantown Academy.
Fortunately for the locals, second-year coach Ted O’Neil has 11
junior and senior veterans to serve as a foundation for the rebuilding
project.
At the home positions are 6-foot senior Liz Roberts and classmates Jordan
Fisher and Katie Gottschalk; senior Katie Burke and junior Meredith Oakes
play the attack wings.
Junior Becky Borrell, who missed most of last season with a broken ankle,
is trying her hand at center to replace the departed Jones, and she could
also find herself playing defense wing along with classmate Carley Gardner
and senior Megan Maginnis. As MSJ’s second singles player in tennis,
senior Liz Pacheco brings good hand-eye coordination as well as lacrosse-specific
experience to the line defense, and in the back the Magic has a pair of
veteran goalies, senior Marissa Foy and junior Caitlin Cumpstone.
Attacker Charlotte Flynn is the only sophomore with varsity experience,
but the offense will gain depth from former junior varsity athletes such
as senior Kelly Capatola, junior Steph Columbro and sophomore Maureen
Petticino. Three other rising JV players also figure into the mix: junior
Seri Buzby (defense) and sophomores Laurie Beppel (center) and Kelly Anne
Cleary (defense).
Coach O’Neil indicated that a few ninth graders may be moved up
from the JV squad, but currently the only varsity freshman is attack wing
Julia Reinprecht, who wears her impressive family genes (oldest sister
Sarah started for Princeton field hockey as a freshman last fall) and
played in a solid grade school program at Gwynedd Mercy.
Last Thursday, in their first scrimmage, the Mount took a 5-3 lead over
visiting Hatboro Horsham High School in the first half, but then was outpointed
9-1 by the Hatters in the second period. Many girls on both teams also
play field hockey, and perhaps Hatboro was inspired by the memory of a
November hockey game against Mount St. Joe’s, when an MSJ victory
gained the Magic the last available spot in the state tournament.
The Mount’s O’Neil noted that after the intermission, some
of Hatboro’s most talented sticksters raised their level of play
a few notches, repeatedly penetrating the Magic defense.
“They didn’t have numbers on their uniforms,” he pointed
out, “so we had a hard time picking people up because we couldn’t
call out a number. That makes it really tough on the defense because communication’s
rusty this time of year to begin with. We were also getting burned because
too many times we didn’t maintain good position against their attackers,
but just tried to lunge at the ball as they went by us.”
He saw other areas to work on, as well, such as avoiding sideline traps
during the midfield transition, and keeping offensive schemes from devolving
into one-on-one gambits.
At the helm of the squad, O’Neil will again be assisted by College
of New Jersey alumna Julie Miller, and the JV will be guided by new arrivals
Ruth Fricker and Carrie Mitchell. Mitchell is the sister of La Salle High
School athletic director Tony Resch, a former professional lacrosse player
and coach.
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