April 6, 2006 Issue                                               

©2006 The Chestnut Hill Local

Comeback wins help Mount lax start 2-1
by TOM UTESCHER

Senior third home Liz Roberts (#21) scored twice in the Mount’s come-from-behind win over Sewickley Academy. (Photo by Leslie Lane)

After starting off with Tuesday’s 11 6 loss to Villa Maria, the Mount St. Joseph Academy lacrosse team could easily have ended its first official week of competition with an 0-3 record.

The Magic trailed both Catholic Academies rival Gwynedd Mercy and Western Pennsylvania’s Sewickley Academy at the half, but rallied in the second period both times, beating Gwynedd’s Monarchs on Thursday, 11-9, and then scoring twice in the last two minutes to shade Sewickley, 8-7, the following afternoon.

Near the end of the 2005 campaign, Mount St. Joe’s had pulled an upset by knocking off top-seeded Villa Maria in the AACA semifinals, so in last week’s season opener the host Hurricanes were highly motivated as they registered a five-goal victory over the Magic.

In another AACA road game two days later, the Mount needed to generate a spark of inspiration after the Monarchs moved out to a 4-1 lead. Led by Katie Burke and Charlotte Flynn, the Magic would score five of the next six goals, trimming their deficit to 5-3 by halftime, and then forging ahead of their hosts, 6-5.

Gwynedd snapped out of its offensive swoon and in an exchange of goals the score was tied repeatedly, at six, seven, eight, and nine points apiece. The Monarchs pressed for a tenth marker, but Mount defender Seri Buzby positioned herself to draw a charge from a driving Gwynedd player, and when the Mount came back up the field Flynn fed the ball in to Brittany Gavin for the eventual gamewinning shot.

Flynn then provided the insurance goal to complete a personal hat trick, a feat also achieved by Burke during the contest. Gavin’s goal was the first of her varsity career, and fellow sophomore Lori Beppel and freshman Julie Reinprecht made their first entries in the scoring column, as well. Gwynedd’s Bergan Foley led all scorers in the game, with five goals.

The next day, the Magic made their home debut against the Sewickley Panthers. Sewickley is a well-established program in the Pittsburgh area, where recent growth in lacrosse has resulted in 28 schools now fielding varsity girls teams. This bout would be a challenging one for the locals, who were missing Burke and a pair of key reserves, Meredith Oakes and Jordan Fisher. Gavin, who normally comes off the bench, started in place of Burke.

In the first ten minutes of the match, the Mount’s Katie Gottschalk assisted on a strike by Flynn and then came from behind the net to deposit a goal of her own, putting the Magic up 2-1. Mount St. Joe began to get careless with the ball, however, assuring the visitors of a lot of possession minutes.

This lapse on the part of the locals, combined with apparent confusion about defensive assignments, translated into goals for Sewickley. With a hat trick from center Emily Urda, two goals from Brittany Urick, and one from Rachel Lenchner, the Panthers fashioned a 6-2 lead by halftime.

After the break, the Magic made better decisions in many areas. They won six of the eight center draws in the period and cut down on turnovers to greatly increase the amount of time they controlled the ball. When Sewickley was able to go on the attack, the Mount’s defensive unit (Carolyn Cabrey and Meg Maginnis on the wings; Liz Pacheco, Carly Gardner, and Kelly Cleary in the line) pulled together in front of goaltender Caitlin Cumpstone, who wound up with nine saves. Buzby also subbed in to reinforce the defense.

In the first five minutes, Pacheco and Liz Roberts tallied for the Magic, then the Panthers’ Capri Courey stretched the visitors’ lead back to three goals (7-4), with a little over 13 minutes to go. This turned out to be the only Sewickley goal of the second half. Seizing the next draw, the Mount had Roberts answer just nine seconds later after receiving a midfield pass from Beppel, who made important contributions to the Mount’s transition game.

After this, however, the count remained stuck at 7-5 for almost ten minutes. During that span, Cumpstone denied the Panthers’ Urda on an open shot, and finally the Magic cut the lead to a single point with 3:16 to play, when a goal by Gavin was set up by Flynn’s left-to-right pass across the arc.

The Panthers called time-out, but when play resumed the hosts continued to press the attack. Awarded a free position out to the left side of the cage, Flynn drove to goal and placed a low shot in the far corner of the cage, tying the score with 1:54 left. With half-a-minute remaining, Gavin scooped up a ground ball near the top of the eight-meter loop and sent a pass inside to set up a point-blank shot by Gottschalk for the gamewinner.

The Panthers pocketed the final draw and rushed the Mount goal, but Cumpstone blocked a shot by Urda. The ball rolled loose near the cage for a few anxious moments, then Buzby dug it out of the dirt and was heading out of the defensive third as the concluding horn went off.