©2006 The Chestnut Hill Local

Sports

Young Devils down Westtown JV in lacrosse
by TOM UTESCHER

Early in the fourth quarter of last Thursday’s home game, Blue Devils sophomore Mike Marino assisted Connor O’Brien’s goal and then scored one of his own to help cement CHA’s 7-3 victory over Westtown. (Photo by Lene White)

Founded just last year, Chestnut Hill Academy’s lacrosse team routinely plays against junior varsity teams from other Inter-Ac League schools, and against varsity squads from non-Inter-Ac institutions.

Somehow, this was not made clear last week to Westtown, a Friends School League affiliate which sent its junior varsity, instead of its varsity team, to CHA on Thursday afternoon. To make it more of an even match, the host Blue Devils used their reserve players - mostly freshmen and sophomores - in the contest, and still came away with a 7-3 victory.

Recording two goals apiece by freshman Dante LaRuffa and junior Tyler Ahrenhold, CHA attained an overall mark of 9-3, while its record against Inter-Ac JV’s remained 5-2.

With about four minutes left in the first quarter Westtown’s Brent Willhite opened the scoring in the game, but the Moose would only find the net two more times the rest of the way. With just under two minutes to go a CHA shot was partially blocked and knocked up into the air, and LaRuffa batted the ball into the cage.

GA, PC girls bow out in lacrosse playoffs
by TOM UTESCHER

Sophomore Heather Rittenhouse fired in four goals during last Friday’s semifinal game in the Girls Inter-Ac League tournament, but her Germantown Academy squad lost to eventual champion Agnes Irwin, 12-10. (Photo by Lene White)

By the end of the regular season in Girls Inter Ac lacrosse competition, Agnes Irwin and Episcopal Academy had emerged as the league co-champions for 2006.

The two Main Line teams reasserted their supremacy in the semifinals of the Inter-Ac postseason tournament late last week, as Episcopal defeated Penn Charter by a 10-5 count on Thursday, and Irwin took GA’s measure, 12-10, the following afternoon. In Saturday’s championship game, the Irwin Owls made up a big first-half deficit and defeated EA, 9-8.

In Thursday’s semifinal at Episcopal, the host Churchwomen held a 6-5 edge over Charter at halftime as they looked to avenge their only league loss of the regular season. This time around, the Quakers would not score at all after the intermission. EA struck quickly at the start of the second half, then the scoreboard stood still at 7-5 until late in the game.

“We just couldn’t put the ball in, although we had our opportunities,” said PC head coach Debbie White. “Eventually, the time got down to where we had to start doubling them to try and get the ball, and they found the open players and put in a couple of late goals.”

Mount softball secures spot in AACA tourney
by TOM UTESCHER

Arriving at Merion Mercy last Wednesday, the Mount St. Joseph Magic were expecting to beat a Golden Bears softball team that entered the contest with a 2-9 record within the Athletic Association of Catholic Academies.

Track event notches 120
by Drew Lazor

In 1887, Grover Cleveland was president, the New York Giants beat the Phillies by an unprecedented score of 29-1, and Pennsylvanians observed the first Groundhog Day. The year also featured the first Inter-Academic League Track and Field Championship. This year’s event, scheduled for Saturday, May 20, at Chestnut Hill Academy, marks the meet’s 120th anniversary.

Mount lax locks up playoff berth
by TOM UTESCHER

If Mount St. Joseph Academy had lost its final three league lacrosse games last week, the Magic could’ve found themselves tied with Newtown’s Villa Joseph Marie for the last available spot in the Athletic Association of Catholic Academies.

Springside softball’s wait for a league win is over
by TOM UTESCHER

Springside won a Girls Inter-Ac League softball game last Tuesday, and no one at the Chestnut Hill school was sure about the last time that had happened. Head coach Stephanie Mill knows that it hadn’t occurred during during her eight-year tenure with the team, so clearly the Lions’ 16-10 triumph over Baldwin School was long overdue.

Quakers top Lions for last berth in tourney
by TOM UTESCHER

Junior Kelsey McDowell scored Penn Charter’s first goal of the second half in last Tuesday’s league game, and the Quakers kept pulling away to notch a 9-4 victory over Springside. (Photo by Lene White)

At the beginning of last week Springside School still had an outside chance of making the Girls Inter-Ac League lacrosse tournament; it would take a win over Penn Charter on Tuesday, along with a victory in a special overtime session against Episcopal Academy slated for the following afternoon.

That scenario was already spoiled by the end of Tuesday’s match, as the Lions lost to the visiting Quakers, 9-4, and Penn Charter snatched up the fourth spot in the playoffs with a regular-season league record of 4-2. Back in April, the original Springside-Episcopal game was allowed to end in an 8-8 tie when, in fact, current league rules dictate that a sudden-death overtime should have been played to snap the stalemate. The Lions and Churchwomen reconvened the proceedings last Wednesday to play just the overtime portion, starting with the regular six-minute OT (two three-minute periods) played in-full, with a sudden death session to be added on, if needed. EA scored twice in the six-minute stint to claim a 10-8 victory, and with it, a share of the 2006 league title.