©2006 The Chestnut Hill Local

Merion sticksters subdue Mount in AACA semifinal
by TOM UTESCHER

The fourth-seeded Mount St. Joseph Academy lacrosse team was hoping to upset the top seed in the Athletic Association of Catholic Academies for the second year in a row, but this time around it wasn’t in the cards for the Magic.

The Mount, which stunned Villa Maria in the 2005 semifinals, took a 2-0 lead last Monday against Merion Mercy, then the host Golden Bears bounced back with seven straight goals, and led the rest of the way. The Magic tried to battle back, and were only down 9-7 early in the second half, but the Bears deposited six of the last seven goals in the encounter to claim a 15-8 victory.

Receiving five goals from Chloe Keating and hat tricks from Taylor Fleming, Paige Matteo, and Mattie Seigfried, Merion advanced to the finals along with number-two Villa Maria, which knocked off Gwynedd Mercy Academy in the other semifinal.

Mount St. Joe got a hat trick from Liz Roberts and two goals apiece from Katie Gottschalk (one assist) and Megan Maginnis (all three are seniors), while junior goalie Caitlin Cumpstone recorded 18 saves in the Magic’s last AACA outing. The locals, who finished 10-9 overall, had fashioned a 7-5 record in regular-season league games. Merion and Villa Maria were both 11-1 and split their two head-to-head bouts, and with no goal-differential tiebreaker in the AACA rulebook, the top seed for the playoffs went to Merion on a coin toss.

The Mount, which lost to Merion in the 2005 championship game, got the drop on the Bears in last week’s semifinal, scoring twice in the first 90 seconds. Roberts forged through the defense for an unassisted goal, and then an outside pass from Gottschalk hit junior Carly Gardner on a run up the middle to make it 2-0. The Bears regrouped, and as the clock descended from 19:50 to 11:25 they funneled in seven straight goals.

With just over six minutes left in the first half Roberts broke through a double-team to get the MSJ offense moving again, and then Maginnis aimed low on a free-position shot to net a fourth Magic goal. Next, a transition sequence that began with some slick maneuvering by senior defender Liz Pacheco ultimately led to another free-position for Maginnis in the Merion arc. She converted this one, as well, tightening the score to 7-5 and forcing a Bears time-out with 4:23 left in the half.

Merion came back out to notch two free-position goals of its own (the Bears shot a total of six in the game), but Roberts gave the Magic the last word in the opening period, digging out the rebound of a Maginnis shot and finding the net for a 9-6 halftime count.

Senior Katie Burke took the Mount’s first shot in the second half, and when it was deflected to the rear of the cage, Gottschalk recovered the ball and came back out front on the right side to score. That pulled the Magic within two points of the leaders with three-and-a-half minutes gone.

If the Mount enjoyed some success from recovering its own missed shots, Merion experienced even more. Tenacity in rooting out rebounds resulted in long offensive possessions for the Bears, and led directly to three goals. Merion’s final push began with back-to-back markers for Matteo, then a Fleming free-po made it 12-7.

Gottshalk came from behind on the left to sink an eighth MSJ goal with 13:14 left to play, but that would be it for the Magic. The score stood at 12-8 for a stretch, then Merion added another three points over the last seven-and-a-half minutes of the game. For the afternoon, the hosts earned a 16-9 advantage in draw controls, and snagged seven of nine in the second half.