April 3, 2008 Issue                                       

©2007 The Chestnut Hill Local

Mount lacrosse on early roll
by TOM UTESCHER

With five different players each scoring two or more goals, the Mount St. Joseph Academy Magic cruised to an 18-9 victory over the Sewickley School in their lacrosse home opener last Saturday. Sewickley, which hails from near Pittsburgh, headed back west with an 0-2 mark, while the Mount improved to 3-0. In road games earlier last week, Mount St. Joe knocked off Gwynedd Mercy Academy, 17-8, and Springfield (Montco) High School, 13-7.

The Magic’s senior tri-captains proved prolific on the attack against Sewickley; Charlotte Flynn finished with five goals and two assists, while Lori Beppel had three goals and one assist and Kelly Cleary chalked up one goal and four assists. Sophomore Nicole Schuster fired in four goals, and seniors Brittany Gavin (one assist) and Maureen Pedicino each scored twice.

The Magic had launched their season on Wednesday, with a match at Gwynedd Mercy Academy that was also the Athletic Association of Catholic Academies debut for both squads.

Flynn notched five of her game-high eight goals during the opening period to help the Magic secure a 10-3 halftime lead over the host Monarchs. Schuster finished the match with four goals, and senior goalie Caitlin O’Donnell recorded 14 saves for the winners.

Two days later, the Mounties took a jaunt over to Springfield High School, where they expanded upon a 6-4 halftime lead to top the Spartans, 13-7. Flynn and Gavin netted four goals apiece for the visitors.

Flynn didn’t slow down on Saturday, putting the Magic on the board a little over two minutes into the match as she shot from near the crease after receiving a pass from Cleary at the top of the arc. There were additional Mount goals from Pedicino, sophomore Corinne Caracausa, Beppel, and Schuster, then Flynn deposited her second of the day to put the hosts ahead 6-0 about 10 minutes into the fray.

Sewickley regained its composure after that to make the match a little more interesting later in the half. With 13:34 left in the period, Casey Ross broke the ice for the Panthers thanks to a feed from Lizzie Miller. An assist by Rachel Lencher set up Caylee Rafalko for the visitors’ second goal, then Mount St. Joe got moving again as Gavin found the net after snagging a pass from sophomore Tara Beppel with nine-and-a-half minutes left in the opening period.

The teams traded goals for the rest of the half, with Mount markers by Schuster (two), Flynn and Pedicino matched by the Panthers’ Lauren Bonomo (two), Olivia Ahearn, and Alaina Raftis to produce an 11-6 tally at the intermission.

Sewickley had gotten within three goals of the Mount back at 9-6, and in second half the Panthers pulled within four when Miller found the upper left corner of the cage to initiate the scoring. Keeper Jul Tehovnik (eight saves) remained in goal for the visitors, while the Mount seated its starter, O’Donnell (two saves) and put in sophomore Vicki Vandergrift (three saves) at the start of the new period.

Just after the Panthers closed up the score to 11-7, they lost the services of Lencher, who received her second yellow card of the match with 20:12 left to play.

Dominating the draws, the Magic took command with a 5-0 burst that included two goals and two assists by Flynn. Each team scored twice during the final 10 minutes of the contest.