While some area sports teams headed south to play games during spring break, Springside Chestnut Hill Academy and Mount St. Joseph Academy kept things local, meeting for a lacrosse match on March 25 at SCH's Landreth Field.

New Mount head coach Mary Kate Maloney noted that in early games the Magic have been hurt by slow starts, and the recent match against the Blue Devils proved to be another example of that. Mount St. Joe would lose by a final score of 19-12, after trailing 8-1 late in the first quarter.

Mounties left Springside last week with an 0-4 record that included a setback against Villa Maria in the Athletic Association of Catholic Academies season opener. A day later, the Magic notched their first win with a 15-10 victory over another AACA rival, Gwynedd Mercy.

SCH had opened its season the previous Friday with an 11-7 road win at Lawrenceville School, and after the victory over the Magic, the Blue Devils climbed to 3-0 the following day by beating Maryland's Holton Arms School, 13-2, at a neutral site.

Noelle Powell returns for her fifth season as the Devils' head coach, but the rest of her staff is new to the team; Danielle Dundas, Melissa Felicetti, and Shiela Goettner. Dundas happened to play college lacrosse at Old Dominion University along with the Mount's Maloney. Her younger brother, Brendan, is a former SCH lax standout who is currently a freshman on the team at Monmouth University. Goettner is the mother of talented SCH field hockey player Veronica Goettner.

The Blue Devils' captains for 2024 are seniors Madison Freeman, Cortney Neverosky, Alex Reilly, and Sarah Scollin. Neverosky, who was temporarily sidelined last week due to a wrist injury, will attend the United States Naval Academy. Freeman will play at Villanova University, Reilly at the University of Virginia, and Scollin at Gettysburg College.

Springside Chestnut Hill quickly jumped ahead of the Mount in last week's contest, going up 3-0 with two strikes by Reilly and a goal by junior Maille Cohen. Senior Amelia Clair got Mount St. Joe's on the board with 6:12 remaining in the first quarter, but five straight SCH goals followed. Reilly had three of them, and Freeman accounted for two.

MSJ senior Maggie Rezza scored with 17 seconds left in the opening quarter to make it 8-2.

The Magic outpointed the Devils in the second period, 4-3, getting two goals from Clair and one each from junior Morgan Smith and sophomore Ani Garcia. The hosts received one goal from senior Maddy Caliendo and two more from Reilly. That gave Reilly seven goals for the first half, which ended with a tally of 11-6.

The last two starting goalies who have graduated from SCH have left big shoes to fill, both going on to NCAA Division I programs. Sophomore Molly McCann has stepped into the gap this season, and the reserve keeper is eighth-grader Hallie Lima. The other eighth-grader to make the SCH varsity squad is midfielder Devon Donato.

SCH surged early in the second half, then the Magic made up some ground later on. The Blue Devils outscored their guests 8-6 over the last two quarters, but once again Mount St. Joseph had ultimately been doomed by its slow start.

Clair led the MSJ scorers with five goals, while junior Katie Westmoreland scored three, Garcia had two, and Rezza and Smith had one apiece. Reilly rang up 10 goals for the winners, and the Devils had hat tricks from both Freeman and Scollin. Colin finished with two goals, and Caliendo with one.

In the following day's victory over Holton Arms, SCH was led by seven goals from Reilly, who has scored 21 goals in the Blue Devils' first three games of 2024.

On the same day, the Mount claimed its first win by beating Gwynedd, getting four goals apiece from Rezza and Westmoreland, and three from Gabby Clair (Amelia's sophomore sister).