SCH girls survive late GA rally to prevail, 11-10

Posted 4/22/19

GA junior Elizabeth Van Blarcom drives by SCH senior Savannah Sweitzer to score the Patriots’ first goal. Later on, Sweitzer would shoot the game-winner. (Photo by Tom Utescher)[/caption] by Tom …

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SCH girls survive late GA rally to prevail, 11-10

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GA junior Elizabeth Van Blarcom drives by SCH senior Savannah Sweitzer to score the Patriots’ first goal. Later on, Sweitzer would shoot the game-winner. (Photo by Tom Utescher)[/caption]

by Tom Utescher

This spring, as in recent seasons, girls’ lacrosse teams from the Main Line are holding down the top three spots in the Inter-Ac League standings, while Germantown Academy, Penn Charter and Springside Chestnut Hill Academy battle one another other for the middle ground.

The first go-round in this triangular tussle wrapped up last Thursday afternoon in Chestnut Hill, when the SCH Blue Devils bolted to a 5-0 lead and then held on at the end to defeat visiting Germantown Academy, 11-10. A week earlier the GA Patriots had edged Penn Charter, 9-8, while back in the first week of April the Quakers defeated SCH, 10-7. In essence, the slate has been wiped clean for those three teams leading up to their next encounters in the second round of Inter-Ac play.

As it happens, each of the winners of the first-round games between the three will have to play on the road in its rematch against the team it defeated earlier.

“There’s a lot of parity with our three teams, so we’re just fighting it out for the best place we can get,” noted Noelle Powell, who is in her first season as SCH head coach but who went through the Inter-Ac wars as an assistant for the Blue Devils last spring.

Brooke Prochniak, a tall, strong sophomore, led SCH last Thursday with a game-high five goals, while senior Olivia Doody paced the Patriots with four markers, netting GA’s last three goals of the day during the visitors’ second-half rally.

The winners got 14 saves from senior goalie Delaney Sweitzer, who was recently named to the Under Armour All-American “Wave One” team. Germantown Academy’s regular starter in goal was out of town, so junior Sarah Alhadad stepped into the cage and made six saves.

“I was proud of the way our girls fought in the second half to get that early run back,” said GA head coach Mary Dean. “We just ran out of time.”

Germantown won the opening draw and moved up on attack to get off the first shot of the afternoon, which elicited the first save by Sweitzer.

“Delaney played her usual strong game, and she and the defenders in front of her are working well together now,” Powell observed.

SCH went back up the field, GA fouled and Prochniak got the home team on the board from a free position with one minute and 19 seconds elapsed. She would add two more goals over the next four minutes.

Down 3-0, GA made a determined attack in an attempt to set the visitors’ side of the scoreboard in motion, but Sweitzer knocked down the resulting shot and SCH junior Abbie Rorke recovered the ball and cleared it out. The senior keeper continued to keep her cage sealed while the Blue Devils’ lead climbed to 5-0, prompting a GA timeout with 16:16 remaining in the first half.

When the clock got down to 13:45 the Patriots ended the SCH shutout, with junior Elizabeth Van Blarcom dashing straight up the middle to score.

Dakota Carter wheels up the field for Springside Chestnut Hill. She’s also using her speed as a member of the Blue Devils’ track team this spring. (Photo by Tom Utescher)[/caption]

SCH answered, then Germantown chalked up a second goal thanks to a pair of Norwood Fontbonne Academy graduates. It was junior Maddie Burns assisting sophomore Elise Smigiel on this one, then Doody got going for GA. She fired in her first goal for the Pats to make it 6-3 with just under eight minutes to go in the half.

SCH chalked up a seventh goal thanks to its own Norwood weapon, Ashley Lynch. The sophomore scored off of a pass from freshman CeCe Reilly.

The Blue Devils went back down on offense again, but after a few minutes their possession ended with a shot that was saved by GA’s Alhadad.

Although time was short, it was important for the Patriots to try and get one goal closer before the intermission. They were able to set the score at 7-4 for halftime when senior Cammy Korman found the back of the net with just 12 seconds left.

It seemed, however, that this late spark in the first half did not fire up Germantown Academy for the start of the second. Instead, Springside Chestnut Hill scored three times in the first six-and-a-half minutes to lead 10-4. The ebullient home crowd couldn’t know that the Blue Devils would only score one more goal the rest of the way, and that they would need it.

Once again, Van Blarcom rallied the Patriots. She had a shot off of a free position blocked by SCH senior Riley Redpath, but before long the persistant junior scored with an assist from classmate Ella Henry.

As the clock dropped from 15 minutes down to 10, Savannah Sweitzer (Delaney’s twin sister) had a shot repulsed by the Patriots’ Alhadad, and at the other end, Delaney Sweitzer saved a ball fired by GA sophomore Mackenzie Smith.

With 9:11 remaining, Delaney Sweitzer was penalized two minutes for a check to the head, although she was allowed to remain in goal while a field player served the time in the box. Twelve seconds later, GA’s Smith scored from close to the crease, and when Burns came from behind the cage on the left for a successful shot, Germantown was back within three (10-7) with 7:52 left to play.

Next, Doody attacked in transition and had a shot stopped by Sweitzer. SCH cleared the ball upfield, but soon the Patriots were back on offense after senior defender Grayson Gross checked the ball out of a Blue Devil stick.

This led directly to a goal by Doody, who bedazzled Blue Devil defenders with her twirling stick and deposited the visitors’ eighth goal with 5:21 to go. Now down to a two-point advantage, Springside Chestnut Hill called a timeout.

“The girls were getting a little wrapped up in some calls by the officials,” Powell explained, “and I told them they needed to concentrate on playing GA and not focus on the whistles. They have the experience to know how to stay composed, but sometimes they just need to be reminded to use it in close situations.”

Nevertheless, when play resumed Germantown narrowed the gap to a single goal, with Doody cashing in on a free position on the right side of the arc with a little over four minutes left. Burns then came up with one of her four draw controls, but GA turned the ball over and Springside Chestnut Hill advanced up the field.

The Blue Devils liked the next whistle they heard; it signaled a free position for Savannah Sweitzer, who scored the eventual game-winning goal on a low shot with 2:13 on the clock.

Taking the draw again, Germantown looked to make it a one-goal game once more, but lost possession through a foul. SCH coughed up the ball in turn, and the Patriots called timeout with 58 seconds to go.

When GA penetrated the arc Delaney Sweitzer blocked a shot by Smith, but the ball rolled loose out to the right of the cage. Doody scooped it up and scored to make it an 11-10 game with 35 seconds remaining.

Off of the final draw, the ball was batted around on the ground a few times before Savannah Sweitzer picked it up. Three GA players swarmed her and caused a turnover, and the ball ended up in the stick of Van Blarcom. She motored toward the SCH goal and launched a shot before the horn, but Delaney Sweitzer came up with yet another key save and her squad survived.

In addition to Prochniak’s output, the Blue Devils’ scoresheet showed two goals apiece for Lynch and Reilly, and one each for Savannah Sweitzer and fellow senior Catie Brook. Coming after Doody’s four goals in the GA stats were two for Van Blarcom and one each for Burns, Korman, Smigiel and Smith.

SCH leveled its overall record at 6-6, with young players stepping up to contribute along with the team’s core of veterans.

“Brooke Gyllenhaal is a freshman who’s been playing well on defense, and CeCe plays with poise and has a very good head on her shoulders,” Powell remarked. “Caroline Reitmeyer, who is a sophomore, has been helping us in the midfield. Obviously, Brooke Prochniak is force on offense, and Ashley Lynch is that do-everything utility player that every team needs.”

GA’s Dean related, “Building confidence is something we talk about every day. We’ve been able to respond to runs by other teams better than in the past; we came back against Penn Charter and won, and today we came back and came up just short. Now, one thing we want to do is to stop those runs by other teams sooner so we don’t get too far behind.”

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