Flurry of yellow cards blankets GA-SCH girls lax game

by Tom Utescher
Posted 4/20/23

In the mid-20th Century, an international genre of stage drama emerged which became known as the Theater of the Absurd. In emerged again on the girls' lacrosse field at Germantown Academy last Wednesday.

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Flurry of yellow cards blankets GA-SCH girls lax game

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In the mid-20th Century, an international genre of stage drama emerged which became known as the Theater of the Absurd.

In emerged again on the girls' lacrosse field at Germantown Academy last Wednesday, when the Patriots took on visiting Springside Chestnut Hill Academy.

The game was strictly officiated, the players couldn't stop fouling, and the officials couldn't stop distributing yellow cards. Individually, each card is given in the case of a major foul and the penalized player must spend two minutes off the field in the penalty box. Once a team receives a total of four yellow cards in a game, it must play one-girl-down for the remainder of the game.

Each card after that, and the team loses another player for the duration.

Last Wednesday, host GA reached the four-card threshold in the first half. SCH would get there with just under three minutes remaining in the contest. In all, 13 yellow cards and one red card (unsportsmanlike conduct on the sideline) were handed out.

A day earlier, the Patriots lost, 19-14, to an Agnes Irwin team that had beaten the Blue Devils, 12-4, back on March 24. After Wednesday's loss to SCH, GA would play again on Thursday, going on the road to edge the Academy of Notre Dame, 12-11. The Pats ended the week with a record of 4-2 overall and 1-2 within the Inter-Ac League.

Wednesday's tilt at GA was the first game Springside Chestnut Hill played after returning from spring break. Two days later, the Blue Devils succumbed to league co-leader Episcopal Academy, 10-6, They went into the weekend 6-2 overall and 3-2 in the Inter-Ac. EA and Agnes Irwin, both undefeated in league play at mid-month, meet for the first time this Tuesday at Irwin.

Last Wednesday Springside Chestnut Hill enjoyed some early opportunities on offense, but repeatedly shot the ball into the stick or pads of GA sophomore goalie Sadie Hess. At the other end, SCH senior keeper Shay Romero stopped a free position shot by the Patriots' Emma Goodwin, a junior who has made a verbal commitment to Dartmouth.

This came about six minutes into the game, and just after that the first yellow card was given to GA. When SCH put the first point on the board with 18:28 remaining in the first half, the goal was a collaboration between the team's two high scorers, with senior Emma Bradbury (five goals, one assist) setting up the strike by junior Alex Reilly (four goals, three assists).

Reilly hit a post on a free position shot after that, and GA's ability to counter was curtailed when the hosts were slapped with two yellow cards in a span of just seven seconds. Just over 10 minutes in, Bradbury made good on a free position for a 2-0 lead. A little after the teams were back at full strength, Germantown's Hess made a skillful stop on a shot by visiting junior Sarah Scollin.

The clock was at 12:57 when the Patriots got on the board, with sophomore Sydney Wanner fighting past multiple defenders to score. A long transition romp by Bradbury ended with her finding the net for a 3-1 SCH advantage.

Following a time-out, GA returned to the field to net two goals in half-a-minute. The markers by Norwood Fontbonne Academy grad Lucia Smigiel (a junior who has pledged to UConn) and senior Sarah Marvin (Trinity College) lifted the home team into a 3-3 tie with the Blue Devils with 11:14 remaining of the first half..

Unfortunately for the home fans, the Patriots would not score again in the opening period. Starting with 6:19 remaining, Springside Chestnut Hill would finish it out with four consecutive goals. Reilly earned assists on two goals by Bradbury and one by Scollin, and then she converted off a free position to make it 7-3 at the intermission.

That was not the only negative development for the Pats; with a little over a minute to play they received their fourth yellow card as a team, and would be short one player for the rest of the contest.

As the second half got underway, the offensive script for SCH featured a new protagonist as junior Madison Freeman penetrated the Patriots' cage three times in less than three-and-a-half minutes.

With almost five minutes elapsed, the second yellow card dropped on SCH had the teams at even strength for a spell, but just after the Blue Devils got their girl out of the penalty box, Freeman assisted on a goal by Reilly, making it 11-3 with 18:14 remaining in the game.

Over the next few minutes, Germantown Academy was able to reverse the flow of play and regain some ground. Junior Maggie Borek (committed to the U.S. Naval Academy) fired the Patriots' first goal of the second half with 17:24 left to play, then back-to-back strikes by junior Caitlin Luviano closed up the score to 11-6 with 15:41 to go.

Scollin cashed in on a free position for the Blue Devils, then each team picked up a yellow card as the clock clicked below 13 minutes remaining with the score now 12-6. For GA, the penalty deprived the Patriots of another player for the afternoon, while the SCH infraction was the team's third.

From there until the time fell to 3:30 left there were two GA goals answered each time by the visitors, all coming in free-position situations. Raven scored twice here for the hosts, and Bradbury and Reilly responded for SCH to raise the tally to 14-8.

Less than a minute after that the Devils lost a player permanently due to their fourth yellow card of the afternoon, and then GA's Wanner scored the final goal of the game with 2:02 to go, cementing the score at 14-9.

Still the cards kept coming, three yellows and also a red card directed toward the sideline staff. At one point, the teams were playing three-on-two in the Patriots' offensive zone.

With emotions escalating, the game had become like an unmanageable prairie fire scorching the turf, and all parties involved seemed to lose interest in even trying to tamp down the flames. At last, the buzzer sounded, and there was no more combustible material on the field.