Bond helps Penncrest hold on to beat Interboro

MIDDLETOWN — Penncrest senior Emily Bond looked up, down, left, right and behind her back.

No sign of the ball.

That’s one of the worst fears for any goalie, especially when it happens late in a game when her team is clinging to a two-goal lead, and the other team is mounting a serious comeback.

“My thought was, ‘˜Oh my God, I don’t want to kick it in,” Bond said. “I kept looking around and around …’

She finally found the ball, managed to compose herself and steered the Lions out of danger.

On senior night, Bond and Penncrest eked out an exciting, 14-12 nonleague victory over Interboro Wednesday.

It was a battle of two teams that are nearing the end of their seasons. Interboro, the Del Val League champion for what seems like the 100th year. Penncrest, a program on the rise, competing in the toughest girls lacrosse conference in the state and probably the country.

The outcome was a lot closer than the Lions anticipated, as they began to pull away in the second half and led, 14-8, with 5:30 to go.

“At first we thought, ‘˜We got this, it’s a win,’ but then with like three minutes left, (Interboro) started coming back,’ said Bond, who finished with 10 saves. “We knew we had to pick it up and stop slacking off. It’s senior night, but that doesn’t mean it’s a guaranteed win. Interboro really played tough.’

One player in particular did everything in her power to bring the Bucs back. Senior Sami Barnett, who recently scored her 300th career goal and set the Interboro girls lacrosse scoring record, was practically unstoppable in the final minutes. She was awesome, scoring four of her team’s final five goals, and led all players with eight on the night.

“Almost — we almost did it,’ said Barnett, affable and all smiles even after a tough-to-swallow loss. “In the huddle we were (focused) because we were coming back slowly, but surely. We’re a tough team and we’re real aggressive, so we figured this was our second-to-last game, we gotta come back, we gotta give it a shot. We tried our best.’

Barnett will continue her lacrosse career and major in nursing at West Chester.

Penncrest was hosting its second-to-last athletic on the its grass surface. The installation of a synthetic turf field begins next week and all renovations to the stadium complex should be completed in advance of the 2015 fall sports season.