Dunleavy’s goal lifts W.C. Henderson past W.C. East

WEST CHESTER >> The first time around, West Chester Henderson and West Chester East couldn’t have been any closer, playing to a tie in an early regular season matchup.
In Monday’s District 1 Class AAA opening round game, there was no such drama.
Behind a hat trick from Lexi Dunleavy, No. 13 Henderson cruised to a 6-1 victory over No. 20 East to advance to the second round against No. 4 Neshaminy.
“Early in the season, we were having a lot of trouble finishing,” said Dunleavy. “But we’ve worked really hard on our passing and have improved a lot over the past few weeks. We’re playing really well right now.”
Henderson (14-4-1) dominated possession throughout and needed just over five minutes to find the back of the cage for the first time. A trip inside the circle with 25:30 showing on the clock found the Warriors peppering Vikings goalie Dominique Edwad-Lofland with shot after shot. Though she kept the ball out of the cage, she was hit with a foul, resulting in a penalty stroke.
Maddie Reuther lined up to take the stroke, and delivered a bullet to the netting above Edward-Lofland’s stick hand to give Henderson a 1-0 lead.
Two minutes later, Henderson converted a penalty corner. Emily Delor put the ball in play on the insert, sending it in to Emma Bertando at the top of the circle.  Bertando dished it off to Dunleavy, who slammed it home for the first of her three goals as the Warriors took a 2-0 lead.
Henderson struck once more in the first half.  With just under 15 minutes to play in the first, Dunleavy sent a cross over to Kasey Collins, who lifted a shot over Edward-Lofler for a 3-0 lead.
“It feels great to get out with a win like this,” said Collins. “We’ve all worked really hard to get to where we are, and we have a lot of confidence moving forward.”
All three of the Warriors second half goals came on penalty corners that worked as smoothly as practice. Dunleavy notched two, and Delor picking up the other.
“That’s something we struggled with early on, so it was good to see us finish the way we did today,” said Henderson head coach Jen O’Donnell. “The one in the second half was brand new. We just started working on it and it was the first time we tried it in a game. When we saw it, it was definitely a ‘hey, we’re going to keep this one.’”
East’s (10-8-1) lone score came early in the second half, with Lauren Fredericks connecting to convert a Vikings corner try.
“I was glad to see us get the second half goal and I thought it might bring us back in the game,” said East coach Kira Huntsman. “But no matter the finish, we’ve had a great season.  We’ve got a lot to work with and come back stronger next year. We’re going to miss our great outgoing seniors, but we’re going to keep working and our prospects for the future are bright.”
Next up for Henderson is Neshaminy on the road as the Redskins were one of the four teams to earn a first-round bye in the playoffs.
“I’m going to have to get on the horn and see what I can find out about them,” said O’Donnell. “Hopefully we can come away with another win and maybe get to play another home game.”

W.C. East  0  1—1
W.C. Henderson  3  3  –6
W.C. East: L. Fredericks.
W.C. Henderson:  Dunleavy 3, Ruether, Collins, Delor.
Goalie saves: Edward-Lofland (WCE) 4, Bliss (WCH) 1.