Pennridge rallies to edge Upper Dublin in OT
EAST ROCKHILL >> Jen Rodzewich mulled over the possible outcomes as she prepared to take her free position shot in overtime Friday night.
“I got up to the line and I was so nervous,” the Pennridge girls lacrosse junior said. “I was like, ‘If I make it, then it’s over, but if I don’t then we got a minute left of pushing it through.”
Rodzewich made sure the end result was the former, rifling an overhand shot into the back of the net at 1:59 of the extra period as the host Rams rallied from a six-goal deficit in the second half to edge Upper Dublin for a 13-12 Suburban One League non-conference victory.
“After a made it, it was pure adrenaline rushing through,” she said. And everybody came at it me, it felt so good.”
Pennridge (3-0) trailed 9-3 after the Cardinals (1-1) scored 1:46 in the second half, but the Rams collected seven of the next eight goals – four from Grace Loughery – to pull even 10-10 on Casey Hefner’s tally with 12:05 remaining.
Upper Dublin held one-goal leads twice late only for Pennridge to answer back each time, with Maddie Dachowski’s goal with 2:31 eventually sending the teams into overtime.
GIRLS #LACROSSE: @jrodze's free-position goal gives Pennridge a 13-12 OT win over Upper Dublin. pic.twitter.com/h6ZWBqYz0J
— Mike Cabrey (@mpcabrey) April 2, 2016
“This is the comeback team,” Rams coach Karen Schnurr said. “The love the second half, they love feeling down, so basically I tell them we’re 0-0 at the half and it’s a fresh new game and let’s take it to them. And they did exactly that.
“Our plan in the first half didn’t exactly work and so regrouped them at halftime, told them our plan and they executed it.”
Loughery finished with a game-high six goals. Dachowski added three goals while Hefner scored twice. Along with her OT winner, Rodzewich handed out a pair of assists.
“We just had to push it over. We had an overtime yesterday (a 12-11 win over Southern Lehigh), so we were pushing it through two overtimes,” Rodzewich said. “And we had to keep our head in the game and we’re just fighting for playoffs.”
Hannah Reape and Jess Grodsky both scored three goals to pace Upper Dublin with Reape collecting two assists. Caroline Wall and Lindsey Shreiber each had two goals.
“I just think that we got a little bit outwork, we got a little tired,” Cardinals fist-year coach Lauren Mateja said. “We weren’t making smart possessions, which was our goal for the game. But to counter that, we work hard. I’ve never seen these girls run so fast, so they’ll be working a little bit harder in practice from now on.”
After Rodzewich’s goal in overtime, the Rams stormed the field, but the officials halted the revelry to make sure the junior’s stick was legal. It was and the game – which had a delayed start due to Friday’s passing thunderstorms – was over the celebration resumed.
“I was pretty confident in my stick, but you never know. Sometimes, it’s those iffy situations,” Rodzewich said.
Pennridge starts its SOL National Conference schedule Tuesday when it visits Council Rock North. Upper Dublin, meanwhile, is on the road Wednesday for a non-conference matchup with Central Bucks East.
“(Pennridge has) a couple of Division I recruits, we have a couple girls with the potential to play at a very high level as well. We’re a little bit younger than they are, we have a freshman starting, couple of sophomores, only two seniors on our squad,” Mateja said. “We did bring a lot of experience back, we lost our goalie and our leading scorer from last year, but we return every other point-getter and all of our defense, so we definitely have a team that can make some noise in District 1 and within our own conference, the SOL American.”
GIRLS #LACROSSE: @LadyRamLax's Maddie Dachowski finds a cutting @GraceLoughery for a goal 2H vs. Upper Dublin. pic.twitter.com/jC7PQPZM76
— Mike Cabrey (@mpcabrey) April 2, 2016
The Cardinals ended the first half with a 7-1 run to lead 8-3 and push the margin to 9-3 at 23:14 in the second half when Grodsky scored off a Maddie Templeton assist.
Goals by Dachowski and Loughery made it 9-5 at 21:16 before Dachowski scored after grabbing a ball in the air in traffic to cut the Rams’ deficit to three at 18:48. Twenty four second later, Loughery’s tally had the home side within 9-7.
Reape ended Pennridge’s 4-0 run with a goal at 18:09. Loughery, however, answered with back-to-back scores – the first on a free position shot, the second off a Dachowski assist – while Hefner’s low shot found the back of the net to tie game 10-10 at 12:05.
“My whole attack is a solid unit and that’s what I told them at halftime, I felt like in the first half it was a lot of individual play,” Schnurr said. “And the second half we started working together and assisting and feeding and it really worked.”
Temple’s goal at 7:48 gave Cardinals back the lead before Loughery found Emily Price to make it 11-11 with 5:09 left.
Upper Dublin regained the one-goal edge at 3:40 when Grodsky scored on a free-position shot, but Dachowski’s strike at 2:31 had the teams even again.
The Cardinals tried to hold for the final shot yet did not get an attempt on goal. Pennridge tried the move down the field in the final seconds, but turned the ball over in the offensive zone.
Consecutive Loughery goals had the Rams up 3-1 at 13:51 in the opening half before Upper Dublin scored the next five goals to lead 6-2 after Wall’s tally at 3:53. A Hefner goal had Pennridge within three, but goals by Grodsky and Reape had UD leading 8-3 at the break.
