Raymond’s 4 goals help Abington top Upper Moreland on Senior Night
ABINGTON >> Normally, Abington’s girls lacrosse team is a slow starter.
Tuesday night, the Galloping Ghosts came out energized, locked-in and ready. After a really good start, then the slow spell hit. Abington sort of coasted through a big stretch of the second half, but rediscovered that starting energy and closed out well.
The result was a 12-4 win over visiting Upper Moreland on the Ghosts’ Senior Night. Abington may still be searching for a full 50-minute effort, but they’ve shown they can crank it up when needed.
“We’ve been really working well together as a team and we haven’t being playing selfish, we were trying to look for our teammates,” senior midfielder Mikki Raymond said. “We weren’t necessarily even looking for our seniors, we were just trying to run our offense and get everybody a touch.”
Raymond, who is playing at La Salle next year, led the attack with four goals and two assists. Senior Emma Garg, a Kutztown recruit and speedy flanker Jules Greco each scored two goals while Sam McGee, Casey McCallister and seniors Haley Turner and Rachel Morris each scored one.
In net, senior goalie Micaela Murcar made two saves. The defense, with senior Kirsten Pedicone leading the way, allowed just six shots.
Abington (12-3, 6-1 SOL American) won the time of possession battle and for the most part did a good job of funneling the Golden Bears into the middle in transition. But, a couple of lapses defensively allowed UM to get a couple of good cuts into the eight-meter and some crease rolls going. The entirety of Upper Moreland’s (6-7, 2-4 SOL) offense came from junior attack Syd Bachmayer (three goals, assist) and senior midfielder Delaney Smith (goal, three assists).
The Ghosts sped out to a 5-0 lead in the first 10 minutes of play, but that energy fizzled out going into the half.
“We came out better in the first half but kind of lost our energy in the second half,” Morris said. “(Coach Amanda Kammes) says it to us every day, because we either start off slow or our first half is good and our second half isn’t. She wants us to be more consistent and that’s what we’re working on. That’s been our biggest challenge this year.”
The Ghosts did pocket two goals in the final 1:56 of the first half, with Garg making a sharp cut and finishing a pinpoint pass from Turner and Morris firing one in with just a second left before the break for a 7-1 lead. Greco scored early in the second half, like she had done in the first, but the Bears scored three of the next four goals.
“That’s the one thing you hope comes together here in the next week and a half before we’re out of time,” Kammes, in her first year with the program, said. “It was a good win however. I was able to play my seniors almost the entire game, so it was a good night for us overall.”
Kammes took a timeout with 12:49 left in the second half, just after Bachmayer scored her third to make it 9-4. McCallister got the Ghosts back on track with a free position goal less than 90 seconds later, then Garg scored from a tough angle with 8:18 left and Raymond put her fourth goal away on Turner’s second assist with 5:57 left.
With district seeding coming down to LaxPower’s power rankings, goals matter so Abington closing the game out on a run was key.
“Luckily we have such good chemistry we’re able to talk to each other and say it’s our Senior Night, let’s pick up and we can do this,” Raymond said. “Everybody worked together and it translated onto the field.
“It was really fun. It’s our last year all playing together and we (the seniors) worked really well out on the field.”
