Haverford uses 5-0 run to get past Methacton
HAVERFORD >> The Haverford girls lacrosse team beat Methacton, 14-11, in the first round of the District 1 playoffs Tuesday afternoon at A.G. Cornog Stadium at Haverford High School.
The No. 16 seed Fords scored five straight goals over a three-minute and 44-second span to close out the first half and open the second. The 5-0 run turned a one-goal deficit into a four-goal lead that would never get below three over the final 21:36.
“We had a little talk at halftime,” Fords coach Nancy McGoldrick said. “You have to step it up and do the little things – you have to get the groundball, you have to get the draw. We have to do the little things correct today because we’re 16/17 – we’re like the same team.”
Haverford’s Hanna Breslin scored her third goal of the first half with 20 seconds remaining to tie the game and the teams went into the break even at 5-5.
Carly Gannon scored just over a minute into the second half to give the Fords the lead for good, 6-5.
Jess Melon added a goal 50 seconds later, Breslin 44 seconds after that and Melon again in 45 seconds to make it a 9-5 Haverford edge.
“We need to put together two halves,” Methacton coach Laurie Markle said. “We had a 10-minute lapse. That was the difference and we couldn’t recover back from it.”
The teams traded goals the rest of the way until No. 17 seed Warriors cut its deficit to three, 14-11, with 2:10 remaining in the game.
Neither side was able to establish much of an advantage in the first half. Haverford’s largest lead was two, 3-1, and Methacton’s only lead of the game was 5-4 and it lasted just two minutes and 25 seconds.
Breslin led the Fords in scoring with five goals. Nora Janzer and Laura Winters each added three, Melon two and Gannon one. Winters had two assists and Melon and Gannon each had one.
“We don’t have a high scorer,” McGoldrick said. “The high scorers are within five goals of each other. It’s a pretty good problem to have. They can’t key in on one person because the other ones step up. It’s awesome.”
Methacton’s Alana Cardaci, Sara Hughes and Daria Lucchesi each scored three goals and Jackie Cercio tallied two. Cercio assisted on three goals and Lucchesi two.
“Even our offense got into panic mode for about five minutes,” Markle said. “We looked like the bad news bears for about five minutes and then everybody settled down.”
Haverford’s Rhiannon Connell made 11 saves in goal, including five key stops in the second half.
Addy Frey stopped three shots for Methacton.
The Fords will face the winner of No. 1 Conestoga and No. 32 W.C. Rustin in the second round. Haverford lost to Conestoga, 17-13, earlier this year.
“We played them really tough the first time,” McGoldrick said of Conestoga. “We score a lot of goals on these good teams, we just have to keep them off the other end. (Conestoga) is very good, but we except the challenge. They have to win first (Tuesday).”
Methacton’s loss brings its season to an end.
“It was a good season,” Markle said. “We got to the same spot we did last year – we lost in the PAC 10 finals by one goal again … then we got to districts again losing in the first round. This year they played hard through the game, last year I thought we folded. We pretty much mimicked last year’s season. I would’ve liked to be just a little better, but I’m not unhappy.”
