Baer’s 4OT goal sends Abington past Strath Haven, into District 1 2nd round
ABINGTON >> With just under two minutes remaining in the third overtime of Tuesday’s District 1 first round game, the players from the Strath Haven girls lacrosse team cheered, hugged each other and stormed the field.
The Panthers thought the game was over — so did many others spectating, maybe even some Abington players and one official.
“It was at the other end (from where I was standing) so it was hard for me to tell I was pretty confident it was a goal,” Strath Haven coach Pigeon Graham said.
“The whole net shook, so for me that says goal but I was not down at that end so I can’t say for sure,” Graham said. “Apparently one official thought it was a goal and two officials thought it was not a goal. They were closer to it than I was but clearly by the way we celebrated we thought we won the game.”
The shot the Panthers thought they won the game on was originally called a goal but was reversed on the field giving Abington new life. The Ghosts took advantage as Rachel Morris on a fast break found Lindsey Baer, who made a series of head and stick fakes to give Abington, officially, an 11-10 quadruple overtime win.
Abington wins 11-10 in double OT. Lindsay Baer game winner! #trust #family @SOLsports @phillylacrosse pic.twitter.com/J1j4aEdGoT
— Lax rat (@laxrat2222) May 18, 2016
On more than one occasion this season, the Ghosts have had trouble closing out games especially against quality teams. It looked like they were heading that way again as Strath Haven seized all momentum away from Abington scoring the final three goals of the second half after Abington had led a majority of the game.
“You can go through the list,” Abington coach Amanda Kammes said. “Springside Chestnut Hill in a preseason scrimmage, lost in overtime after having two possessions with shots, missed them both. Villa Maria, lost 9-8 in overtime. PW 8-7 going down the stretch. Radnor, was a tight game. And I just kept referencing them to the kids every time there was a dead ball or a timeout or whatever.
“We have three losses on the year and that’s by a cumulative of four goals so if nothing else those games prepared us for tonight. You can only lose so many close games before you win one, that’s just the odds.”
Abington’s scorers showed up Tuesday and were a large reason for the Ghosts building their lead. Sam McGee scored three first-half goals with the last coming with 9:58 to go in the half to give Abington a 5-3 lead.
Casey McCallister picked up where McGee left off scoring three first half goals, four in total, helping Abington construct as much as a 7-3 lead.
“She was in a slump,” said Kammes of McCallister. “Garnet Valley, she came alive. I had a feeling about it at Garnet Valley, I said to her before the game, ‘Tonight is your night.’ She played great. Since then she’s a new kid. She just has that look about her. She’s confident, she’s aggressive and she’s making good decisions.”
Strath Haven also had an ace up its sleeve as junior midfielder Nicole McNeely netted four goals to help the Panthers keep pace with the Ghosts.
“She’s a dominant player,” said Graham of McNeely. “She’s an excellent shooter, she’s a lefty and she has a lot of confidence going to goal.”
The Ghosts are still learning how to win— see aforementioned late-game struggles — and with most of their core players being juniors or younger, a win like Tuesday night’s should bode well for a team transitioning from a team learning to win to one that wins.
“We’ve never been here,” Kammes said. “It’s not a secret. These kids have never won a playoff game. You got to learn how to be there and how to take a lead in a District 1 playoff game and keep a lead.”
