Boyertown shuts down Norristown
WEST NORRITON >> No one can quite recall the last time Norristown High School had a girls lacrosse team that was competitive.
This year’s head coach Rachel Shuster is facing the same deficiencies her predecessors have faced – low attendance for practice and games, lack of commitment and low numbers.
All of those factors came into play Tuesday afternoon as the Eagles were hammered by Boyertown, 18-0, in a contest that could have just as easily been 40-0 if the Bears had decided to press their attack.
As it was, Boyertown led 11-0 by halftime, then coasted into the winners’ circle without the Eagles managing so much as one shot on the Bears net.
As for the Eagles, commitment is a major problem, with many of the team members unable to come to practice or games consistently, and many more unable to even get to school to catch the bus for away games.
“The commitment for our players is hard,” said Shuster. “Many of them have to work or babysit. Very rarely do I have a full team at either practice or at games.
“So I have to take it easy, I can’t be hard on the kids or I’ll lose them all.”
Boyertown’s Hailey Heimbach advance the ball as Norristown’s Bree Adams defends Tuesday.
Boyertown had no trouble taking it hard on the Eagles, scoring 11 times in the first half.
And realistically, the Bears could have scored double that amount.
“We have lots of things we’re still working on, so regardless of the opponent we’re going to run our stuff and do what we have to do,” said Boyertown head coach Pam Wernersbach.
The Bears got goals from Hailey Heimbach and Hannah Wentzel to take an early 2-0 lead in the contest’s first 3:00, then stretched the lead to 5-0 when Hannah Mitchell found the net with 15:22 left in the half.
By the end of the half the score was 11-0 and Norristown had crossed midfield just once.
It didn’t improve in the second half, as the Bears won draw after draw and held the ball in the Norristown end continually.
By game’s end, the Bears had goals from 12 different players and the Eagles had another frustrating loss.
“We don’t have anything like feeder leagues around here,” Shuster said, “so we can’t even catch the ball with our dominant hand.
“But you can’t give up on the girls who want to play, so here I am.”
LAX-ENDS >> Heimbach, Wentzel, Haydn Hallman, Georgie Saxon, and Rachel Neff all had two goals for Boyertown.
