Garnet Valley goes turbo, surges past Upper Dublin in District 1-AAA 2nd round
UPPER DUBLIN >> The Garnet Valley lacrosse team was up against it.
The Jaguars had endured a hot, energy-draining bus ride, a lethargic start to their District One Class AAA playoff meeting against host Upper Dublin and trailed by two goals with 6:23 left in the first half.
It was time to Hit the Turbo Button.
And when they did, the host Cardinals had no choice but to hit the panic button.
It didn’t work.
The Jaguars ran off 10 unanswered goals and emerged with a 12-5 victory that propelled them into a Saturday meeting against No. 17 Downingtown East — which knocked off top-seeded Central Bucks West 6-5 — in an quarterfinal matchup.
“We have a little saying here, that’s HTB — hit the turbo button,” said Kamryn McNeal, who had four of the Jaguars’ goals. “That means to kick it up another notch and play harder.
“We got together, told everybody to hit the button, and we didn’t stop.”
“That’s something we talk about all the time,” added Jaguars head coach Lauren Purvis. “We had a long day, and we needed a boost. So the girls hit the turbo button, and we didn’t stop pushing ourselves.”
The Jaguars’ surge came as no surprise to Cardinals head coach Dee Cross, who was expecting the run.
“We’re talking about players who have won a state championship,” Cross said, “so we knew they were going to come back hard.
“We felt pretty good about ourselves, but that team is just so talented and motivated.”
And the Cardinals had no answers.
The Jaguars’ run began with a Riley Delaney tally with 3:24 left in the half, and Madi O’Brien added another seconds before halftime to tie the game.
Cardinals goaltender Sarah Herchenroder made a splendid save on Madi McKee early in the second half, but it only postponed the inevitable.
Six unanswered goals followed over the next nine-plus minutes, and the Jaguars were front running and already looking ahead to Saturday’s matchup.
“Our feeling here is that if we play Garnet Valley lacrosse, we can beat anybody,” Purvis said. “There are enough girls here who know what it takes to win, and it doesn’t matter who were playing.”
As for Cross, her focus was on the future.
“We started a team today that had three freshmen and three sophomores,” Cross said. “If the girls work hard over the summer, we could be pretty good next year.”
Garnet Valley 12, Upper Dublin 5
Garnet Valley 4 8 — 12
Upper Dublin 4 1 — 5
Garnet Valley Scoring: Kamryn McNeal (4); Riley Delaney (3); Madi O’Brien (2); Madi McKee (1); Regan Nealon (1); Camryn Faith (1).
Upper Dublin Scoring: Jackie Rama (2); Hannah Reape (1); Lindsey Schreiber (1); Becky Browndorf (1),
Goaltender Saves: Sarah Herchenroder (Upper Dublin) 10; Lauren Kinnee (Garnet Valley) 5.
Top Photo: Garnet Valleys Kara Nealon takes a shot on goal as Upper Dublins Maddie Templeton defends during their District 1-AAA second round game on on Thursday, May 18, 2017. (Gene Walsh/Digital First Media)
