Plymouth Whitemarsh dominates Upper Dublin, takes control of SOL American
WHITEMARSH >> The Plymouth Whitemarsh girls lacrosse team didn’t play a game and was without its seven seniors for more than a week due to the school’s senior trip.
When the Colonials took the field against Upper Dublin, they didn’t miss a beat.
Plymouth Whitemarsh never trailed in a 14-4 Suburban One League American Conference win at Victory Fields at Plymouth Whitemarsh High School Wednesday afternoon.
Raquel Baskin scored the Colonials first two goals to give them a 2-0 lead less than seven minutes into the game.
After an Upper Dublin score, PW responded with four straight to take a 6-1 lead with 4:30 remaining in the first half.
After the teams traded goals, Upper Dublin’s Mack Moore intercepted a pass deep in PW territory and found Julia Reardon for the score to make it 7-3 with 31 seconds until halftime.
The Cardinals had a couple opportunities to narrow their deficit early in the second half, but hit the post twice.
“It’s a game of inches,” UD coach Dee Cross said. “I’m like, ‘OK, get the next one.’ We couldn’t get over the hump. We couldn’t get that rally going and PW was all over the field today. We couldn’t solve it.”
From there, it was all PW. The hosts scored three goals over a 3:30 span to make it a 10-3 game and the outcome was never in doubt the rest of the way.
“That showed us we had to turn the game around and get it going,” PW senior Sophie Kolkka said of Upper Dublin’s late first-half goal. “We didn’t want to end on a bad foot. Going into the second half we really focused on working as a team and not letting up a small goal like that. I think we did a good job with that.”
Kolkka finished with four goals, Baskin and Ali Diamond each had three and Victoria Betterly two. Max Leszczynski and Lexi Petrakis each scored once.
“They moved the ball,” PW coach Ellen Reilly said, “and the girls who shoot have been there before. They have the experience and it’s several kids it’s not just one person who’s scoring — it’s a team. Raquel (Baskin) had her first two goals because the team passed the ball to her. She’s open and you have to give it to the open girl. If you’re good, you’re going to draw a double and someone is open. You have to be willing to move the ball and they do that.”
The Colonials defense also played a big role in the win, limiting Upper Dublin’s opportunities around the net.
“What really benefited us was our defense,” Reilly said. “My defense was aggressive and strong and they hustled after everything.”
Moore led the Cardinals with two goals and Becky Browndorf and Reardon each scored once.
“Not to make excuses, but we didn’t have Lindsey Schreiber today,” Cross said. “Our leading scorer and our playmaker and that put us on our heels right away. Unfortunately she’s sick. We have not played like this all season. We got out-hustled to the ball, we hit like four pipes, just little things that I think changed the momentum of the game and we just couldn’t recover. I’m not sure why, but we were definitely on our heels all game. Credit to PW — they came at every ball, got groundballs, got draw controls and we couldn’t figure them out today.”
The win allows PW to control its own destiny in the SOL American title race. The Colonials are 2-0 in league play while Upper Dublin falls to 3-1. The rivals do not play again this season.
“It’s going to be tough,” Reilly said. “We play Upper Moreland Friday — they’re good … We’ll see how we come back on Friday. We have to continue to do it.”
“Very important,” Cross said of this game, “but there’s a lot of scrappy teams in this league. The winner today is sitting pretty, but there are a lot of games to be played and on any given day in this league — from what I’ve seen and what I’ve read — you can’t take anybody for granted. Yes, it would’ve been nice to get a W today. We’re going to have to work really hard to win the rest of them. It’s going to be hard.”
