Dirks’ dozen draws helps Episcopal control Garnet Valley
RADNOR >> At this stage of the lacrosse season, everyone is looking at numbers, whether it be records, the rankings for post-season play, or figures that denote individual excellence.
The number junior Olivia Dirks wears on her Episcopal Academy uniform is 12. The number of draw controls she earned in her team’s matchup against Garnet Valley at the 18th Katie Samson Lacrosse Festival at Radnor High Saturday also was 12.
One of those draw controls helped put a halt to a Jaguars’ surge in the second half and led to a goal by Katie Crager, her fourth of the game, with 3:36 to play that lifted Episcopal to a 13-12 victory.
The win was the fifth in a row for EA (5-6), which started the season with losses to four out-of-state schools and top-shelf local programs Agnes Irwin and Archbishop Carroll. Garnet Valley (11-2) saw an eight-game winning streak come to a halt.
Dirks admitted that playing in the Festival helped keep her motivated.
“You see all the great things Katie Samson has done over the years for people who have needed help and you know you want to play well here,” Dirks said.
As for her skill at winning draws …?
“‘Get the draw and get the goal’ has always been our motto,” Dirks said. “You know that when you get possession, you’ll have the chance to work your plays. We work hard every day at being a good two-way team.
“When you have Katie (Crager) you know she’ll do big things for you.”
Crager also noted that playing against a team like Garnet Valley made her work harder.
“We have a lot of respect for their team,” she said. “We scrimmaged them at the beginning of the season on a day when we actually had snow.
“Winning at Katie Samson and beating Garnet Valley means a lot to us. (Dirks) always seems to rise to the occasion. Early in the season when we were playing those teams that aren’t from around here, they had girls whose only job was faceoffs, and that made it tough for her. Now she’s winning so many draws, and that’s so important to us.”
Crager put together a plan for attacking the Garnet Valley goal late in the game.
“We knew their goalie (Sam Hamalak) is good low,” Crager said. “So I wasn’t about to shoot low on her. They had two (defenders) coming out, but I managed to get through, shoot high, and score. Winning today is so important to us with the big games we have coming up.”
That includes Tuesday’s visit to Agnes Irwin, to take on the team that earned a 12-11 overtime decision at Episcopal earlier this month in the Checking for Cancer contest.
Crager led the winners with four goals and one assist. Dirks chipped in with three goals and two assists, and Olivia Cunningham had a goal and four assists for EA.
Regan Nealon was Garnet Valley’s leader with three goals, and Kamryn McNeal, Madi McKee (four draw controls), and Kathryn Toohey had two goals apiece for the Jaguars.
“I was proud of the way they came back in the second half,” GV head coach Jenny Purvis said of her players. “We had to make some changes at halftime, and it took a little while for things to set in. We started doing what we needed to be doing, taking care of the ball in transition.
“We held them without scoring for 15 minutes there in the second half, and that’s tough to do against a team as good as they are. Right now, our focus and our main concern have got to be on winning the Central League and getting ready for the playoffs.”
In other Katie Samson Festival action:
Unionville 10, Archbishop Carroll 9 >> Unionville’s Annie McDonough netted the game-winning goal with three minutes to play. Sydney D’Orsogna’s streak of three straight goals for Carroll evened the score.
Katie Detwiler led the way for the Patriots with four goals and goalie Julia Dellarata made five saves to keep her team within striking distance. Alex Almonte chipped in with a goal and an assist.
Conestoga 21, Downingtown West 13 >> Rachel Clark scored six goals and Niah Scott had five goals and three assists to lead the Pioneers. Cam Evitts added four tallies.
