Mottice dominates draws, Downingtown West upsets PW in District 1-3A 2nd round

WHITEMARSH >> Everything starts at the draw and Peyton Mottice wants to be the one to set the tone.

“I know when I get it then it’s like ‘Let’s Go.’ Like, we got this,” Mottice said. “I like putting the pressure on myself.”

The Downingtown West girls lacrosse junior midfielder was dominant in the draw circle Thursday in the Whippets’ District 1-3A second round contest with host No. 6 Plymouth Whitemarsh. Against whoever or whatever the Colonials tried, Mottice won 13 of 17 draws and that enabled West to pull away in the second half — scoring the final four goals to upset PW 10-6 at Victory Fields.

“Starts there and we couldn’t get it. Even when we had opportunities, they came up with it. And possession is key,” Plymouth Whitemarsh coach Ellen Reilly said. “No matter what we tried to do we couldn’t get it and we talked about it, like let’s switch up a couple people, who wants it. And you want your best players who are aggressive. Didn’t happen for us, they were more aggressive.”

Olivia DiGiorgio scored a game-high five goals — completing the hat trick at the buzzer in the second half — while Emily Feeney, Corinne Bednarik and Tabitha Rodriguez each found the back of the net twice for the Whippets (15-5), who advance to the district quarterfinals for the first time since 2008.

West visits No. 3 Unionville — a 17-5 winner over No. 14 West Chester Henderson — Saturday in a rematch of their April 24 contest that saw the Whippets fall to the Indians 11-9. Saturday’s winner clinches a PIAA berth and a loser having to go through playbacks to earn its spot in states.

“So excited. If we have to play Unionville I can’t wait because I know we only lost by two and we could have won that game 100 percent,” Mottice said. “It gets me ready and pumped to play them. Another rival from the Chest-Monts.”

Mottice, who has verbally committed to Cincinnati, recorded her 200th career point when she put the Whippets ahead for good with her goal on a eight-meter sot to make it 7-6 West with 15:30 left in the second half.

“It felt awesome, cause I know if I didn’t get it today if I would of had another chance to, but it was great,” Mottice said.

Freshman Mackenzie Leszczynski and senior Sophie Kolkka both scored twice for Plymouth Whitemarsh, the Suburban One League American Conference champs finishing their season at 14-5.

“We came all this way, we wanted to go far in playoffs but definitely sucks to end this way,” said Kolkka, a Saint Joseph’s commit. “Every season has to come to an end eventually but just sucks have to end on this note.”

The Colonials twice held one-goal leads in the first half but went into halftime tied 4-4 with the Whippets when Bednarik struck on an eight-meter shot with 39 seconds remaining before intermission.

“That was a total game changer,” said Mottice of Bednarik’s goal. “We were feeling that it was tied and we could do the second half. It was good to have a clean slate at halftime.”

Victoria Betterly put PW back ahead 5-4 at 22:39 in the second half but Feeney answered with an goal on an eight-meter shot at 20:38. Rodriguez then gave the Whippets their first lead since 2-1 when she scored off an assist from Bednarik at 19;36.

Leszczynski found Raquel Baskin to knot things at 6-6 at 17:50 but Mottice provided the go-ahead tally 2:20 later on an eight-minute shot.

“I knew I had to make it,” Mottice said. “I just knew it had to be in. No other choice.”

The Whippets extended the lead to 8-6 at 9:30 on transition — DiGiorgio scoring off a Mottice assist. Rodriguez made it a three-goal game with her eight-minute shot with 4:35 left.

“This hurts and I said that to them like this hurts because I expected not to be saying it today,” Reilly said. “I know they’re hurting to but you take from this you got to come out ready to go every single second. And that’s what I said to the younger kids — what are you going to take out of this loss? It sucks today, to make it count for next year, what are you got to do? You got to work harder.”