North Penn holds off CB East for 5th straight win

TOWAMENCIN >> In a howling wind, the North Penn girls lacrosse team’s defense stood firm and the Knights answered every challenge from Central Bucks East Monday afternoon to continue their turnaround from an 0-4 start to the season.

Grace Sacchetti finished with three goals and a pair of assists while the North Penn defense held the Patriots to just two goals in the second half while a patient attack helped the Knights pull away late for a 9-6 Suburban One League National Conference victory.

“Well, going into it we knew that East is a really good team and this was just a really good boost for our team because now we’re on a five-game winning streak,” Sacchetti said.

North Penn (5-4, 3-0 conference) never trailed after jumping out to 2-0 lead on goals from Brooke Millevoi and Casey Cavanaugh — both assisted by Alison Lindsay — but the Knights’ largest lead was only three with CB East pulling to within a goal three times — the last after a Brigitte Bishop strike made it 7-6 with 14:27 in regulation.

But that ended up being the visiting Patriots’ final tally as North Penn earned late draw controls, burned clock looking for the right scoring opportunities while also frustrating East into its second-lowest scoring total of the season.

“We were face-guarding their one girl (Riley Forman), Shannon Haedrich was face-guarding, she did a really good job of shutting her down,” Sacchetti said. “And after shutting her down, their team kind of got brought down and we just picked off all their mistakes.”

Millevoi converted on a free-position shot to put the Knights up 8-6 with 11:43 while Sacchetti made it a three-goal advantage a 9:57, cutting down the middle before bouncing a shot into the back of the net.

“That’s kind of how we’ve been rolling lately. Just playing a well-balanced offense, waiting for the right opportunity before we go to goal,” North Penn coach Heather Mellow said.

Sacchetti paced the Knights with her hat trick but North Penn also received goals from five other players, including two from Millevoi while Alison Lindsay had a goal and two assists. For Mellow, the balanced offense is a big reason why North Penn was able to overcome the poor start to the year and respond by ripping off five straight wins to get above .500.

“We started off slow into our season, 0-4 and I think we were waiting for that one person,” Mellow said. “But then we’ve come to realize we don’t need that one person, we’re doing it as a group. And that’s how we’ve been winning the last five games.”

A 12-7 loss to Perkiomen Valley dropped the Knights to 0-4 but North Penn picked up the first win over English side Walthamstow Hall 19-6 three days later and have not lost since, topping National sides Neshaminy and Pennridge then edging Plymouth Whitemarsh last Friday before starting this week with another conference win.

“I think our defense got really strong recently,” Sacchetti said. “And we don’t let anyone by and our offense is making smarter decision. We’re spreading out more.”

Forman and Bishop both scored twice while Quinn Ferry had a goal and two assists for Central Bucks East (6-4, 2-1), which had its three-game win streak snapped.

The Patriots’ best run of offense came late in the first half. After getting in a 4-1 hole, East responded by posting three of the next four goals, Bishop scoring off a Ferry assist to cut NP’s lead to 5-4 with 3:13 left in the half.

But Sacchetti’s free-position goal at 1:50 put the Knights up 6-4 at the break while Sacchetti opening the second half’s scoring at 17:49 to put North Penn back ahead by three.

“I think they like to play a similar style of attack that we do which is just like a settled, waiting for that right opportunity, draw-and-dump type of play. And we were aware of it,” Mellow said. “I mean, they have basically the same attack as they had last year. We’ve seen it, we know it, so we prepared for this year than we were last year.”

Ava Lisle got East back within two with her free-position goal 42 seconds later while Bishop made it a one-score game with her strike at 14:27. But the Knights stayed strong on defense, got goals from Millevoi and Sacchetti and worked the clock to stay perfect in SOL National play.

North Penn 9, CB East 6
Central Bucks East           4 2 — 6
North Penn        6 3 — 9
Central Bucks East Goals-Assists: Riley Forman 2-0; Brigitte Bishop 2-0; Quinn Ferry 1-2; Ava Lisle 1-0.
North Penn Goals-Assists: Grace Sacchetti 3-2; Brooke Millevoi 2-0; Alison Lindsay 1-2; Lily Szilagyi 1-1; Casey Cavanaugh 1-0; Kristin Varilla 1-0.