North Penn shows its fight in win over CB South

TOWAMENCIN >> Kristin Varilla felt it all came down to fight.

In the first half, the North Penn girls lacrosse team didn’t show enough fight and allowed visiting Central Bucks South to play its tempo and take a lead into the intermission. Once the break ended, the Knights didn’t make any adjustments or changes but they certainly showed a lot more fight.

North Penn played a superb second half as it rallied to beat the Titans 12-8 on Lax for Leukemia night.

“We were down and this game, it means a lot to all of us and it’s really important to us,” Knights midfielder Casey Cavanaugh said. “We were all pretty fired up to start the second half. We knew we needed to win this one and I think we all felt that energy come from within us and brought it out to the field.”

North Penn won for the sixth time in its last seven games after an 0-4 start to the season and the Knights (6-5) improved to 4-0 in the SOL National, staying atop the conference table. While that was all important, Tuesday’s game meant a little more than that.

The Knights have held Lax for Leukemia night each of the past five season in memory of former North Penn and East Stroudsburg lacrosse player Alyssa Oxenford, who passed away from the disease in 2015. Proceeds from Tuesday’s game went to The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and prior to the opening draw, Knights senior Heather Shannon shared a story about Oxenford during her dedication remarks.

“We didn’t make any adjustments,” Knights coach Heather Mellow said. “It was just a matter of being hungrier and needing the ball. We needed the possessions and we did a really good job on the draw of getting the possessions.”

North Penn led early, but the Titans (6-4, 1-2) took a 3-2 lead when Anna Green scored on an eight-meter. With the foul being called on North Penn’s goalie, Green got to shoot on an open net and buried it.

The Knights came back to tie it 4-4 after Shannon Haedrick forced a turnover, got the ground ball and four sharp passes later, Varilla put the shot home. However, two goals by South’s Tegan Mullan restored the lead and a tough goal by Green with 1:18 left sent the Titans into halftime up 7-5.

“My midfield has come through time and time again giving us chances to create those kind of possessions,” Mellow said. “We have a lot of scrappy little people out there, and a lot of speed which certainly helps.”

Shannon, a senior, is out injured for the season and her loss was one of the things the Knights had to deal with early in the season given that she was going to be the primary draw control taker. Cavanaugh has filled in and on Tuesday, she helped the Knights win quite a few pivotal draws.

The Knights won the first two draws in the second half and needed just 54 seconds to tie the game on a pair of Lily Szilagyi goals. North Penn then went ahead for good when Varilla found Cavanaugh for a 6-5 lead with 21:11 left and the Knights would start the half on a 5-0 run.

“We realized we have each other’s backs and we started getting more goals off assists and started seeing each other being open,” Varilla said. “It doesn’t have to be one person. When we have the possession, we can hold it because we have the skill. It just took us a little while to learn that.”

The difference wasn’t the goals. It was the way the Knights played the second half.

Whether it was Grace Sacchetti fighting through leg cramps, subbing off to stretch then going right back in a couple times, Alaina Mullaly drawing a charging call with 10 minutes left that got the ball back or goalie Ashley Lambert making two stops on close-range shots, the Knights played with a lot of fight.

“We had to find the chemistry and our strengths and weaknesses,” Cavanaugh said. “Once we learned each other as teammates, we started using it to our advantage.”

Mellow felt like her team needed to get through that 0-4 start just to find some confidence. The Knights have played very well since then and Varilla said it was a matter of time and finding those little things like the right windows to pass or what attackers would cut and when that allowed the players to start trusting each other.

Balance has become a key as well. After Szilagyi’s two scores to start the second half, the Titans focused their defense on her. So, Cavanaugh stepped up and scored two of the next three and Varilla switched from scorer to facilitator, ending her night with three scores and two assists.

After North Penn took over with 10:01 on the clock, the Knights held the ball almost the entire rest of the way. The attack showed a lot of restraint not firing away and playing keep-away while on the couple instances the Titans got the ball back, a midfielder or defender was able to jar it loose and recover it back.

“It was just the fight,” Varilla said. “This game is all about fight”

NORTH PENN 12, CENTRAL BUCKS SOUTH 8
CENTRAL BUCKS SOUTH 7 1 – 8
NORTH PENN 5 7 – 12
Goals-Assists: NP – Lily Szilagyi 4-1, Kristin Varilla 3-2, Casey Cavanaugh 2-0, Grace Sacchetti 1-0, Brooke Millevoi 1-0, Shannon Haedrick 1-0; CBS – Anna Green 3-0, Tegan Mullan 2-0, Francine Richick 2-1, Janessa Watson 1-0.