Pack of Whippets lead D-West to victory vs. Rustin

Downingtown >> A pack of Whippets was responsible for the Downingtown West girls’ lacrosse team’s 11-8 win against visiting West Chester Rustin Thursday evening.
Leading the Whippet pack was University of Cincinnati commit Peyton Mottice, who won eight draw controls, allowing Downingtown West (10-1) to maintain possession, particularly in the second half.
“This was one of our better games this season; a little sloppy early on, but we turned it around in the second half,” said a smiling Mottice. “On the draw controls, I was trying to get the ball to myself and get it to Corrine [Bednarik] on the circle.”
With nine minutes to go before halftime, the Whippets trailed 4-1. West Chester Rustin came into the Thursday’s game with a 9-1 record, and held Downingtown West scoreless for 14 minutes.
The Whippets then went on a five-goal run in the next four minutes to take a 6-4 lead.
The Downingtown West run began when Mottice scored after a long run to make it 4-2; then Quinnipiac University-bound senior midfielder Emily Feeney scored her 99th career goal on an assist from Bednarik. One minute later, Mottice scored with an assist from Feeney to tie the score at 4-4.
“Feeney does a really good job of putting her teammates first,” noted D-West head coach Brittney Conzentino. “She had a beautiful 8-meter shot, but she unselfishly passed to Peyton, who scored, and there’s not much more you can ask for about being unselfish when you’re that close to 100 goals. She fights to the end, does everything we ask her to do.”
The D-West barrage continued when, in a 16-second span, Bednarik scored on an 8-meter shot, then Mottice scored with an assist from Bednarik to make it 6-4. At that point, Mottice had scored four goals.
And, by halftime, Bednarik had dished out a trio of assists as the Whippets held a 7-5 lead.
“Bednarik is scrappy, and a great leader on attack and defense, pulls your team up, she just does a nice job all around,” said Conzentino of the senior midfielder who will be playing for Drexel University next spring.
West Chester Rustin kept battling, and when Ashley Chisholm scored her second goal of the game to make it 7-6 with 18:17 left, D-West called a time out.
“I told the girls that you’re much better than that, and our players really turned it around after that,” said Conzentino.
The Whippets proceeded to shut down Rustin for the next 15 minutes while building an 11-6 lead.
“I think our defense as a unit did a nice job today,” said Conzentino. “They took [well to] all the changes [we coaches] were throwing at them – we use multiple defenses, and sometimes it’s hard to transition into them, but we did a really nice job there. Caelan O’Connor always does a really nice job, she’s one of our leaders even though she’s only a sophomore. Clem [junior goalie Emily Clemson, who had eight saves] was awesome today; she was loud back there and really stepped it up.”
With nine minutes left and D-West holding a 10-6 lead, the Whippets went into a five-minute possession, passing frequently and shooting sparingly. It ended with Olivia DiGiorgio scoring on an 8-meter shot.
“Normally, when we have a long possession like that late in the game, we’re trying to eat the clock, but that time, we were trying to get Feeney her 100th goal,” said Conzentino.
“At this point in the season, I think the biggest thing for us is making sure we can play a full game. We have lapses where we don’t do well, and the best teams are going to put a full game together. We’re working on that, we’ve been battling that for a few weeks now, but, all in all, the W was what we wanted. I’m happy, we were scrappy and fought to the end. We have a huge game coming up against Conestoga on Saturday. Every game from here on out is a battle now.”
For West Chester Rustin, Ashley Chisholm and Ava Kane each had a hat trick. Kane scored two of her goals during Rustin’s early 4-1 run.
Rustin head coach Mike St. Clair said, “We won a couple of draw controls early, and were able to possess the ball well on offense and not make many mistakes, but then we made a few turnovers and D-West started winning draws; and that’s the name of the game – draws. [Mottice] is one of the best around on the draws, and possession is 95 percent of the game.
“Our team played tough tonight, we play tough every game; this was a good game, a great experience for our team, and we’ll move forward from here.”

Downingtown West 11, West Chester Rustin 8
West Chester Rustin 5 3 – 8
Downingtown West 7 4 – 11
West Chester Rustin goals: A. Chisholm 3, Kane 3, Supplee, Drakely.
Downingtown West goals: Mottice 4, Feeney, Bednarik 2, Lundmark, DiGiorgio 2, Thir.
Goalie saves: WCR – Riccuti 7, DW – Clemson 8.