Spring-Ford tops Boyertown, continues to fulfill its potential
BOYERTOWN >> For quite some time, the talent has been there.
Year-after-year the Spring-Ford girls lacrosse program has sent players to the college level. At times, the team’s on-field results, like last season’s 2-8 finish in the Pioneer Athletic Conference Liberty division, have not resembled the individual ability on the field.
This year’s Spring-Ford senior class is another talented group, with six players headed to play in college next season.
Finally, the Rams are meeting those expectations.
Spring-Ford defeated Boyertown, 18-14, Monday, nearly knocking the Bears out of the PAC playoff picture and helping firm up the Rams’ postseason fate.
“We just realized with the talent that we have, if we work hard, we’ll be amazing,” senior Cassie Marte said. “This year we’ve been doing that. In practices, we’ve really kind of stepped it up, and just on the field too. I think it’s the attitude.”
The Rams (6-2 Liberty, 9-2 PAC) finished 2-8 in the division last season, one year removed from a PAC championship appearance in 2017. Seniors Marte (Lehigh), Katie Metzler (Nazareth), Jill Quigley (Florida), Liv Yeagle (Dickinson), MaryPat McKenna (Franklin & Marshall), Jordan Nitto (Millersville) and Michaela Haney (Penn) wanted to do something special before they went off to school, especially after a disappointing junior campaign.
From the moment last season ended, the group set the bar high for 2019. They wanted to win a PAC championship, something the program hasn’t done since 1991.
Marte, Yeagle and Quigley scored four goals each on Monday, while Haney added three.
“It’s always been our goal to get one,” Quigley said. “We haven’t won a PAC in so long. Our seniors, we’ve wanted it for so long.”
With Monday’s loss, last year’s PAC runner-up Boyertown (3-5 Liberty, 6-5 PAC) will need some help to make it back to the Final Four this season. The Bears trail Methacton and Phoenixville by one game in the loss column with two games to play.
After falling behind 9-7 at halftime Monday, the Bears tied the game with two early scores in the second half. Three straight goals by the Rams near the midway point of the second half helped Spring-Ford pull away and hold off a late Boyertown run. Liz Tamasitis scored four goals and Amanda Diachynsky and Kristi Kada had hat tricks for the Bears.
Monday’s loss was Boyertown’s fourth league defeat by four goals or less. Kada said getting behind early has been a theme in their losses.
“We just are a little bit too late to come back,” Kada said. “We start off a little slow, and then by the time we pick it up, it’s too late.”
Boyertown currently is ranked No. 21 in the District 1 Class 3A power rankings. The Bears end their regular season with Perkiomen Valley on Wednesday and Norristown on Thursday. They will need to finish strong to get into the 24-team district playoff field.
“We work really well together,” Kada said. “We have the chemistry. Just executing, we’re struggling a little bit.”
“I think we still got it,” she added. “There’s still a lot to accomplish. It’s not over yet.”
Spring-Ford, currently two games ahead of Methacton in the league standings, finishes its conference schedule against league leader Owen J. Roberts on Wednesday before Friday’s game against Perk Valley.
OJR has won four straight league titles, including the win over Spring-Ford in 2017. The Wildcats knocked off the Rams, 15-6, on April 10.
Regardless of the the outcome, Spring-Ford’s seniors are happy to be ending their careers with meaningful games.
“My whole high school career, we’ve had amazing talent on the team,” Marte said. “We just haven’t been able to put ourselves together in a close-knit group. I feel like this year, we’re finally doing it.”
“It makes it so much more fun,” Quigley said. “This season, we have so much drive that we just want to keep going.”
