PAC FINAL FOUR: Owen J. Roberts advances to title game with third win over Methacton

BUCKTOWN >> Owen J. Roberts had recorded a pair of one-sided wins over Methacton during the regular season, but the Wildcats weren’t about to take anything for granted in Tuesday night’s Pioneer Athletic Conference girls lacrosse playoff semifinal.

Roberts ran off four straight goals in the opening four minutes of the match and then seven in a row to start the second half and rolled to a 19-6 win at OJR’s Wildcat Field North.

The Wildcats (15-2) will shoot for their fifth straight PAC title against Spring-Ford, a 16-7 winner over Pottsgrove, Thursday at 5:30 p.m. at Upper Merion.

Eloise Gebert and Charlotte Lasak each notched five goals for the winners, and Maddi Koury racked up a pair of goals and seven assists. Sydney Tornetta had a goal and two assists for the Warriors (11-8).

“We just came out and we were trying to move the ball and play defense,” said Gebert, who scored late in the first half to give the Wildcats a 7-4 advantage and begin a run of nine goals over a 16-minute span. We knew it’s hard to beat a team three times in a season. We knew they had some good players, and we had to put high pressure on them.”

“We’d already played them twice, but you can’t take anything for granted,” said Koury, who recently recorded her 100th career assist and is closing in on the school mark. “We had to humble ourselves and remember it wouldn’t come easy and we had to work hard.”

Lasak scored off an assist by Koury 34 seconds into the match and Gracyn Smith made it 2-0 just 19 seconds later, with Koury assisting again. Then Koury and Gebert scored unassisted for a 4-0 lead with only 3:40 gone. Katy Benton got Methacton on the board with 14:20 to go until the half off an assist by Tornetta, and the Warriors closed to within 6-4 when Jayme Weber tallied with 2:53 left until the halftime break.

“We were trying to get a feel of how they were playing today,” Gebert said. “Everyone comes out even harder in the PAC finals. Saturday, we talked about them and watched some game films to see if they were doing anything differently than the first two times we played them.”

Gebert got the Wildcats going again with an unassisted goal with 1:42 left until the break, and Lasak scored off a feed from Maggie Kilgallon 19 seconds after that for an 8-4 lead at intermission. Then the Wildcats ripped off seven straight to start the second half for a 15-4 advantage before Grace Shields scored on an assist from Tornetta with 13 minutes to go.

“We really talked about finishing,” Koury said. “We really harp on getting 50 minutes of our best play. ‘All gas, no brakes’ is something we say a lot.”

Roberts, with a new coaching staff and only three seniors, went 13-0 in the PAC during the regular season, including 18-5 and 17-7 decisions over Methacton.

“It’s been a little different,” said Gebert, one of the three seniors along with Lasak and Sophia Murray. “This is my third coach in four years. We’re getting used to new styles throughout the season.”

Last year, the Wildcats defeated Boyertown 8-6 in the final.

“We’re going for the new Boyertown record (11 straight PAC titles from 2004-2014),” Gebert added with a laugh.

“When I was in eighth grade, I was sitting in the stands and screaming my head off when we beat them for the first time.”

And none of the Wildcats want to be a part of the team that fails to continue the string of titles.

“Absolutely not,” Koury said. “We’re such a close team this year. We want to do everything for our seniors.”

NOTES >> Six different players scored for the Warriors. … Murray and Hannah Delahaye each scored twice for the Wildcats, who got four saves from Cayden Jarvis. … Mackenzie Clark had six saves for Methacton. … The game was halted with 2:32 to go due to lightening in the area.