Sacchetti’s last-minute goal sends North Penn past Methacton in District 1-3A first round

WORCESTER >> With the final seconds ticking away and the ball in her stick, Grace Sacchetti was not going to be denied.

“There was no one stopping me there,” the North Penn junior said. “I knew I was going right to goal and no one was going to getting in front of me. Just shot the only way I could.”

Taking a pass from Alli Lindsay, Sacchetti drove forward then after brief hesitation sprinted towards the net and unleashed a low shot for the game-winning goal with 25.5 seconds remaining as 18th-seeded North Penn scored twice in the final minute to rally past host No. 15 Methacton for an 11-10 win in the District 1-3A girls lacrosse first round Tuesday night.

“Oh my God, that was amazing,” Sacchetti said. “That was the biggest rush ever. To win that game that was incredible for us. That was an upset, it was  awesome.”

North Penn led 9-7 with 4:30 left before the Warriors scored three straight goals to go ahead 10-9 when Jayme Weber bounced in a shot at 59.3 seconds. Sacchetti collected a ground ball and found Lily Szilagyi to pull the Knights even at 10 with 44.7 seconds. Right after winning the ensuing draw, Methacton was called for a charge, giving possession back to North Penn and allowing Sacchetti to break the 10-10 tie.

“I’m all about having the players lose it but that last call where we had possession, I mean, both coaches were like that’s a spin dodge,” Methacton coach Laurie Markle said.

Sacchetti finished with four goals and four assists while Szilagyi added three goals and an assist for the Knights (11-7), who won their first district game since besting Spring-Ford in the 2012 first round.

“They’re fighters,” said North Penn coach Heather Mellow of her team. “These guys are fighters. Even when they’re down, they’re still chipping away. This is a great group of girls. They have really worked together well all year long, really figuring each other out. Even down to the last couple goals here, they just were in sync, they knew each other and they knew where they were going to be.”

North Penn, which split the SOL National Conference title with Central Bucks East and Central Bucks West, advances to face defending district champ No. 2 Garnet Valley in the second round 5:30 p.m. Thursday.

“I know Garnet Valley is going to be a very good team and we’re going to have to play beyond ourselves to give them a challenge,” Mellow said. “And I hope we show up and do that. And do that instead of being timid but at least we know what we’re expecting because we’ve seen (top seed) Harriton (in a 19-7 loss last Thursday), we know what level of play that is now.”

Mia Sheldon scored a team-high four goals — three in the first half while her fourth tied the game 9-9 with 2:45 left — and also had an assist for Methacton (11-9), which was trying to reach the second round for a third consecutive season. Sydney Tornetta and Delaney Smith both scored twice while freshman goalie Mackenzie Clark had a strong game stepping in for Rachel O’Toole and finishes with 13 saves.

“We lost our starting goalie before the game again, Rachel O’Toole has had some illnesses, so she has been out,” Markle said. “So I thought Mackenzie Clark, who’s a freshman played well. I thought she had a big game. But it does take a little out when your starting goalie is not there, so that’s part of it.

“We’re a young team, we just have a hard time focusing for 50 minutes and that was very obvious.”

Four straight goals — the first three from Sheldon — gave Methacton a 6-3 lead in the opening half before Erin Varilla’s goal at 2:29 had the Knights within two at the break.

Sacchetti scored just 39 seconds into the second half off a Szilagyi assist while Lindsay circled around the back of goal before striking to make it 6-6 at 20:37. Sacchetti proceeded to tally her third goal to give the Knights a 7-6 lead at 17:19.

“It was just settling down and being patient and making smarter decisions offensively,” Mellow said. “We were taking some really bad shots in the beginning of the game. We were getting inside but we weren’t taking quality shots, kept hitting the keeper. But their keeper was good, she did a nice job and that’s their backup keeper.”

Smith scored on an eight-meter shot to tie the matchup 7-7 at 6:59 but the Knights retook the lead on a Brooke Millevoi goal assisted by Sacchetti 70 seconds later. Sacchetti then scooped up a ground ball off a Methacton turnover, raced downfield and found Szilagyi to make it 9-7 with 4:30 left.

“Just get down there and I know she’s going to be open,” Sacchetti said. “There was one defender down there so just draw the defender and find Lily right away.”

Methacton, however, regrouped on offense. Smith’s second goal at 4:03 cut the Warriors’ deficit to one while Sheldon netted her fourth off an Alexa Kratz assist to knotted the contest at nine at 2:45. Weber gave the Warriors the 10-9 lead by getting into the middle of the NP defense and bouncing a shot in with just 59.9 seconds to go in regulation.

“When they were coming back, that was the scariest thing ever,” Sacchetti said. “But I knew we had to get our minds back in it and get another goal to get the momentum back.”

Sacchetti helped the Knights quickly respond, assisting on Szilagyi’s equalizer at 44.7 seconds. Methacton thought it had a chance at a go-ahead goal in claiming the ensuing draw control, but the charge called on the Warriors enabled Sacchetti to put North Penn in the lead.

North Penn won the following draw and kept possession until losing the ball out of bounds with three seconds left. Methacton could only heave a pass to the midfield before time ran out.

“It’s a matter of getting the draw,” Markle said. “I mean, if you win the draw, you’re going to win. That’s why it was so frustrating with that last 30 seconds that a ref is going to make a call like that. But whatever. I mean, we should of sealed it up sooner and it was a good game between rival schools so it was a nice from that perspective. And I have a lot of respect for Heather and North Penn.”

North Penn had three one-goal goal leads in the first half’s opening 10 minutes, last coming at 3-2 after Casey Cavanaugh scored on an eight-meter shot at 15:09. Sheldon scored the next thee goals — the first two on eight-meter shots — while Smith capped a 4-0 run at 5:40 to give the Warriors their largest lead at 6-3.

(18) North Penn 11, (15) Methacton 10
North Penn        4 7 — 11
Methacton         6 4 — 10
North Penn Goals-Assists: Grace Sacchetti 4-4; Lily Szilagyi 3-1; Casey Cavanaugh 1-0; Alli Lindsay 1-0; 1-0; Brooke Millevoi  1-0; Emily Varilla.
Methacton Goals-Assists: Mia Sheldon 4-1; Sydney Tornetta 2-0; Delaney Smith 2-0; Julia McCann 1-0; Jayme Weber 1-0; Alexa Kratz 0-1.