Mastropietro, stingy Springfield on way to semifinals

EXETER — Less than 24 hours after winning its PIAA Class 2A opener, the Springfield girls lacrosse team showed no signs of fatigue in Saturday’s quarterfinal round.

Behind Belle Mastropietro’s eight-point performance, the District 1 runner-up Cougars cruised to a 16-5 win over District 3’s Cocalico Eagles Saturday. Thus, Springfield advances to the state semifinal round Tuesday to face District 3 champion York Catholic.

Alyssa Long often provides an accurate assessment of Springfield’s game performances, whether it’s during lacrosse season or basketball season. The University of North Carolina-bound junior sort of scoffed at the idea that the Cougars would be tired or unfocused Saturday…

Are you kidding her?

So what if they endured three days of rainouts, thus the quick turnaround from Friday’s first round. Nobody is going to feel sorry for them, so the Cougars brought it to Exeter — energy, focus, execution, domination. Whatever one’s definition of ‘it’ is, the Cougars had plenty.

“We went into spring break and played three games in three days, so it wasn’t a big deal,” Long said. “We’re pretty resilient kids. We know how to bounce back and get ready. It’s just about drinking and hydrating and getting mentally prepared, getting to sleep on time, waking up, eat something and getting ready to play.”

Alyssa Long does her thing. 5-1 @springfield_lax pic.twitter.com/C8KQ6WIj5a

— Matt Smith (@DTMattSmith) June 1, 2019

By the time the Cougars got off the bus at Exeter High, they were all systems go.

“We were locked in during warm-ups,” said Long, who registered two goals and two assists. “On the bus ride here … it’s just a lot of mental preparation. You’ve got to dig down and I think we’re a pretty gritty team and we do that well.”

Long was Mastropietro’s wing-girl on draws Saturday (and throughout the season). Mastropietro ensured that Springfield would dominate possession for the majority of the match. Long came up with 12 draw wins off Mastropietro’s stick.

“Sometimes it’s a little bit of guessing, if the draw goes wide I know I have to be a step over or can I get another step around (the opposing player) and grab the ball,” Long said. “But a lot of it is eye-contact with Belle, to see where she’s going to push it to.”

Mastropietro came out firing. She was directly involved in Springfield’s first five goals, tallying once and assisting on four others. The speedy Erin Gormley kicked off the scoring less than three minutes into regulation on a pass from Mastropietro, who then assisted on back-to-back goals by Olivia Pace. Mastropietro, bound for Temple, scored Springfield’s fourth goal before dishing a pass to a cutting Long, who fired a shot past goalie Alayna Trynosky to give the Cougars a 5-1 advantage.

“We knew they had two girls with 100 goals, so we knew they were shooters, but we didn’t really know a lot about them,” Mastropietro said. “We just knew we had to play the way we’re supposed to play.”

Springfield scored five of the last six goals in the first half to take a 10-3 lead into intermission. Gormley, Casey O’Connor, Julie Schickling and Mastropietro notched four consecutive tallies to begin the second half to make it 14-3.

It was game over that point.

“We try to focus on what we do and what we do well to the best of our ability,” Long said. “We knew a little bit about their personnel, but nothing that makes or breaks our game.”

Springfield’s defense stymied the Eagles, causing six turnovers. Cocalico’s top scoring threat, Hannah Cuter, had four of the team’s five goals but no one else threatened the Cougars’ back line. Emma O’Connor, Casey O’Connor, Abby Peichel, Carli Johnston and Makayla Cox flourished on defense while goalie Dana Mirgiliano made four saves.

By and large, though, Springfield’s attack was in control most of the day.

“The team with the most draws usually comes out on top and that was crucial for us,” Long said. “I think in the second half they didn’t have possession until about 15 minutes in. We had like 10 minutes of straight possession. When they don’t have the ball, they can’t score and that’s always beneficial to us.”