Szilagyi scores 8, North Penn pulls away in 2nd half to beat CB West

TOWAMENCIN >> The week had already began but North Penn girls lacrosse coach Heather Mellow wasn’t sure if her team knew it.

“It was like we were still waking up the first half, we weren’t quite awake yet,” she said. “Monday, just – it was a Monday, a dreary Monday and these girls just got out of bed. That’s what it felt like.”

The Knights’ drowsy start had them even with visiting Central Bucks West 6-6 after the first 25 minutes of their SOL National Conference contest. But Lily Szilagyi proved North Penn a much-needed jolt right after the break, the senior striking just 15 seconds into the second half off an assist from Riley O’Donnell.

“It was really fun,” Szilagyi said. “It’s kind of what we talked about, score right off the bat and then just go on from there. So it was really exciting.”

Szilagyi continued to provide the offensive spark, scoring four times as the Knights’ tallied the first five goals after halftime as they pulled away for the Bucks to claim a 13-7 victory Monday.

“The game wasn’t a very pretty game all said and done from start to finish but they did put some pieces together the second half to come back out and finish at least, Mellow said. “I thought Kiera (Holt) had a great game, I think every time she makes a save it lifts our spirits and puts us back in, right, so she did a great job down there.

“And Lily Szilagyi, she really stepped up today and took care of the ball for us offensively.”

Szilagyi found the back of the net five times in the second half to finish with a game-high eight goals as North Penn (3-1, 2-0 conference) won its third straight and snapped a five-game losing streak to  CB West – earning its first win over the Bucks since 2014.

“I don’t usually get that many per game but I feel like it wasn’t just me it was the other girls on the team too,” Szilagyi said. “I think it was a pretty big achievement for myself individually but we all did it together as a team.”

Holt finished with nine saves, Kayla Stressman scored twice while Emily Varilla added two more goals while also being tasked with defending CB West’s Paige Gilbert’s, a William & Mary commit.

“It’s big, it’s always nice to be able to contribute on both sides,” Varilla said. “And just know that your team works together on both ends of the field and to be able to make a different on both ends of the field, it’s always nice at the end of the day.”

Varilla gave up a bit of height to Gilbert but the Bucks senior was limited to two early goals – her second coming at 18:12 in the first half.

“I think was just me knowing where my teammates were definitely helping me,” Varilla said. “When I’m on her, I’m not focusing on anything else so it’s really like I usually have an attacker like Jordan (Baily), I usually have her tell me where the ball is so I know if Paige was next to the ball, I knew where I needed to be and I knew I just needed to focus on her and not worry about where the ball was.”

Both teams stay in SOL National play for games Wednesday. North Penn visits Central Bucks South at 3:30 p.m. while CB West hosts Neshaminy at 7 p.m..

“We’re excited for a good start, still have a lot of really tough games coming up,” Mellow said. “(Central Bucks) South they’ve been playing well, Strath Haven’s going to be hard. It’s constant, so I don’t feel like there’s really any gimmies out there, so this season at least.”

Freshman Kate Weyer finished with three goals to pace the Bucks (0-5, 0-2), which took its last lead at 4-3 when Erika Evan scored off a Weyer assist at 9:55 in the first half.

Goals from Stressman and Szilagyi put North Penn 5-4 with 6:09 left in the first half before Weyer sidestepped the defense to score on a free-position shot at 4:13.

O’Donnell scooped up a ground ball and connected with Szilagyi to give the Knights back the lead with 1:26 left before halftime. Weyer, however, converted a free-position shot 26 seconds later to knot the game at six.

Szilagyi started the second half’s scoring at 24:45 then extended North Penn’s lead to 8-6 by coming from behind the net for a goal at 22:26.

“I kind of noticed the one-v-one around the crease from down low since I’m a lefty so it’s a really big advantage for me,” Szilagyi said. I” kind of just took the girl one-v-one every single time and it just worked. And kind of placing it cause that goalie made some pretty good saves.”

Varilla’s free-position goal at 15:40 made it 9-6 before Szilagyi scored the next two – driving in from the right side for a tally at 9:44 then losing a ball but regaining it and firing a shot into the open net at 8:16 for an 11-6 lead.

“I think our energy and coming together as a team and realizing not one person was going to be able to do the job themselves,” Varilla said. “And we needed to work together, find the open person. And even on defense, that was a big thing, was working together on defense and making sure we were talking on defense.

“And the energy from our sidelines and team together that just really stepped up in the second half and I think that helped us.”

Kate Weyer found Megan Weyer for a goal with 7:35 remaining to pull the Bucks within four. But Szilagyi tallied her eighth at 5:59 while Stressman’s goal off a Danielle Preston assist has North Penn up 13-7 at 4:38.

“It just such a big deal cause we haven’t beat CB West for like – my coach right now, Coach Mellow hasn’t beat CB West yet,” Szilagyi said. “So it’s a really big deal to beat them and see her so excited.”

CB West took a 1-0 lead on Kate Weyer’s strike at 22:21. Preston scored on a free-position shot to tie the game at 21:16 before the Bucks took their biggest lead at 3-1 on back-to-back goals by Gilbert.

Varilla found the back of the net on a drive at 11:52 while just 17 seconds later Szilagyi scored her first to pull the Knights level 3-3.