Strong 2nd half gives D-East win in district opener
Uwchlan >> A strong second-half effort gave No. 9 seed Downingtown East a 15-8 win against 24th seed Kennett Tuesday in the opening round of the PIAA District 1 3A girls lacrosse tournament.
The battling Blue Demons held a 6-4 halftime lead, and still led 8-6 with 19 minutes to play.
During the final 19 minutes, the host Cougars (15-4) held Kennett scoreless.
“Our defense as a unit did an amazing job today,” said D-East senior defender Alli Hunter. “In the second half, we really picked up our slides, we got all the ground balls, and I think that’s what really helped us on defense.”
Downingtown East head coach Kelli Joran said, “We made some adjustments on defense in the second half, and our girls were coming up with some really good slides and ground balls in the 8, which caused a lot of [Kennett] turnovers.
“And our attack was able to pump up the energy, and get the ball moving and find the back of the net in the second half.”
Kennett took a 1-0 lead 42 seconds into the game on a goal from sophomore Makayla Kelly, and led for the rest of the first half.
Blue Demon senior Emma Schwarz, who was cleared to play Monday after an emergency appendectomy May 4, scored two goals in the first half, the second one giving the visitors a 5-3 lead with 5:34 to go before halftime.
“It was nice to let Emma get back on the field for a District game, and leave her legacy as a senior leader – we were very, very happy for her,” said Kennett head coach Lisa Daugherty of Schwarz, who will be playing field hockey for Villanova University next fall.
Kennett took a 6-3 lead with 3:25 to go before halftime when junior Vivian Chiomento scored.
With just a minute to go before intermission, D-East senior Caroline Brennan scored her second goal of the game to cut the visitors’ lead to 6-4.
“Coach Kell [Joran] gave us pointers at halftime for both sides of the field, and we really put it together in the second half,” said Hunter, who will be playing lacrosse for Longwood (Va.) University next year.
The Cougars got out of the gate fast in the second half, getting two quick goals from midfielder Eileen Hewitt to tie the score at 6-6 with 20:50 to play.
Just as quickly, Kennett sophomore Megan Ward tallied twice to put the visitors back on top, 8-6, with 19 minutes to play.
Downingtown East outscored the Blue Demons 9-0 the rest of the way, and one of the keys was Brennan, who took over the draw control early in the second half with good results.
“Caroline has the height [5-10] and she’ll attack the ball in there,” said Joran. “She’s also a basketball player [for D-East] so she’s got the reach and the jump.”
Brennan, who will play lacrosse for Monmouth University next spring, started the Cougars’ 9-0 run with a goal to cut Kennett’s lead to 8-7.
Downingtown East midfielder Nickie Prendergast, who has been one of the Cougars’ leading scorers this season, scored the next two goals, the second tally giving the hosts a 9-8 lead with 14:18 to play. It was D-East’s first lead of the game.
In the next three minutes, the Cougars quickly upped their lead to 12-8, getting three goals from freshman midfielder Lexi Conte as well as a Brennan goal off a draw control and subsequent run to the net.
“We’ve gotten Lexi into games here and there [this season], but we definitely saw some great things out of her today,” said Joran.
“Lexi really stepped up for us today,” said Hunter.
Brennan led all scorers with four goals, Conte and Prendergast each had a hat trick, and Hewitt and attack Jillian Kennedy each tallied two goals for the winners.
Next up for Downingtown East is a trip to No. 8 seed Pennsbury (14-1). All five of the Cougar seniors are playing lacrosse in college (including three in Division I), and Joran would like to see their high school careers extended just a little bit more.
“We definitely want to make a nice [post-season] run, our seniors have worked hard for us for four years, we want to take them as far as we can,” said Joran.
For the youthful Kennett squad (9-8), of course, the season is over.
“We basically approached this game as though we had absolutely nothing to lose,” said Daugherty. “We got in [Districts] by the skin of our teeth, and it’s an honor to be able to play. So our girls used this as a learning experience and to give [D-East] the best fight we possibly could, and in the first half, we absolutely did that.
“We got in trouble in the second half with cards. You can’t be a man down six minutes in this game and expect to stay in the battle. That was our biggest problem that hurt us today.
“Our players learned today that they have the determination and the work ethic to hang with any team. They also learned that they have many, many things that they need to work on in regard to the basic stick skills and understanding game strategy – but they’re young – and we have plenty of time to build on the experiences that we had this season. They did a great job for being such a young team.”
Downingtown East 15, Kennett 8
Kennett 6 2 – 8
Downingtown East 4 11 – 15
Kennett goals: Kelly, Ward 3, Chiomento, Wells, Schwarz 2.
Goalie saves: KE – McCracken 7; DE – Higgins 6.
