Downingtown West girls click on all cylinders in district opener

Downingtown >> Clicking on all cylinders, No. 7 seed Downingtown West rolled to a 17-4 win against Plymouth Whitemarsh in its District 1 3A girls lacrosse tourney opener Thursday at DiSerafino Stadium.

The 23rd-seeded Colonials, who advanced to Thursday’s round by knocking off No. 10 seed Council Rock South, 12-11, Tuesday, trailed D-West by a 6-1 margin less than 10 minutes into the contest. By halftime, the Whippets had an 11-2 lead.

“Downingtown West is quick, they’re fast, they have good stickwork, they work well together,” said Plymouth Whitemarsh head coach Ellen Reilly. “They’re on every ball, they’re aggressive, they work hard every single second. Coming into the game, we knew they were good, but they’re really, really good. Their stickwork is amazing”

D-West got a couple of early goals from junior midfielder Maddie Greco to take a 3-1 lead seven minutes into the game, then Whippet junior midfielder Lauren Tinson (who continually won draw controls Thursday) tallied just after winning a DC to make it 4-1.

Midway through the first half, D-West held a 6-2 lead, which soon became 9-2 on a couple of goals by sophomore midfielder Lainey Straub and a hard-earned tally in a crowd in front of the net by Greco. By halftime, both Straub and Greco had hat tricks.

“I think we all just stepped up today, and wanted to play our best game,” said Greco. “We came out hungry to win.  We did a good job of running our plays and keeping possession – since it was hot, [possession] was one of our goals today.”

Meanwhile, the Whippets’ defense allowed very few shots to get through.

“We recently switched to a zone [defense], and it’s working, everyone is clicking together and the communication is there,” said Greco.

By game’s end, Greco and Straub each scored four goals, while Tinson and senior midfielder Aliza Thir tallied two each.

With the victory, the Whippets (15-3) advance to the District 1 3A quarterfinals, where they will face No. 2 seed Radnor Saturday. The top six teams from the District 1 3A girls’ lacrosse tourney will advance to the PIAA 3A state tournament.

For Plymouth-Whitemarsh (10-10), the leading scorer Thursday was senior Haley McCourt, who will be heading to Wingate next year.

“I’m hoping our program can get to [D-West’s] level, we have a lot of young kids, and hopefully our girls learned from the game today,” said Reilly. “I thought our goalie [Clancy Lynch, 11 saves] stepped up very well today, but everyone else has to rally around her. We can’t make turnovers right after we possess the ball from one of their turnovers and give it right back to them.”

 

Downingtown West 17, Plymouth Whitemarsh 4

Plymouth Whitemarsh          2       2       –        4

Downingtown West              11     6       –        17

Plymouth Whitemarsh goals: McCourt 2, Austin, Gooneratne.

Downingtown West goals: Greco 4, Straub 4, Tinson 2, Thir 2, Morgan, O’Connor, Waller, Mahmud, Plzak.

Goalie saves: PW – Lynch 11. DW – Strauss 4.