North Penn rallies to edge CB South for 4th straight win

TOWAMENCIN >> In a tie game late in the second half, something had to break in the North Penn girls lacrosse team’s favor. And Emily Varilla saw the opportunity to do it.

Scooping up a loose ball after not catching a pass cleanly, Varilla spun around and sliced between a pair of Central Bucks South defenders, getting into a pocket of space to let off a shot that found the back of the net and gave the Knights the a 10-9 lead with 4:33 remaining in Wednesday afternoon’s SOL National Conference matchup.

“In my head it was like this game, something has to happen to put us ahead and above them,” she said. “And I saw I had it.”

The Knights held off the visiting Titans in the final minutes – denying South on an 8-meter shot with 34 seconds left – and came away with a 10-9 victory to stay unbeaten in conference play and extended their winning streak to four.

“We just kept our composure and we dug down cause we wanted it more. North Penn’s Kayla Stressman said. “So we just kept our composure and kept calm and made smart choices.”

Stressman had a game-high four goals and an assist, the junior’s final tally pulling the Knights (5-2, 3-0 SOL National) even 9-9 with 6:19 in the second half. Kerry O’Donnell finished with two goals and an assist while Varilla added two goals.

“Every game’s a big win but the biggest win is coming together as a team and being able to beat these teams,” said Varilla, a La Salle commit. “And knowing that moving on we’re working as a team and coming together and that’s just going to help us in the future. And every game’s going to be huge and every game we’re going to have to be on our toes and play our hardest.

“And every game will probably be close like this one was but it’s who comes on top and who fights ‘til the end.”

Grace Gannon paced Central Bucks South (4-2, 2-1) with three goals. Teagan Mullan, Addy Geary and Katie Victor all had two goals and an assist for the Titans, who had a four-game win streak snapped.

The league is very competitive and it’s very balanced I think in regards to talent – everybody’s got a couple of really good players on their team that make a huge difference,” North Penn coach Heather Mellow said. “And it’s tough so you got to show up every single game against all these teams and if you don’t show up that other team is going to take advantage of it.

“So that’s kind of what I’ve been telling these guys since the beginning of the season, we have to show up, we have to show up for these games. We had some tough games in the beginning of the season, we played some pretty good teams out of our league which helped us set us up for this and being prepared to play these games.”

After the Knights and Titans each registered seven goals in the first half, the offenses slowed down after the break. Riley O’Donnell gave North Penn its first lead at 8-7 just 56 seconds into the second half but Central Bucks South scored the next two, Addy Geary converting on an 8-meter to put the Titans back in front 9-8 at 19:58.

It took close to 14 minutes before another ball was put into the net, Stressman saying the afternoon’s warm temperatures were a big factor in wearing down the attacking play.

“I think we were all just so exhausted,” she said. “It’s so hot and we had so many games in the past two weeks so I think we’re all tired and we just wanted to hold the ball and find the right option.”

Stressman stopped the drought at 6:19 coming around the right side of the net and striking for the equalizer.

“I was just like I need to score,” she said. “I saw the opportunity, I saw the 1-v-1 and I’m like I’m going to take it.

North Penn, which had most of the possession in the second half, took the lead for good less than two minutes later. Riley O’Donnell drove behind the net then passed to Lauren Blanch, who got the ball to Varilla for her drive and score to make it 10-9.

“We have several girls that – Emily’s fast and they’re all little, right – but the O’Donnell twins they’re fast, Dani Preston, she’s fast,” Mellow said. “We have a lot of them that can make that hard drive to goal and take the opportunity to put the ball in if they take a good shot.”

After North Penn won the draw control and whittle away some time, South forced a turnover only to give the Knights back the ball when the Titans were called for a charge.

CB South, however, regained possession and earned an 8-meter shot with 34 seconds remaining but Varilla and Grace Macnamara crashed down and knocked the ball free with Macnamara corralling it.

“I think that 8-meter was huge for us,” Varilla said. “Being able to get that block and that stop definitely put a fire under our butts and that made us know we got this, we’re going to win this. All we need to do was get the ball in our end of the field, hold the ball and we have the win in the bag.”

North Penn does not play again until hosting Pennsbury Wednesday, April 20 in an SOL National matchup, the week break from games a welcome one for Mellow. CB South, meanwhile, visits Springfield-Montco in an SOL nonconference contest 3:30 p.m. Thursday.

“These girls need a break and it’s a good thing we’re going into the holiday because their legs are tired, their bodies are tired,” Mellow said. “Keira Holt she was like half a keeper back there today cause her back’s really bothering her so she wasn’t playing her usual game. So I think we all need a little bit of a settle down, recover and then get ready to play Pennsbury next.”

Gannon, a junior Richmond commit, scored twice to give South a 2-0 lead at 22:26. After Stressman collected North Penn’s first goal at 21:46 off a Kerry O’Donnell assist, Mullan then Gannon found the back of the net for the Titans to put the visitors up 4-1 at 19:13.

 The Knights, however, answered by scoring the next three, Kerry O’Donnell converting an 8-meter to tie things 4-4 at 16:40.

“I think the biggest thing was realizing once they got up, that we were still in it, like 4-1 that wasn’t that big of a lead,” Varilla said. “We could still come back and win it and I think the biggest thing for us was knowing that we just needed to chip away one at a time and not play frantic because we were still in it.”

The teams traded goals the rest of the first half – Mullan scoring on an 8-meter to give South a 7-6 lead at 2:18 before Kerry O’Donnell’s goal off an 8-meter shot with 22.7 seconds left made it 7-7 at halftime.