Gwynedd Mercy shuts out West Chester East, advances to 3rd straight District 1-2A final

LOWER GWYNEDD >> Getting her stick on Emma Kerr’s shot to redirect it in the cage, Gwynedd Mercy’s Caroline Fitzgerald was reminded of all the work put into it creating that moment.

“I remember the 50 corners (coach) Katie (Ronan) makes us do every practice,” she said. “And how that it was all worth it for this game.”

Fitzgerald’s goal off an early third-quarter corner doubled the advantage her sister Catherine gave the Monarchs in the first quarter, the two tallies enough for top-seeded GMA to reach its third straight District 1-2A final as it shut out No. 4 West Chester East 2-0 in their semifinal contest Tuesday afternoon.

“It’s everything,” Catherine Fitzgerald said. “We really, really worked hard, even from the beginning of the preseason. We’re going to be right where we were at the end of last year. We’re ready.”

The Monarchs advance to face No. 2 Villa Maria – which rolled past No. 3 Radnor in the other semi 7-2 – with the AACA rivals meeting in the district championship game for a third consecutive season 5:30 p.m. Saturday at Methacton.

Villa won 5-3 in 2020 while Gwynedd Mercy took the 2021 title with a 3-1 victory during its run to the PIAA final.

“With the girls getting a taste of it last year, I mean they really, really want it,” GMA first-year coach Katie Ronan said. “So it’s about working together, keeping them going, keeping that drive and positivity and you really see it from the girls and they all want it so it’s the girls that really make this really, really great experience because they all want it so it’s good to be able to drive that.”

GMA (16-3-1) swept its two regular-season games with the Hurricanes, winning 3-1 at home Sept. 15 then 2-1 at Villa Oct. 11.

“It’s always a big rivalry of ours,” Catherine Fitzgerald said. “And we kind of just need to play them as any other team no matter of our loses or wins in the past so just playing how we play.”

West Chester East (15-6-0) visits Radnor in the third-place game Friday. Both teams already qualified for states with District 1 having five teams in the PIAA Tournament. East’s 3-2 win over No. 5 Upper Perkiomen earned the Vikings their first state berth since 2016.

Both goals Tuesday came from the Fitzgeralds – who are triplets, having a brother that attends La Salle – with both coming off corners as the Monarchs won their eighth straight since falling to defending state 3A champ Emmaus 3-2 Oct. 4. GMA has so far outscored its three district opponents 13-0.

“I thought today’s game was an excellent team game,” Ronan said. “They played really, really well together – it was pass-and-move, which is what we’ve been working on all season. We’re really working as a team and it looks great, we just now got to get down to the nitty gritty and finish it in close so that what we’re going to work on going into the championship is finishing out those goals.”

The Monarchs took a 1-0 lead with 2:50 remaining in the opening quarter. On a corner, Sydney Mandato took a shot from the top of the circle with Caroline Fitzgerald getting a stick on it in front of the goalkeeper, sending the ball lofting towards the front of the cage where Catherine Fitzgerald got to it and knocked it in.

“I thought starting off we did really, really well, Catherine Fitzgerald. “We pressured them really well and kind of got used to their play. But I feel like by the end we kind of started from square one just by the first quarter, just doing everything to get as many touches on it and as many shots.”

While having plenty of corner opportunities and not giving up any to the Vikings, Gwynedd Mercy found the back of the cage just once more, scoring less than five minutes into the second half.

“Two-goal lead was good but we definitely would’ve liked to get more so working on finishing it a little bit more is our goal now going forward,” Ronan said. “But last season, they girls expressed that when they did score a goal they felt they dropped off so one thing we’ve been working on is when we cross the half we reset and we just act like we’re 0-0. So to keep going from them was great to see.”

After Kerr took a shot from the left side of the circle on a corner, Caroline Fitzgerald got a touch of it in front of the keeper to redirect it in at 10:50 in the third.

“I think we’ve been doing what we did all season just staying confident and knowing what we want,” Caroline Fitzgerald said. “We want to win and I think that we have the ability to do it, just executing it.”