Blair shines as Downingtown West staves off Henderson
WEST CHESTER >> The Downingtown West girls lacrosse team took advantage of miscues in the first half to draw out to a sizable lead, then held off a West Chester Henderson rally to post an 11-7 Ches-Mont League National Division win Monday at J. Oscar Dicks Stadium.
Sophomore Autumn Blair led the Whippets (2-0 Ches-Mon National, 3-1 overall) with six goals — four in the half — as they jumped out to an 8-1 advantage.
“She’s a tough cookie, that one,” West coach Brittney Conzentino said about Blair. “She’s actually coming off a slight injury, but you wouldn’t know it. She’s so hard working. She does all the little things. Just being a great shooter, a great defender. She’s a true midfielder.”
Freshman Brinn Findora put West on the board after scoring off a turnover nearly two minutes into the contest.
Miscues plagued the Warriors (0-2, 3-2) in the first half, commiting 10 turnovers, and three ended up in the back of the net.
“Turnovers killed us and we didn’t put the ball in the cage when we had opportunities,” said Henderson coach Emily Eckler. “We were winning the draw so we had the ball, then we threw the ball before we could put it in the net.”
The Whippets made it 2-0 on a free position goal by Ava Findora, before Kendall Brandon put Henderson on the board as she eaved through the defense and found some space to fire a shot past goaltender Katie Goodby.
West went on to score the next seven goals of the half. Blair notched her first off a free position, Ava Findora recorded her second followed by three from Blair and a goal by Abby Walter off a pretty feed from Brinn Findora, and the Whippets cruised into the halftime break with an 8-1 lead.
“Whenever I saw the opportunity, I took it,” said Blair. “My teammates helped me out with that with a lot of assists and it was super fun.
“The first half we came out really strong. Obiviously, our defense was great and we caused so many turnover which spurred our attack.”
West stretched the lead to 9-1 when Taylor Bergey scored to open the second half.
Henderson’s comeback started Rylee Bauer put in a rebound to make it 9-2. Bauer added her second to make it 9-3 with 13:27 to play.
Operating a man-up seconds later, Brandon scored her second of the game and it was a 9-4. The comeback continued a minute later. On the Warriors’ third consecutive free position, Baily Schalleur connected to cut the deficit to 9-5.
Bauer notched her third with 10:40 left to complete the 5-0 run to trail 9-6.
Blair had a point-blank look, but was stopped by an excellent save from Williams. But, Blair couldn’t be denied and she drove to the net on a man-up situation to end the West scoring drought to extend to a 10-6 advantage.
“I would’ve been happier with a win, but I was happy with the way the girls rallied,” said Eckler. “We’ve had a couple of games where they have stepped up and fought to the end. We’ll learn from it. We’re still a young team. We can only go up from here.”
Schalleur and Bauer ended the scoring as Henderson was stymied and West remained unbeaten in the national division.
“We’ve been struggling this season being a two-half team. That first half is what we’ve been looking for for a whole game,” added Cozentino. “Give Henderson credit, they did a great job coming back in the second half.”
NOTE: Bauer tried for a spectacular highlight goal in the second half. As her momentum took her across the goal, she tried a no-look, behind the back effort that that bounced over the cage. “I’ve been working on that a little bit, but I might’ve hit it a little too hard,” she said.
Downingtown West 11, WC Henderson 7
Downingtown West 8 3 — 11
WC Henderson 1 6 — 7
Downingtown West goals: Blair 6, A. Findora 2, Walter, B. Findora, Bergey.
WC Henderson goals: Bauer 3, Brandon 2, Schalleur 2.
Goalie Saves: Goodby (DW) 6; Williams (WCH) 10.
