Upper Moreland beats Upper Dublin in OT, creates 3-way tie atop SOL American

WILLOW GROVE >> Upper Moreland coach Kim Frantz told her team it was going to take heart to beat Upper Dublin ahead of their massive Suburban One League American Conference matchup Monday night.

Defending while playing a man-down and trailing by one goal with less two minutes to go – the Golden Bears needed heart. They forced a turnover and Regan Cummins scored to tie the game with less than 30 seconds left in regulation before Olivia Meakim netted the game-winner in overtime to lift Upper Moreland to a 10-9 win and create a three-way tie atop the SOL American standings with one game to go.

“After going down a player for three minutes,” Meakim said, “it definitely took heart to win this game.”

“You can’t win a game playing man-down when a team goes into stall-ball without playing with heart,” Frantz said. “That’s exactly what won the game for us.”

Anna DiMartile put Upper Dublin ahead, 9-8, with her fourth goal of the game with 1:47 to go. She controlled the ball after the ensuing draw and the Cardinals started to play keepaway. The ball got away from them and Cummins netted the equalizer on a free position with 29.5 seconds left.

“To be ahead against a senior team,” UD coach Dee Cross said, “I’m just really proud of the effort. We could have won and that’s why they’re so upset, because they knew we had it. It doesn’t come down to one turnover, it’s the whole game. We were down, we came back and we went ahead. I’m just really proud of their effort.”

Upper Moreland controlled the draw to start overtime and, after passing the ball around for a little more than a minute, Meakim scored the game-winner to send the Golden Bears into celebration.

“I felt the need to go to goal,” Meakim said. “I asked for it, jumped over and shot it.

“I had no clue what I was going to do until it felt right.”

Upper Moreland, Upper Dublin and Springfield Montco are all 9-1 in league play going into the last game of the season Wednesday. Upper Moreland faces William Tennent, Upper Dublin takes on Cheltenham and Springfield Montco matches up with Wissahickon.

The Cardinals haven’t won a league championship since 2013 while the Golden Bears’ last league championship was in 2001.

“To be in this situation,” Cross said, “I started this season saying how young we were and inexperienced at every position. They’ve taken every challenge we’ve given to them and that’s all I can ask as a coach. Yes, you wish you could make the outcome different, it stings, but I said this is how we felt on Friday when we won a huge game (against Springfield) to put us in this position. We’ll try to focus on the positives and take care of business. We have to win Wednesday and then a championship that we haven’t had in 10 years. Things are looking up.”

“It’s an amazing group of girls,” Frantz said makes this Golden Bears team so special. “They work hard. They have each other’s back. They’re always helping each other out. They really love lacrosse. They’re easy to work with. They make my job easy.”

The league rivals played a tight game throughout the 51:17 of game time. Upper Moreland led by two three times – 2-0, 5-3 and 7-5 – while Upper Dublin’s largest lead was one goal – 3-2, 8-7 and 9-8.

Upper Moreland goalie Addi Hurley was a big reason why the Golden Bears held a 4-3 lead at halftime. She made five saves in the opening 25 minutes and got some help from three shots hitting the post. The sophomore made nine saves in the game and surpassed the 150-save mark for her career.

The Cardinals battled back from a 7-5 deficit with 8:49 left in the game with three straight goals to take an 8-7 lead with 4:03 left.

Upper Moreland’s Annalise Messina scored her fifth goal of the game to make it 8-8 with 3:37 remaining in regulation.

“She’s a phenomenal player,” Frantz said. “We’re lucky to have her. She is one of the hardest working kids I know. Her ability and her way with the ball and everything comes from her working so hard in the offseason and working so hard off the field. She’s a workhorse.”

Upper Moreland 10, Upper Dublin 9 (OT)

Upper Dublin 3 6 0 – 9

Upper Moreland 4 5 1 – 10

Goals: UD: Anna DiMartile 4, Paige Dinkel 3, Julie Zlotnikoff, Ava Brennan. UM: Annalise Messina 5, Belle Leiter, Jenna Piantieri, Olivia Meakim 2, Regan Cummins.

Saves: UD: Anna Biermaas 4. UM: Addi Hurley 9.