Archbishop Carroll returns to PIAA-2A semifinals, rolls past Gwynedd Mercy

LOWER GWYNEDD >> Ava Bleckley and the rest of the Archbishop Carroll girls lacrosse team put in another dominant PIAA-2A tournament performance and still had the rest of Saturday to look forward to.

“Yeah, we got a whole day,” Bleckley said. “I’m just going to go relax, eat some lunch.”

Bleckley’s job was done by halftime in the Patriots’ morning Class 2A quarterfinal matchup with host Gwynedd Mercy. The James Madison commit matched her sister Chloe with a first-half hat trick as the two-time defending state champs took a 15-3 lead into the break and cruised past the Monarchs for 20-5 victory.

“It’s pretty awesome, especially watching like the little-er girls get in and play,” Ava Bleckley said. “And I feel like I never had the option of playing cause I obviously didn’t go to Carroll my freshman and sophomore years. I think watching them play is awesome and getting a chance to play in a state game is such a cool experience and I’m just so happy for them.”

Chloe Bleckley finished with a game-best four goals while the siblings each dished out a pair of assists as Carroll (21-1) earned its 20th straight win to advance to the semifinals for a fourth straight PIAA tournament.

The Patriots face District 1 champ Mount St. Joseph – which topped Hershey 11-6 – Tuesday at a site and time to be announced. Winner advances to the state final 10 a.m. Saturday, May 17 at Penn State’s Panzer Stadium.

We definitely just want to get through the games – we want to win,” Ava Bleckley said. “So just whatever’s going to get us to that next state game is our goal.”

Ten different Carroll players found the back of the net with Machaela Henry, Brooke Hippert, Catie McConaghy, Lainey Straub and Greta Potten all scoring twice. Patriot goalkeeper Bridget Robinson made 10 saves.

Ellie Verrill and Audrey Beck both had two goals for Gwynedd Mercy, which lost to Carroll in the state playoffs for the second straight season – falling 22-3 in last year’s first round. Monarchs goalie Jenny Keagy had 13 saves.

“Carroll’s a great team, I mean it really doesn’t get better than Carroll,” GMA coach Bridget Beck said. “Leading up to this game I was telling the girls we’re playing a no-name team, no name, it doesn’t matter who we play we have to come out and play our own game. And we had that mindset going in.

“You get psyched out and who they are and how great they are and their legacy coaching staff and we just had to come out and play our own game. Obviously they’re a powerhouse but it was important for us to leave it all out on the field today and I think we did just that.”

The Monarchs, who placed fourth in District 1, end their first season under Beck – a GMA grad who played in college at Catholic University – at 15-9 after reaching the PIAA quarters for the first time since 2018.

“I’m so proud of our girls,” Bridget Beck said. “And we made it this far and hasn’t been like this in a couple years and I’m just so proud in how far they’ve come. And excited to continue on this journey next year and hopefully go a little bit further.”

GMA graduates 13 seniors, including Bridget’s sister Audrey, an Old Dominion commit who Bridget credits as the reason for having the head-coaching job.

“I’ve always wanted to coach and you know she came home one day and she’s like ‘You know we don’t have a coach.’” Bridget Beck said. “And you know I was like ‘I’d love to help out,’ and I put my name in and she was ‘You can’t help if there’s no head coach.’

“So I was like, you know what, I worked it out with my work schedule and made sure it was OK with her and it has just been a dream come true to be able to coach her, this my first season and her last.”

Henry dashed down the field to tally Saturday’s opening goal 26 seconds into the contest and then struck again at 2:31. Verrill pulled the Monarchs to within 2-1 at 22:33 but the Patriots proceeded to score the next six goals.

“Their defense was a little different because Upper Moreland did play a zone (in the state first round) and they were in a man,” Ava Bleckley said. “So their defense was a little bit easier for 1-v-1s or the two sweep so that was kind of different. But, you know, that’s kind of what we’ve been playing against all year so it was very easy for us to execute.”

Hippert made it 3-1 Carroll at 21:35 before Chloe Bleckley provided back-to-back goals – the junior coming around the goal on the second at 21:09 to put Patriots up 5-1.

Goals from McConaghy, Chloe Bleckley and Ava Bleckley pushed the lead to seven. Malley Connor’s goal at 14:00 broke the run to have the Monarchs down 8-2. Ava Bleckley, however, rocketed an eight-meter shot into the top of the net at 13:06 then collected her third goal at 11:54 for an 11-2 Carroll advantage.

“We tried different girls, we tried different matchups and then we definitely threw in some different defensive sets,” Bridget Beck said. “We like to change it up but it just wasn’t enough to get it done today.”

A McConaghy goal then Ella Wright’s tally put the Patriots up 10. Straub added consecutive goals while Hippert extended Carroll’s scoring streak to seven for a 15-2 lead. Verrill notched her second goal to make it a 15-3 at halftime.

After the Patriots’ Maggie O’Neill scored the first goal after the break, Audrey Beck struck twice to make it 16-5 before Carroll posted the game’s final four goals.

PIAA-2A Quarterfinals
(12-1) Archbishop Carroll 20, (1-4) Gwynedd Mercy 5
Gwynedd Mercy 3 2 – 5
Archbishpo Carroll 15 5 – 20
Gwynedd Mercy Goals: Audrey Beck 2; Ellie Verrill 2; Malley Connor.
Archbishop Carroll: Chloe Bleckley 4; Ava Bleckley 3; Machaela Henry 2; Brooke Hippert 2; Catie McConaghy 2; Greta Potten 2; Lainey Straub 2; Grace Kucia ; Maggie O’Neill; Ella Wright.
Saves: Jenny Keagy (GMA) 13; Bridget Robinson (AC) 10.