PIAA Class 3A Girls Lacrosse: Kate Stanton, upstart Penncrest again seek to put Owen J. Roberts’ run to an end
CONCORD — The sense around Penncrest lacrosse, as successive classes laden with talent bubbled through the system, was that eventually the Lions would be very good at the high school level.
How good – and how quickly – might have engendered a difference of opinion. But the youth driving the Lions’ historic season ensures that whatever happens Saturday in the PIAA Class 3A girls lacrosse final against Owen J. Roberts, it won’t be the last word for junior and sophomore classes absolutely stocked with talent.
“I feel like this was a really good season because I feel like the sophomore class and our class really work well together,” junior midfielder Kate Stanton said. “And the fact that we have another year with them is really valued.”
Whether or not they’re ahead of schedule, the Lions (21-4) are enjoying the ride. A program that has always been in the middle of the talented Central League pack is getting its moment in the spotlight, earning berths in the District 1 and PIAA finals, both against Owen J. In an oligarchical sport, one of the state final debutants will walk away from State College with their first PIAA crown.
Penncrest is the seventh Central League team to play for a state crown since the PIAA started sponsoring the sport in 2009. For perspective, Owen J. is just the 15th total team ( and the eighth non-Central League team) to participate in those 20 girls title games.
Penncrest has gotten there with an abundance of youth. Stanton, a Penn commit, leads the team with 96 goals and 125 points. She’s just a junior. So is Temple-bound Kathryn Harding, who has 90 points, top defender Mira Kuttymartin (Richmond) and 80-point scorer Adisyn Bernhardt.
The sophomore class is deep, too: Speedy draw specialist Kaitlyn Roth (97 points), attack orchestrator Lylah Pompetti (50 points), Cara Childs (39 goals), midfield dynamo Reese Bigler (24 goals) and defender Marissa Kamin. Their electric attack has scored 362 times this year, an average of 17.2 goals per game.
Stanton is careful to point out one key senior contributor in goalie Sara Knasiak, but the bulk of the Lions are far from the end of their high school careers.
The sense of timing is profound on the other side, too. There was a palpable feeling that it was finally Owen J. Roberts’ turn in districts. The Wildcats (24-1) had reached the District 1 final in 2016, losing to Radnor in the final year of one classification, and the Class 3A semifinals in 2017. Since then, despite constant top-four seeds, they were unable to get over the quarterfinal hump.
States was the same story, where the quarterfinal round proved impenetrable. They won games in five of the last six state tournaments before this season but could never get past the quarters. The results track tidily with the Wildcats’ progress – from being trounced by Radnor in the quarters in 2021 to losing a one-goal, three-overtime game to Garnet Valley in 2022 (a frequent nemesis that it throttled, 13-1, this season).
This year, a special group has put the pieces together. Owen J.’s only loss came on April 11, an 8-6 loss to Class 2A finalist Archbishop Carroll. They beat Conestoga, the reigning PIAA Class 3A champ, three times, including 7-4 in the district semifinal and 6-4 in the state semi.
They handled Penncrest, 14-7, in the District 1 final, the Lions hampered by playing down a player for the final 19 minutes and down two for the final five thanks to yellow card accumulation.
The final pits what may be the state’s two most athletic teams against each other. Penncrest has had a marked advantage over opponents in states in that particular department, with the speed of Stanton, Roth and company. Yet Owen J. seemed capable of running by Penncrest at will in the district final, led by Syracuse signee Alexa Vogelman and Florida-bound Gabrielle Koury.
An underdog on paper, Penncrest is nonetheless growing by the game. They are more experienced in one-goal games this year, with a 4-0 record. They’ve shown the ability to turn results around, going from a 16-7 loss to Central League champion Springfield in the regular season to a 10-5 win in the state semifinal.
The talent, people in the program have known for years, is there. But the experience of winning tight playoff games has strengthened them into something more.
“During one of the timeouts,” Stanton said, “(coach Caitlin Morgan) was like, ‘one of the teams is going to come out on top; which team is it going to be?’ I think that motivated us to realize that if they’re not going to step up, we should, and we valued possession more in the first half.”
