PIAA Class 2A Girls Lacrosse: Ava Bleckley gets Carroll rolling past Twin Valley to third straight state title

STATE COLLEGE — To Archbishop Carroll’s Chloe Bleckley, this year’s PIAA Class 2A championship game sounded similar to last year’s, at least as far as her sister was concerned.

On the field, though, having Ava Bleckley dominate both ends of play was much different than her being confined to the bench in an advisory role last year. The support was the same, but the scoreboard tallies were awe-inspiringly different.

Ava Bleckley scored five times, orchestrating a 17-5 drubbing of Twin Valley at Penn State’s Panzer Stadium for the Patriots’ third consecutive PIAA girls lacrosse title.

Ava Bleckley didn’t play in states a season ago, sitting out due to the PIAA transfer rule after transferring from Notre Dame. She was ever-present on the sideline, channeling her energy into cheerleading and advice-giving. It made for nervous viewing in the final, a 10-8 win over a game Twin Valley team at West Chester East last year.

“It’s the same, except she wasn’t playing,” Chloe said of her sister. “If I did a good thing, then I’d hear it from her on the sideline. If I messed up, she’d help me and tell me what to do right or what to do differently. We always had each other’s backs, even though she was on the sidelines last year.”

Saturday, though, Ava’s fingerprints were on everything for Carroll (23-1) in a steamrolling of the District 3 champion. She scored the first two goals, staking the Patriots to a lead they would never appear close to relinquishing. At the half, she led Twin Valley, 4-2, the capper an absolute howitzer from 10 yards out off a feed from her sister to make it 9-2.

“That set the tone,” Ava said. “Once we start going and start the wheel and the wheel starts turning, it doesn’t stop for us.”

Where last year’s final contained drama, a younger Twin Valley (21-7) had no answers this time around. Chloe Bleckley had two goals in the first half, finishing with a hat trick and two assists. Ava Bleckley and Machaela Henry had four draw controls apiece. Henry added a goal and two vital caused turnovers in the first half.

Carroll did what it wanted on offense, holding for long possessions to tire out the Raiders’ legs and control tempo. The nine goals at half, compared to last year’s 10 total, illustrated the attacking flow.

“We would rather control possession than rush possessions and have it lead to turnovers,” Ava Bleckley said. “I think that was very important for us. We did a really great job with that, especially our attack. We got some goals and won the game.”

That area of the field was a chance for potential adversity, if one could be found for a team that outscored its four states opponents by a combined 74-17. The Patriots had to adjust at the end of the regular season with Sam Hewitt ruled out of states, like Ava Bleckley had been last year by the transfer rule.

In her absence, others rose to the occasion. No one was bigger than Lainey Straub, a Downingtown West transfer. Straub had four goals in the semifinal, then three goals and two assists Saturday. That included a pinpoint dish to Ava Bleckley, galloping in stride in the first half to bury a shot in a beautiful sequence.

Claire Sexton, Hewitt’s direct replacement, scored in each half, and Cate McConaghy and Brooke Hippert added late goals.

“Sam was a huge asset to us, so it was definitely a hard change, but Claire really has stepped up,” Straub said. “As a sophomore, it’s crazy how much she has stepped up and kind of taken over. We’re really tight, so it kind of was an easy transition because we’re so close.”

From there, Carroll just suffocated the life out of the game. Hadley Munn scored twice in the first half and had a game-high seven draw controls for Twin Valley. Anna Givens added a goal and two assists. Paige Borkowski had six of her eight saves after halftime to keep it from getting too lopsided.

But Straub converted an eight-meter shot 17 seconds into the second half to prove the break did nothing to dampen Carroll’s momentum. Carroll outshot Twin Valley, 29-9, Bridget Robinson required to make only two saves. And by the time Sexton’s second goal made it 14-4 with 11:48 to play and trigger the running clock, Carroll already had two hands around its fourth state title.

“It’s not that different,” Chloe Bleckley said, in comparing this triumph to last year’s. “We always do the same thing every year and keep playing and keep winning games and try to make new history.”