EAST WHITELAND >> If only the Great Valley girls lacrosse could have bottled the first and fourth quarters, they could have shaken up the Ches-Mont League. However, the Cougars scored five unanswered goals in the second quarter to open up a lead, then staved off a fourth quarter rally to come away with a 10-8 victory.
The victory kept the Cougars, ranked third in the District 1 rankings, unbeaten in the league at 6-0 and improved them to 8-1 overall.
“We always talk about the strength of our team is that on any given day it can be any one of our players,” said East coach Kathryn Kropp. “They’re very unselfish. We had a lot of assisted goals, so it’s always hard to defend assisted goals and when you get good looks in the middle, the girls usually finish.”
There were eight separate goal scorers for East as they received balanced scoring throughout a deep and talented lineup.
“We really don’t have one scorer,” said midfielder Riley Marks. “Pretty much our entire attack is a threat at all times, which is huge for us in every game and it is something we value a lot.”
The Patriots (1-4, 3-6) had the first opportunity after winning the opening draw, but a shot from Erica Ludin was stopped by goalie Addy Mulhern. The Cougars got on the board as a cutting Sofia Fanelli scored from a feed by Jayne Michaels, who recorded six assists on the afternoon.
Great Valley tied the score as Cameron Palmer scored from distance.
East retook the lead as Fanelli turned provider, setting up Marks. Back came Great Valley as Ludin took a feed from Abby Diamond and fired a bullet into the top right corner.
The Cougars made it 3-2 with 3:30 left on a tally from Ally Kennedy. Great Valley knotted the score for the third time as Palmer scored from 10 yards out.
The Patriots registered their first and only lead as they cashed in on a late man-up situation. Ludin tallied from in close with 1.5 left.
“We just got off to a little bit of a slow start,” added Kropp. “It took the girls a little while to get into it. Once they got started, they built confidence and it was kind of a game of runs.”
“I thought we had a great first quarter,” said Great Valley coach Kim Wenger. “We allowed very few second chances for their attack, which kept us alive.”
East took control in the second. After killing off the remaining of the yellow card, they tied the game for the final time on a goal from freshman Collyn Kropp. It took nearly eight minutes for the tie to be broken, Ally Flynn made an acrobatic catch of a pass and immediately fired in a shot past goalie Catie Borger for a 5-4 advantage with 2:28 left.
The Cougars scored three more times before the end of the half courtesy of Cameron Yard, Lexie Conte and Kennedy to give East an 8-5 advantage at halftime.
“Draw controls were another hurdle on top of the rest,” added Wenger. “They are a great cutting team and are very good at feeding wide open and slightly open cutters. We needed to tighter on cutters. All and all, given the draw stats, the defense played solid, Two minutes at the end of the second quarter, we gave up four goals, it’s hard to come back from that.”
Downingtown East scored twice in the third to take a 10-5 lead into the fourth.
The Patriots started to win draws and converting them. Ludin scored twice in the first two minutes to cut the deficit to 10-7. The Patriots cut the disadvantage to two after Palmer scored from distance with 9:44 to go.’
But, that would be the closest they got. Mulhern came up with a key save late, then the Cougars forced a turnover in the eight-meter with a minute left to salt away the victory.
“I think a fight back is good for us to have,” said Wenger. “We’re getting better. Today was a tough loss.”
Downingtown East 10, Great Valley 8
Downingtown East 3 5 2 0 — 10
Great Valley 4 0 1 3 — 8
Downingtown East goals: Marks 2, Kennedy 2, Conte, Fanelli, Yard, Flynn, K. Michaels, Kropp.
Great Valley goals: Palmer 3, Ludin 3, Shaughnessy 2.
Goalie saves: Mulhern (DE) 5; Borger (GV) 7.
