ROYERSFORD >> On the heels of a historic season that is an impossible act to follow, Morgan Karas and her Owen J. Roberts lacrosse teammates have tried to keep things as simple as possible.
The 2023 Wildcats season was, in a word, magical. Unprecedented, even. Led by three-time All-Americans Gabbi Koury and Alexa Vogelman — not to mention six other Division I-bound seniors — OJR ran roughshod through just about every team in its path en route to a 27-1 record and Pioneer Athletic Conference, District 1-3A and PIAA 3A championships.
Then, those seniors did what seniors do — they graduated, leaving Karas and the remaining Wildcat holdovers to soldier on with even more eyeballs and expectations on the program. And to hear Karas tell it, the returning players were simply waiting their turn to show everybody all they’ve learned from those departed seniors the moment their number was called.
So, while the team on the field looked a bit different in a PAC Liberty game at Spring-Ford on Monday night, the result remained the same: an OJR victory, 10-7 over the Rams to stay unbeaten in league play.
“Last year’s team honestly taught us so much,” Karas said after scoring three goals and dishing out an assist. “They showed us how to work as a team, how to work together no matter what. Those girls taught us so much to get to where we are today. It’s really all because of them that we put in so much work throughout the fall and preseason.”
The easiest way to move forward from doing something special is to freely acknowledge that you won’t recapture that same kind of feeling. At the same time, different isn’t necessarily worse, either, so this OJR (6-3 overall, 5-0 PAC, 4-0 PAC Liberty) team is simply staying level-headed through the wins and losses, of which there have already been two more than all of last season.
The Wildcats won’t look too far ahead trying to replicate last year’s path, just like they will not live forever in the past.
“It’s day-by-day, week-by-week,” Karas said. “Every day at practice we get better and try to improve for the next game. After the games we’ve lost, the next day we’re working 100 times harder than the practice before it. We don’t look too far into the future. We’re just living in the present.”
Spring-Ford opened the scoring on a goal by Riley Czapor (three goals, assist) less than three minutes into the game, but Karas answered just over two minutes later with her first tally. Sierra Milano scored 32 seconds later off a feed from Karas, followed by another from Milano and scores from Keira Clemson and Hannah Connor.
If last year’s team was armed with a 5-1 lead early in the second quarter, they likely would have coasted. But the Rams fought back, getting another from Czapor with 9:44 left to cut it to 5-2, and after a Natalie Chin goal for OJR, Spring-Ford got the final two goals of the period from Megan Ruckman and Hailey Mozi to pull within 6-4 at halftime.
A low-scoring third period yielded just one goal from each team before Karas scored the first goal of the fourth quarter with 7:09 remaining to put her team up 8-5. DiBattista scored again to make it 8-6, followed by goals from OJR’s Emery Horn and Czapor 18 seconds apart.
With a two-goal lead with under four minutes to play and the clock their friend, OJR exhibited excellent ball control and precision passing to play keep away nearly the entire time before Karas iced it with her hat trick tally with 6.9 seconds to play off a pass from Ashly White.
“Morgan has been really patient throughout her career,” said first-year head coach Joe Youngblood, an assistant on last year’s squad. “It took her some time to get to this point, but she had three goals and an assist tonight and four goals and two assists on Friday (at Perk Valley). Right now she’s playing some of the best lacrosse I’ve seen her play.”
OJR’s 10 goals were scored by seven different players, and that balanced attack kept Spring-Ford on its heels not knowing where the next one was coming from. Youngblood praised the play of his defenders — White, Sophia Franklin, Marley Danielsson, Lari Schell and Erin Bolger — and goalie Korrigan Sweeney (five saves) for keeping things on track when the offense went quiet in the second and third quarters.
“The defense absolutely stood up when we needed them,” Karas said.
“Our defense has been the strength of the team early on,” Youngblood added. “It’s kept us in a lot of games. Now the offense is starting to catch up. The transition has taken them a little bit longer to get going, and now that they are, we’re playing a more consistent brand of lacrosse on both ends of the field.”
Coming in with nearly identical records, this was a significant game for both teams. Spring-Ford (6-4, 4-1, 3-1) had won five straight and was on the hunt for a significant upset, while the Wildcats wished to seize control of the division against perhaps their biggest threat.
It wasn’t perfect for either side, but both walked off the field optimistic about where they are headed.
“I thought we played very well,” Rams head coach Kelly Macnamera said. “Once the jitters got out and we settled in, we closed the gap from (being down) 1-5 and played how we have been this season. I am very proud of the heart and hustle that was on display tonight and can’t wait to see what the rest of this season brings.”
For Owen J. Roberts, the win didn’t tell the team anything about themselves they didn’t already know. Last season was beyond special, and now it’s over; and while this version of the Wildcats are still forging their identity, they looked the same where it counted: on the scoreboard.
“It definitely boosts our confidence,” Karas said. “We all really love working and playing together.”
Owen J. Roberts 10, Spring-Ford 7
Owen J. Roberts 4 2 1 2 – 10
Spring-Ford 1 3 1 3 – 7
Owen J. Roberts:
Morgan Karas: 3 goals, 1 assist, 2 groundballs, 1 caused turnover
Sierra Milano: 2 goals
Laina Grimm: 1 goal, 1 assist, 1 groundball, 2 draw controls
Keira Clemson: 1 goal
Hannah Connor: 1 goal, 1 groundball
Emery Horn: 1 goal,
Natalie Chin: 1 goal, 3 groundballs, 3 draw controls
Korrigan Sweeney: 5 saves
Spring-Ford:
Riley Czapor: 3 goals, 1 caused turnover
Gianna DiBattista: 2 goals, 5 draw controls
Hailey Mozi: 1 goal, 1 caused turnover, 2 draw controls
Megan Ruckman: 1 goal, 1 assist, 1 caused turnover, 2 draw controls
Ilyana Jones: 13 saves
