GWYNEDD VALLEY >> Mount Saint Joseph Academy wasn’t sure what to expect this season. The Magic graduated 10 seniors and got a new head coach after winning the program’s first District 1-2A championship and reaching the PIAA-2A state semifinals in 2023.
The early returns weren’t great. The Mount lost its first four games of the 2024 season by a combined score of 63-36.
The turnaround started on March 26, when the Magic beat Athletic Association of Catholic Academies rival Gwynedd Mercy Academy, 15-10. They haven’t slowed down since, completing the season sweep over the Monarchs, 17-5, Thursday for their seventh straight win.
“It took us a while because we lost a bunch of good seniors,” MSJ’s Amelia Clair said, “Our goalie (2023 grad Annie Shields), going to USC (Southern California), she helped us a lot. Losing all those girls and trying to find the connection that we were missing, it took us just a couple games to get there. Each game we did battle and work hard, but we finally came together as a team and I think that’s what really helped us.”
“After our fourth loss,” Katie Westmoreland added, “we were like, ‘OK this can’t happen again.’ We know we know we can do better than this based off of last year. We just really came together. We were all really angry because we knew we could do better.”
During the seven-game winning streak, the Mount’s outscored its opponents by a combined score of 109-45.
“I feel like that’s what we struggled with – our attack,” Clair said. “Our defense has always been pretty good the whole season, continuing from last year as well, but this year our attack was just struggling at the beginning. I think that’s what we brought together the most, just working on new plays and setting up new motions and trying to work off of those. I think that’s what we got a lot better at from the beginning of the season.”
The offense was on full display in their most recent win over Gwynedd Mercy. The Magic broke a 2-2 tie with five goals to end the first quarter and two quick ones to start the second for a 7-0 run in seven minutes of gametime.
Clark led the Magic offense with six goals while Westmoreland and Maggie Rezza each added four. Clark and Rezza, two seniors, surpassed the 100-goal milestone earlier this season while Westmoreland, a junior, reached triple digits with her third goal Tuesday.
“I think our offense has a lot of depth,” Westmoreland said. “Just because we have 100 goals and we are upperclassmen, the younger girls also really have a lot of strength and skills. Overall, I think we’ve connected as an offense. There are a lot of strong shooters on the team.”
“No one wants to be a ballhog,” Clair added. “We all helped each other get to where we are. They helped me get my 100 goals, we helped Katie, we helped Maggie. We all just help each other get to where we want to be as an offense.”
Madeline Maszczak, Gabrielle Clair and Taylor Delli Carpini each added one goal in the win.
In net, goalie Sophia Settelen made 12 saves.
At 7-4, the Magic are the No. 6 seed in the District 1-2A rankings with less than three weeks left in the regular season. Last year, they entered districts as the seventh seed at 12-6 before running the table.
“We have different goals this year,” Westmoreland said. “I think this year we’re playing it game by game and just looking to the next game trying to get the win. Different expectations this year, but they’re still good expectations.”
