Tornetta scores sweet 18th as Agnes Irwin downs O’Hara

MARPLE >> Agnes Irwin junior Julianna Tornetta celebrated her “Sweet 16” Saturday.
At Cardinal O’Hara Monday night, the two-time All-Delco celebrated her “Sweet 18,” knocking in the first goal in the Owls’ 2-0 nonleague field hockey win over the Lions.
Tornetta has scored 18 times in helping Agnes Irwin to six consecutive victories.
Her goal in the first half Monday was assisted by junior Jax van der Veen, who added the game’s second goal in the 11th minute of the second half after being set up by Elizabeth Dallara.
Owls goalie Rosie Kalis turned away seven Cardinal O’Hara shots, while defender Morgan Smith made a defensive save at the goal line on a ball that got behind Kalis.
Tornetta, who is a candidate for the Team USA U21 squad that will compete in the Pan-Am Games in Trinidad & Tobago next spring, knows that big challenges await in October, when Agnes Irwin begins Inter-Ac League play.
“It’s great to be able to play a game like this against good competition,” Tornetta said. “We lost three forwards from last year’s team, but we’ve had some people step in and we even have a freshman (Lindsay Lane) playing for us on defense.”
Last fall, Tornetta and her sister, Sophia, who was the 2014 Daily Times Player of the Year, gave opposing defenses fits.
“It’s different playing without her,” Julianna said of Sophia, who is playing at Princeton. “We used to do our thing together.”
The two will be together on the field again in 2017.
“It was between Princeton and Duke,” Tornetta said. “I’m up in the Princeton area playing a lot, so I decided to go to school up there.”
Her classmate, van der Veen, will play in the Big East Conference for Georgetown University.
“I’ve been playing for (national club power) W.C. Eagles with Julianna and (O’Hara’s) Makayla Gallen,” van der Veen said. “(O’Hara) made this a good, intense game.
“We won, but we can use a game like this to see what we need to work on.”
Cardinal O’Hara head coach Marie Murphy knows what her team will be working on at practice before Wednesday’s Catholic League match against Lansdale Catholic.
“We played a very good team, but even with the advantage we had in (penalty) corners we just couldn’t finish,” Murphy said. “We’ll learn from this, and we’ll move on.”
In other nonleague action
Notre Dame 2, Merion Mercy 0 >> Early pressure paid off as Quinn Maguire converted a pass from Mary Kate Neff two minutes into the game. Sara Jane sealed the deal in the 16th minute with assists from Neff and Ava Leonhardt. Goalie Erin Boyle only had to make one save thanks to an outstanding effort by the defense.
Sacred Heart 5, Academy Park 0 >> Anna Terzian scored the first three goals of the game, all off assists from Brigid Gliwa. Colleen Visser made one save for the shutout.
Coatesville 5, Upper Darby 0 >> Tina Lugowski and Veronica Hudson combined for 10 saves in goal for the Royals. Robyn Oberhaltzer led the Raiders with two goals and one assist.
In the Central League:
Strath Haven 1, Lower Merion 0 >> Gillian Gunn made several crafty saves and six stops overall to post her fourth shutout of the season. Morgan Waters was strong on both ends of the field for the Panthers. Maddie Stabinski converted a pass from Ashley Hassell in the second half for the winner.
Harriton 3, Garnet Valley 0 >> Carly Adams and Emma Arronson scored a little over three minutes apart in the first half to pace the Rams. Sophie Grady finished the scoring in the second half.
Goalie Bridget Ellison made 17 saves for the host Jaguars.