Swart on Cloud Nine as Carroll earns historic state semis berth

WEST GOSHEN >> Archbishop Carroll senior Sam Swart was understandably excited after scoring a career-high nine goals in the Patriots’ 15-5 win over Owen J. Roberts in the PIAA 3A state quarterfinal at West Chester East High School Saturday.

“The Ferris wheel just kept going today,” said Swart. “It was like we were one big circle (on offense) the whole game, passing the ball around.”

The final piece in nearly each disciplined scoring drive was Swart, who fired at the goal with unerring accuracy.

“Sam is the ultimate 1 v 1 girl,” Carroll coach Lorraine Beers said. “I’m going to love watching her play next year at Syracuse.

“We really played within ourselves today. Sometimes, we get too aggressive, and make bad passes and bad shots. But if our offense can be disciplined and read what the defense is doing, we can score.”

The victory puts Archbishop Carroll into the PIAA semifinal for the first time ever. The Patriots (23-1), whose only loss was to PAISAA tournament champion Agnes Irwin May 15, will face Garnet Valley Tuesday in the Class 3A semifinal. The Jaguars defeated Conestoga, 11-10, in double overtime, in the other quarterfinal at East.

Carroll defeated Garnet Valley, 18-12, April 29. But Beers said that’s yesterday’s news.

“Garnet Valley is a really good team, its goalie, defense, offense and coach,” said Beers. “They’re not going to let us beat them again by that margin. They’ve had a lot of film to study since then. It will be a tough matchup.

“For us, the semifinal will be fun. We’ve never gone this far before.”

Swart scored the game’s first goal just 1:22 into the contest, then a couple of minutes later junior Sydney D’Orsogna scooped up a loose ball and drove in for a score. Sixteen seconds later, Katie Detweiler made it 3-0.

Owen J. Roberts, the third-place finisher in District 1, called a timeout immediately after Detweiler’s goal, and nobody scored for the next 10 minutes. Carroll senior goalie Maddie Ferraioli made several standout saves during this span.

“Maddie had a lot of great saves today, and our defense played great,” Beers said.

Swart began to strike again, scoring twice in 14 seconds as the Patriots built a 5-0 lead.

“This is my senior year, and I wanted to end it on a good note,” said Swart. “I’ve been practicing shooting, and when my first shot today went in, I had a good feeling, like I was going to have a good game.”

When the Patriots went into their five-minute halftime with an 8-2 lead, they didn’t let up.

Swart, who had four first-half goals, said, “Coach Beers told us at halftime, ‘You’ve got an 8-2 lead, so what — they could still come back.’ We stayed focused in the second half.”

Swart opened the scoring in the second half, then D’Orsogna tallied her third goal of the game 51 seconds later to give the Patriots a 10-2 lead. Swart scored her sixth goal with 16:21 left (assisted by Grace Gallagher) to give Carroll an 11-3 lead, and Owen J. Roberts called another time out.

“Sam is a tremendous athlete, and we didn’t match up with her at all,” Owen J. Roberts coach Joe Tornetta said. “Lorraine does a great job coaching that team, but I’m disappointed that we went out like this. We’re a much better team than we showed today.

“It looked to me like we weren’t prepared to play, and that’s all on me. Our kids have battled all year, and they deserve to be in the mix, and it’s my job to see that we’re prepared. As tough as it is to say, in this case (this loss) is on the coach.”

Swart scored her seventh goal of the game with 14:30 left to give the Patriots a 13-3 lead, tallied her eighth goal four minutes later, and finished up with her ninth with 5:20 to go.