It takes two (days) as Abington tops Upper Dublin

UPPER DUBLIN >> It took two days, but Abington’s girls lacrosse team earned itself a pretty big win.

The Ghosts used a late surge on Friday afternoon to top host Upper Dublin 14-11, finishing a game that began under the lights Thursday night. Lightning and an increasing delay time forced a suspension of play on Thursday with 10 seconds left in the first half, meaning the teams had to pick it back up on Friday.

That was enough to have Abington coach Mary Liz Klepper a little apprehensive.

“I feel like I never left here,” Klepper said. “I honestly was really nervous going into it because we were on such a high last night, the girls played amazing. It was a solid first half and we don’t always have that, so I was nervous with the break.”

After the remaining 10 seconds of the first half burned off and gave the Ghosts a 7-5 lead at an extremely abbreviated halftime, it looked like Klepper’s fears were coming to fruition. Upper Dublin got hot to start the second half, with senior Lindsey Schreiber scoring three straight goals to put the Cardinals up 8-7 with 20:27 left.

Klepper called a timeout to get her team calmed down and back to what had worked so well the night before. Abington got the memo and responded, scoring the next two goals to regain a 9-8 advantage.

“They were all in their heads and I said we have to get out of our heads, win the next draw and we will win this game and that’s exactly what they did,” Klepper said. “Once they relaxed, they started winning the draw more and my biggest thing is, if you have the ball, you’ll win the game.”

When the Ghosts had the ball, they got a really solid performance out of Taheera Rodgers and Jamira Mashore behind the cage. The duo combined for two goals and three assists, but their impact went well beyond numbers by switching the point of attack and finding the right players in the right spots with their passing.

Mashore said it was a bit weird having to gear up for essentially a 25-minute game and a bit difficult to get back to the level they had played at on Thursday.

“We had to bring that energy again today and I think by the end of the game, we were able to do that,” Mashore said. “We started off really well yesterday and finished it that way today. The main thing was taking away their open cutters and we did that.”

Abington’s defense turned in a strong effort, holding Upper Dublin scoreless over the final 11:12 of play after Julia Reardon gave the Cardinals an 11-10 lead. Anna Joseph in particular had a solid game while marking UD’s Mack Moore, holding the Cardinals attacker to just a pair of assists.

Joseph also came up with one of the key plays of the game, forcing a turnover and collecting the ensuing ground ball with about 2:30 left to thwart Upper Dublin’s last real scoring chance.

Schreiber did all she could, providing five goals for the Cardinals. Jenn McCarry had two goals and two assists while Aly Breslin had a hat trick with all her goals coming in the Thursday portion of the contest.

Abington had a balanced offensive effort led by Natalie McNamara’s four goals and a hat trick from Kaley Ehnow. On top of her three goals, Ehnow had two assists and was a force on draw controls in the second half where the Ghosts seemed to come up with the ball every time they needed it.

“Most of our juniors, including myself, we’ve been playing together since fourth grade so it just comes natural,” Mashore said. “Everything was in our heads early in the season with new coaches but it’s not the coaches, it’s us players on the field. We had to adjust to that and we came together.”

Both teams are all but locks for the District I tournament next week. For the Ghosts, who started off the season in a bit of a rut as they adjusted not only to the new coaching staff but their heavy losses to graduation, the strong finish to the regular season has them confident going into the postseason.

Friday’s win ensured the Ghosts solo possession of second place in the SOL American. Their only conference loss came to champion Plymouth Whitemarsh in the season opener.

“Gaining that confidence I think was really big for this group,” Klepper said. “It was them finding their role on this team, gaining confidence and continuing that high-intensity and showing up mentally ready.”

ABINGTON 14, UPPER DUBLIN 11
UPPER DUBLIN 5 6 – 11
ABINGTON 7 7 – 14