Rama draws up a win for Upper Dublin against Wissahickon

LOWER GWYNEDD >> Jackie Rama drew up a win for her team on Wednesday.

The Upper Dublin junior was a huge factor in the Flying Cardinals’ win over neighborhood rival Wissahickon, but it wasn’t necessarily what she did on offense that was the difference. Instead, it was Rama’s work on the draw control that decided the day.

Rama won 15 draw controls by herself and UD never trailed as the Cardinals handed the Trojans their first SOL American loss in a 16-10 victory Wednesday evening.

“Usually, I try to put the draw to one of my teammates because it’s harder to win it one-on-one,” Rama said. “Today, it felt like it was easier for me to put it straight up and box the girl out and just grab the draw. It was working for me, they kept putting different people on me but it kept working so I just kept doing what I was doing.”

Rama has two really good supporting players on the draw in Becky Browndorf and Mack Moore, but once she figured out just winning the ball outright was the best move, her teammates told her to keep going until it stopped working. Fittingly, Rama also scored the first goal of the game, part of a four-goal day for the junior as UD zipped out to a 4-0 lead.

The Cardinals (8-4, 4-1 SOL American) stretched their lead out to 9-1 with 4:24 left in the first half and had won nine of the first 11 draw controls in the game. A turnover led to a Wiss (8-2, 4-1 SOL American) goal, then the Trojans won the next two draws and scored off each, getting within 9-4 at the half but they were still fighting an uphill battle.

“In a nutshell, they were much better on the draw than we were and their offense was much faster than our defense and that was the difference in the game,” Wissahickon coach Rob Intrieri said. “We don’t have that one draw girl who does the training. (UD) has a couple players who work on it with their club teams and they had a better draw girl than we did today.”

Sam Intrieri forced a turnover, one of four the senior had Wednesday, and ran most of the length of the field to start the second half with a goal. With their lead cut to four, the Cardinals responded, following Rama’s lead in the circle.

Mack Moore, who led Upper Dublin with six goals, scored off an eight-meter, Rama got a hat trick when she picked up a ground ball off a saved Moore shot and put it home and Julia Reardon got a nice finish to make it 12-5.

“To their credit, it’s a neighborhood rivalry and nobody’s going to just roll over at any point in time,” UD coach Dee Cross said of Wissahickon. “We knew it was a game of run and they would get their run so I was proud of the girls for playing tough and staying focused. We had a couple mental letdowns but we had some key checks, key goals and stay one step ahead but credit to Wissahickon for playing their hearts out too.”

Rama battled injuries last year and earlier this season, so having a performance like Wednesday was a big lift in confidence. Cross said the junior’s 15 draw controls could be a school single-game record and even the ones she didn’t get, Browndorf or Moore got most of the time. As a team, UD won 22 of 29 draws.

“Having her at the draw absolutely helped us,” Cross said. “You can’t score if you don’t have the ball and Jackie was focused today and Becky and Mack helped get possession.”

Wissahickon’s midfield played very hard, with Kelly Dickson, Lexi Hobson and Lauren Donofrio all either forcing turnovers or getting ground balls to try and spark a second run. Sophia Chiodo Ortiz led the Trojans with five goals but Upper Dublin goalie Riley Brady was very strong in net, making 11 saves to prevent Wiss from stringing multiple goals together.

It also helped that Rama kept getting the ball back for UD, playing a sort of keep-away even as her team was continuing to score goals.

“It usually depends on the matchup,” Rama said. “You have to read what’s happening, it usually takes the first few draws but then you get the hang of it and that’s when I decide if I want to place it behind me, go to the right or just play it up top.”

The Cardinals visit Plymouth Whitemarsh on Thursday in another SOL American clash while Wissahickon is off until the weekend when the Trojans will face Springside Chestnut Hill as part of the Katie Samson Lacrosse Festival at Radnor.

Upper Dublin assisted on nine of its 16 goals and five different players scored at least one goal for the Cardinals.

“We look for the open player, we’re not a selfish team,” Rama said. “We always want to get the assist and just everyone moving around today, it was working really well. It was just all-around, everyone played well today.”

UPPER DUBLIN 16, WISSAHICKON 10
UPPER DUBLIN 9 7 – 16
WISSAHICKON 4 6 – 10
Goals-Assists: UD – Mack Moore 6-2, Jackie Rama 4-0, Julia Reardon 4-1, Jenn McCarry 1-4, Allie Rock 1-0, Becky Browndorf 0-2; W – Sophia Chiodo Ortiz 5-0, Sam Intrieri 2-0, Emma Baker 1-0, Kelly Dickson 1-0, Brooke Berry 1-0, Lexi Hobson 0-1. Shots: UD – 25, W – 21. Saves: UD – Riley Brady 11, W – Madeline Murphy 9.