Archbishop Carroll downs short-handed Pottsgrove in PIAA Class 2A first round

PHILADELPHIA >> Pottsgrove played younger than it had all season.

Archbishop Carroll played much bigger, taking advantage of the Falcons’ personnel situation.

Those story lines spelled out the way the teams played Tuesday, when they started out in the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA) Class AA playoffs at Northeast High School.

The considerably-more veteran Patriots made Pottsgrove’s first state-level exposure a less than pleasant one, rolling up a 19-4 victory at Charles Martin Memorial Stadium.

With their five seniors away on a class trip to Walt Disney World this week, the Falcons’ state trip was left in the hands of a corps of underclassmen. Though it played gamely, Pottsgrove fell off Carroll’s pace early and never recovered.

“It’s hard,” head coach Kirstin Urie said. “We miss the five seniors who are on their class trip. We had to go with five others.”

Carroll (17-4), whose recent history is marked by a state championship in Class AAA in 2017, set a blistering tone in the first half. The Pats rang up eight goals before Pottsgrove (16-8) was able to get in the scorebook, coming out of the first half with an 11-1 advantage.

The District 12-AA champs maintained the torrid scoring pace in the second half, even with the coaching staff substituting freely. They had a total of nine players get goals, five of them scoring multiple times.

“I feel bad for them,” Carroll head coach Lorraine Beers said. “It’s tough to lose like that. You can’t play the game if your seniors aren’t there.”

Amber Germer gave Carroll a game-high four goals, all in the early going. Kellie Ann Matey chipped in with a hat trick — the Carroll junior scored the game’s opening goal — and Kiley Mottice netted another two to help the Pats to their early advantage.

Coming off the bench to score for Carroll were Nicole Pawelec with a hat trick, and Grace Ewing and Fabiana Narda with two apiece. Narda was also credited with a pair of assists.

“We put everybody in who doesn’t normally get a chance to play,” Beers said. “We played all but three.”

Katie Bean got Pottsgrove’s offense on track with a straight-on goal late in the first half. The Falcons’ other tallies came in the second, marked by Sydney Tornetta converting a free-position attempt and Wasdick getting her goal inside the game’s five-minute mark.

At the defensive end, the Falcons got a boost from the play of Sierra Potts, Summer Walker and Jaelyn Kennedy, who were called on to fill some of the void left by the absent seniors.

“Down on the defensive end, they did a really great job,” Urie said. “They showed potential for next season. These are stepping stones to be competitive and get better.”

Carroll, by contrast, numbers approximately 13 seniors and 10 freshman by Beers’ estimation.

“And we have a couple juniors and sophomores in between,” she said. “In District 12, we tend to be the one or two seed.”

The next step for the Patriots will be to take on Kennard-Dale first-rounder in the AA quarterfinals. The District 3 two seed defeated Bishop Shanahan, 12-11, on Tuesday. For Pottsgrove, there’s time to reflect on a monumental season for the program: Finishing atop the Pioneer Athletic Conference’s Frontier Division, finishing fourth in District 1 — that despite a six seed — and making an inaugural trip to states.

“This is the first time we’ve ever been this far,” Urie said. “The girls fought until the end. They worked hard and showed why they deserve to be here.”

NOTES >> Simon, who played what Urie called “the best game, the best part of field,” had eight draw controls, one caused turnover and two ground-ball pickups. Wasdick added three draw controls, two ground balls and two caused turnovers, … The remainder of Carroll’s scoring came from Alex Cabahug-Almonte, Madison Henry and Karli Dougherty.