Downingtown West’s speed pays off at Kennett
Kennett Square >> With lightning speed, Downingtown West jumped out to a quick lead Thursday evening at Kennett, and stayed on top the rest of the way for a 15-11 girls’ lacrosse win.
Nine seconds into the game, Whippet junior midfielder Maddie Greco, a Penn State commit, scored to put the visitors ahead 1-0. In the first 10 minutes, D-West had a 4-1 lead and Greco had three of the Whippets’ goals. Greco led all scorers with four goals Thursday evening, as D-West improved to 13-2 (11-2 in the Ches-Mont League).
“We are very fast, particularly in the midfield, and we like to use our speed; it’s a key to our play,” said Downingtown West head coach Brittney Conzentino. “Maddie is scrappy, she’s everywhere. She’s a big part of our offense, with her speed, but her best attribute for our team is her transition, and her hustle everywhere. She played an awesome game tonight, probably the best I’ve seen her play this season. She set the bar high tonight, and now I’m going to expect it from her every game (laughs).”
Greco had scored four goals in Downingtown West’s 19-9 loss to Downingtown East Tuesday.
“Tonight, we were coming off that loss to Downingtown East, and our girls were anxious to get out here against Kennett, who have been doing well this season, and get back to where [we] were a few games ago,” said Conzentino.
Kennett (8-3 overall, 5-3 Ches-Mont), celebrating its Senior Night Thursday in front of the home crowd, bounced back from its 4-1 deficit with goals from junior Vivian Chiomento and sophomore Jordyn McMillan to cut the Whippets’ lead to 4-3 midway through the first half.
Downingtown West then went on a 4-1 run the remainder of the first half to take an 8-4 halftime lead. By halftime, D-West junior midfielder Lauren Tinson, like Greco a Penn State commit, had scored three goals and was adeptly handling the Whippets’ draw controls.
Kennett head coach Lisa Daugherty said, “Downingtown West is a very fast team, they have girls with speed who handle the ball very well, particularly Maddie Greco and Lauren Tinson. I thought our defensive unit did a very nice job trying to slow down some of [D-West’s] fast girls, and doubling on some of the isolations they were doing. We have a young group of girls on defense – a lot of sophomores and freshmen – trying to learn the dynamics of being a strong defensive unit. I’m trying to give our young goalies some experience and time against some fast, strong shooters, where they really have to try to track the ball, and Downingtown West provided our young defensive players with an opportunity to learn and improve.”
With 9.2 seconds left before halftime, D-West sophomore midfielder Lainey Straub scored to give the visitors their 8-4 lead. Straub scored two more goals in the second half – her third goal of the game gave the Whippets a 14-6 lead with 8:50 to play.
“Lainey is one of our young players, but she’s a tough, tough player,” said Conzentino. “We lost [senior midfielder] Bryn Rochon a couple of games ago to a torn ACL, she’s out for the season and our girls have been fighting through that, and Lainey has really stepped up and taken a leadership role tonight.”
The Whippets were able to build their lead in the second half thanks to some strong defensive play.
“[Senior defender] Caelen O’Connor runs our defense, and she did an awesome job today; she’s a big voice back there,” said Conzentino. “She takes a lot of hits, and bounces right back up again. Our goalie, Libby Strauss, had a phenomenal game today.”
When O’Connor scored to give the visitors a 15-8 lead with 6:54 to play, it completed the Whippets’ scoring for the evening.
For Kennett, Chiomento and sophomore Megan Ward each scored two goals Thursday evening, and contributed on the draw control.
“Vivian and Megan did a nice job with the center draw, trying to maintain possession,” said Daugherty. “Lauren Tinson’s really good on the draw control. I’ve know Lauren since she was born – her mother and I used to teach at Kennett High School, and her mom is one of the [D-West] coaches. It’s nice to see Lauren develop, she’s a fine player, and she always wanted to go to Penn State.”
In the final two minutes, Kennett got three goals from sophomore Makayla Kelly to make the score 15-11.
“I always tell our girls that their work ethic has to stay strong from the beginning of the game to the end, and our girls never gave up tonight, and continued to pour it on to the very last minute,” said Daugherty.
NOTES: For its Senior Night, Kennett honored four seniors – Julia Kosara, who will be attending University of Delaware; Isabella McLaughlin, who is headed to Pitt; Emma Schwarz, who will play field hockey for Villanova; and Ellie Matthews, who scored the Blue Demons’ first goal Thursday evening. Schwarz, who is a lacrosse team captain, underwent emergency appendectomy surgery Tuesday and was at Thursday’s game, though just as a spectator.
Daugherty noted, “We’re a young team – our offensive line currently has three sophomores and a senior, and our defensive line is two juniors, a freshman and a senior. So a lot of our girls who are currently on the field this year are essentially coming out of middle school this year to play high school lacrosse since our sophomores didn’t play as freshmen last spring [with the COVID pandemic].”
Downingtown West 15, Kennett 11
Downingtown West 8 7 – 15
Kennett 4 7 – 11
Downingtown West goals: Greco 4, Tinson 3, Straub 3, Mahmud 2, Morgan, Waller, O’Connor.
Kennett goals: Kelly 3, Ward 2, Chiomento 2, Rao, Wells, E. Matthews, McMillan.
Goalie saves: DW – Strauss 6; KE – McCracken 8, Moskey 1.
