Wissahickon rallies to edge Upper Moreland, stay undefeated in SOL American

LOWER GWYNEDD >> Emma Greenberg admitted the Wissahickon girls lacrosse team was a little uncertain at the start of its matchup against Upper Moreland Monday.

“We went in there knowing it was going to be a tough game and I thought we were going to get a little bit antsy cause we knew that it was going to be a challenge,” Greenberg said. “Cause some of our games have been like a blowout or they’re like a challenge. So we came in here a little bit unknowingly of what might happen.”

In a matchup of the last two sides undefeated in SOL American Conference play, the visiting Golden Bears were quick to show Wissahickon what they were all about – ripping off three straight goals for a 3-1 lead at 17:10 in the first half.

And when the Trojans worked back to pull even at four, UM responded with consecutive goals into halftime up 6-4.

But Emma Baker powered Wissahickon’s rally after the break, scoring four goals then assisting on Alexa McCabe’s tally for a 9-8 lead with 9:52 remaining. Greenberg converted on an 8-meter shot at 5:38 to put the Trojans up two and a late save from goalkeeper Camille Hubbs allowed the Trojans to hold on and edge Upper Moreland for a 10-9 victory.

“I think that came down to our expectations and we definitely did not expect them to come that hard,” Baker said. “And once we saw that we turned up the energy and scored right back.”

Baker battled through a physical second half – the teams combining for eight yellow cards in the last 25 minutes, five by Upper Moreland – to finish with six goals and three assists. McCabe added three goals for the Trojans (10-2, 7-0 conference) who earned a fifth win in a row and control their own fate in their bid to repeat at SOL American champs.

“They were doing a backer so it was kind of shutting off my drives a little bit,” Baker said. “But I kind of saw that if I had the ball running down, I could just push it faster and then score a goal.”

Annalise Messina had three goals and a pair of assists while Isabelle Leiter scored twice for Upper Moreland (11-2, 7-1), which had its 10-game win streak snapped.

“We’re little Upper Moreland, right?” Golden Bears coach Kim Frantz said. “Nobody looks to us to beat teams like Wissahickon and we proved ourselves today for sure. And it was a very physical game from both sides of the field, it wasn’t one-sided I would say both sides of the field and I think that as we went forward through the game.

“And I think this is the first super-challenging game we’ve really had this season with this group and it’ll make us better for playoffs.”

A Molly Meakim goal off a Messina assist pulled Upper Moreland to 10-9 with 3:00 remaining. Wissahickon won the draw control and tried to run off the rest of the clock only for the Bears to force a turnover to get a late opportunity to tie but a UM shot was denied by a Hubbs stick save. The Trojans held onto the ball and secured their 18 straight win in SOL American play.

“We never gave up, we never settled,” Franz said. “There was a minute left and they were in stall-ball and we never said ‘OK, we’re done.’ We got the ball back and we just couldn’t place the shot. And that’s OK, it happens, that’s lacrosse right? You can’t make all the shots you take and we tried though.”

Hubbs finished with seven saves while Upper Moreland goalie Emma Hurley had 11 saves.

Both teams have conference games Wednesday. Wissahickon, which is 18^th in the District 1-3A rankings – 24 making the tournament field – visits Upper Dublin at 4:45 p.m. Upper Moreland, second in 1-2A, which has 16-team playoff, hosts Abington at 3:30 p.m.

“We still have three league games left and they still have big games left,” Frantz said. “And that was exactly what we talked about as soon as that game ended, ‘Listen, ‘kay you go home, you think about this, you learn from this and tomorrow we show up and we got right back to the grind.’  And that’s what we’re going to do.”

After the Trojans trailed 6-4 at halftime, Baker knotted things with back-to-back goals – striking on an eight-meter at 21:16 then slicing through the middle to find the back of the net at 20:51.

“I feel like we knew we had to flip the switch now,” Greenberg said. “And they’re going to just take their lead and try and get as much off of us so we just had to step up our energy and just play as hard as we could.”

Olivia Meakim found Jenna Piantieri for a goal and a 7-6 Bears edge at 19:14. Baker, however, tallied the next two, scoring first at 15:38 to pull Wissahickon level then bouncing in a shot off a drive at 14:19 to give the Trojans their first lead since 1-0.

“I just saw my opportunities to score and I pursued that,” Baker said.

A Messina goal at 13:40 had Upper Moreland back even before Baker set up Wissahickon’s go-ahead goal – finding McCabe counting down the middle for a goal at 9:52. Greenburg pushed the hosts’ advantage to 10-8 by scoring on an eight-meter with 5:38 left.

“It was center so I kind of just got the drive,” Greenberg said. “And the goalie was kind of struck there.”

McCabe opened the game’s scoring off a Baker assist at 24:41 but Leiter’s goal assisted by Heidi Wittick then a Messina strike made it 2-1 Upper Moreland at 20:55. Leiter’s second tally of the day at 17:10 put the Bears up two.

“We’re Upper Moreland so teams come in thinking they’re going to walk all over us and I think that’s how we’ve won a lot of our big games so far,” Frantz said. “We’ve jumped on them in the beginning and go on through. We come in with a very clear game plan with every team we play with. My kids go and watch a lot of teams and they put that extra effort in.”

A Baker goal on an eight-meter shot tied things at 4-4 at 6:59 but Reagan Cummins dashed down the middle to score at 5:47 to put UM up 5-4. Messina scored off a Cummins assist at 1:43 and the Golden Bears went into halftime leading by two.

Wissahickon 10, Upper Moreland 9
Upper Moreland 6 3 – 9
Wissahickon 4 6 – 10
Upper Moreland Goals-Assists: Annalise Messina 3-2; Isabelle Leiter 2-0; Reagan Cummins 1-1; Molly Meakim 1-0; Jenna Piantieri 1-0; Willow Taylor 1-0; Olivia Meakim 0-1; Heidi Wittick 0-1.
Wissahickon Goals-Assists: Emma Baker 6-3; Alexa McCabe 3-0; Emma Greenberg 1-0.
Saves: Emma Hurley (UM) 11; Camille Hubbs 7.