Upper Dublin wins a wild one over rival Springfield Montco
SPRINGFIELD >> The Upper Dublin and Springfield Montco girls lacrosse teams bring out the best in each other, and on Wednesday night, for the second year in a row, they played another classic.
Breathing more life into its playoff hopes, Upper Dublin survived a tremendous comeback by Springfield and then put together a rally of its own to pull out a thrilling 12-11 victory over the Spartans in a Suburban One League American Division game.
Last year, it was Springfield Montco that edged Upper Dublin 12-11 on the Cardinals’ Senior Night. This year, it swung back the other way, as the Cardinals won 12-11 on Senior Night for the Spartans.
“I was chatting with (Upper Dublin coach) Dee Cross and we said, ‘okay, now we’re even,” said Spartans coach Marissa Conover with a smile. “It was tight the whole time. It was back and forth. It was a great game.”
Upper Dublin raised its overall record to 10-4 (8-3 SOL American) and is currently ranked 21st in District 1-3A (24 teams get in). The Spartans are now 11-6 (7-4 SOL American) and are seeded sixth in 2A (16 get in).
“We knew (Springfield) has some dynamic scorers, some really good offensive players, and our defense played their hearts out,” Cross said.
The Cardinals’ last regular-season game is Thursday, at home against Harriton. Springfield now gets ready for the playoffs.
Pulling ahead for the first time since leading 1-0 in the opening minutes, the Spartans surged in front, 11-10, on a goal by Fiona Rizzo with 6 minutes, 29 seconds left to play.
But Upper Dublin dug deep.
Aditi Foster raced in and weaved through traffic, firing in the game-tying shot before crashing to the turf. The intensity of the contest at its zenith, the teams had battled to an 11-all tie with five minutes to play.
It was another tremendous game by Foster, who scored a game-high five goals.
Upper Dublin was again able to gain possession, and with 3:35 left, Paige Dinkel came through big, scoring her fourth goal to put the Cardinals in front for good.
“It was exciting because we really wanted to win this one,” said Dinkel. “I just got the ground ball but my team got all the way down the field. At the end, we started picking it up, and got the ground balls and forced the turnovers.”
Upper Dublin made one more defensive stop and was able to hold possession and drain the clock.
Kelly Senior added a pair of goals and Tess Reardon scored once for the Cards. The defense hung in and adjustments led to more success on the draws – the Cardinals won the last two.
“Hats off to everyone. They were smart and at the end, we were able to hold the ball,” Cross said of her squad. “It’s a learning process, because it’s a young group. And to be in another game like this and come up against some veteran players – Springfield is young also, I’m just really proud of the girls. I’m proud of their effort. They did a really nice job.”
Emily Smith and Emma Yoder each scored three goals for the Spartans. Keeper Tess Talbot made 18 saves.
“She’s the quarterback of our team,” Conover said. “It was a fun game. I wish we had one more possession at the end but it was a fun game.”
Upper Dublin 12, Springfield Montco 11
Upper Dublin 7 5 – 12
Springfield 5 6 – 11
Upper Dublin goals-assists: Tess Reardon 1-1, Aditi Foster 5-3, Paige Dinkel 4-0, Kelly Senior 2-1.
Springfield goals-assists: Sam McDevitt 1-0, Fiona Rizzo 1-0, Emily Smith 3-0, Emma Yoder 3-1, Maddie McDevitt 1-2, Shannon Silvius 1-0, Stella Nelson 1-1.
