Donovan’s 4 goals help Mount St. Joseph hold off Gwynedd Mercy in District 1-2A 3rd place game

SPRINGFIELD >> After the Mount Saint Joseph girls lacrosse team edged ahead of visiting Gwynedd Mercy in the first half, Campbell Donovan kept the Magic’s offense rolling.

The senior scored three straight goals in a span of 3 minutes, 49 seconds then capped a 6-0 run by assisting on Lauren Maher’s tally that gave the Mount a 7-2 lead with 2:35 left before halftime.

“She is an unselfish player and she’s got an amazing shot which you saw and she doesn’t always take it,” said Magic coach Becky Cartee-Haring of Donovan. “And I have to kind of push her a little bit, like ‘When that clears out you go, shoot that ball.’ And she had the three there, not only scoring-wise I think it helps the momentum with the rest of the girls out there.”

The Monarchs cut the deficit to four at the break but fifth-seeded Mount regained the five-goal cushion less than two minutes into second half and held off No. 11 GMA from there for a 12-8 win in the District 1-2A third place game Thursday afternoon.

“We have more to improve on from the second half then we did the first,” Donovan said. “And we definitely had moments of greatness but we’re definitely going to build from this game and what we can improve on especially within our transition, going towards attack and back on defense.”

After her natural hat trick in the opening half, Donovan struck on an eight-meter shot with 15:14 left in the contest to finish with a team-high four goals as Mount St. Joseph (15-6) bested their AACA rival for the third time this season.

“We definitely come in with expectations for the game since it’s our third time playing them and since we know the school pretty well,” said Donovan, who is heading to USC and may play lacrosse at the club level. “But I think we learned to come in kind of with a fresh state of mind and look at them as a new team rather than a reoccurring opponent.”

Maggie Rezza had two goals and three assists, Kate Donovan had two goals while goalkeeper Annie Shields made 11 saves for the Magic, who qualified for the PIAA tournament for the second straight season and as District 1’s third seed face District 2 champ Crestwood in the first round Tuesday.

“The chemistry of the girls was there, sort of a coach’s dream to walk into a scenario like that,” said Cartee-Haring in her first season at Mount. “They really, really care about each other and from the get go they made it clear this is our goal and that’s what we were set on the whole time and it wasn’t an option, it was this is what will happen.”

Izzy Fiore paced Gwynedd Mercy (9-13) with four goals with Audrey Beck and Sam McConnell each scoring twice. Goalie Paige Collins made nine saves for the Monarchs, who earned their first PIAA appearance since 2018 and take on defending champ Archbishop Carroll in their state opener.

“I think the second half we played a lot better,” GMA coach Deb Lawlor said. “I have to give a shout-out right away to Paige Collins in goal, she did great, super-impressive. They did a great job on their rides coming out, they pinched us back there – we kind of threw a couple away that set us back on our heels for the first half.”

Campbell Donovan’s fourth tally gave Mount at 10-5 lead with 15:14 but McConnell converted on an eight-meter at 10:25 with Beck finding the back of the net at 9:01 to pull the Monarchs to within 10-7.

“We figured out that we could not drive on [them], they crashed,” Lawlor said. “We definitely then tried to get the ball around, a little motion and look for a cutter inside. And we did that or through that motion and the cutters coming through it allowed, as you could see we had a couple of crease rolls there that we took advantage of.”

Rezza, however, responded for Mount with a goal at 7:42 while Kate Westmoreland scored on an eight-meter shot, pushing the Magic’s advantage to 12-7 with 3:05 to go.

A Fiore tally at 2:02 got the Monarchs within 12-8 for but Shields’ save on an eight meter in the final minute preserved the four-goal margin.

“It was not their best all-around [game] but I think that the thing they fall back on are each other and different people picking things up,” Cartee-Haring said. “And we have a lot of different people who can carry the team in different ways. So I think that today was Campbell’s today. I think Annie had an amazing game and I think on defense Sarah Hughes was big for us, couple of caused turnovers and ground balls. She was all over.

“In the beginning, Kate Donovan had the two early goals which I think we really had to fight for but yeah I think that spark helped us get through ‘til the end cause we had a couple bad turnovers there.”

Consecutive goals from McConnell and Fiore gave Gwynedd Mercy its only lead at 2-1 at 17:12 in the first half.

Amelia Clair tied the game at 14:57 while Kate Donovan put the Magic up 3-2 off an assist from Rezza at 13:50. Campbell Donovan extended the run to four with two goals in 48 seconds for a 5-2 Mount lead at 7:11.

“I think we started off a little bit slower than we normally do,” Campbell Donovan said. “But we were able to find our good moments of the way we know how to play lacrosse.”

Campbell Donovan tallied her third off a Rezza assist at 4:10 then connected with Maher for the Magic’s sixth straight goal at 2:35.

“I think definitely working with my teammates and trusting my teammates,” Campbell Donovan said. “And when they have trust in me, it gets the team going and definitely brings up our motivation, especially when we score numerous goals in a row it really gets us going and gets our speed going throughout the game.”

McDonnell found Beck in front for a goal to pull GMA to within 7-3 with 51 seconds left in the first half. The Monarchs got an eight-meter shot with two seconds left but it was denied by Shields.

Rezza scored at 23:13 in the second half for an 8-3 Mount advantage. Gwynedd Mercy could only get within four until goals from McDonnell then Ben made it 10-7 at 9:01.

District 1-2A Third Place Game

(5) Mount St. Joseph 12, (11) Gwynedd Mercy 8

Gwynedd Mercy 3 5 – 8

Mount St. Joseph 7 5 – 12

Gwynedd Mercy Goals: Izzy Fiore 4; Audrey Beck 2; Sam McConnell 2.

Mount St. Joseph Goals: Campbell Donovan 4; Kate Donovan 2; Maggie Rezza 2; Amelia Clair 1;  Lauren Maher 1; Kiersten Pumilia 1; Kate Westmoreland 1.

Saves: Annie Shields (MSJ) 11; Paige Collins (GMA) 9.