Conte gets 100th goal as Downingtown East staves off Unionville
EAST MARLBOROUGH >> Coming off a minislump, the Downingtown East girls lacrosse team was looking to keep its refound mojo going as they inch closer to the District 1 playoffs.
The Cougars broke open a close game in the second half and received a milestone evening from junior Lexie Conte to beat back a pesky Unionville team, 14-9, in Ches-Mont League action.
East (9-2 Ches-Mont National, 13-3-1 overall) won its second straight after losing two in a row. They are still in contention for the National Division title with Downingtown West. The Whippets hold the tie-breaker heading into the regular season finale on Thursday. The Cougars will host Oxford, while West will entertain Coatesville.
“It was a hard stretch. We lost three one-goal games,” said East coach Kathryn Kropp. “We spent a lot of time talking about mindset. We played a lot of strong teams and one or two adjustments can make the difference between a win or a loss.”
“I think we’re going really good now,” said Conte. “We’re excited to go into districts and keep going and we’ll see where it goes from there.”
The Longhorns (6-5, 6-10) won the opening draw and broke through first as Mary Kate Cawley scored after a pass from Maddie Baughan.
The Cougars took a couple of minutes to dial in their shooting radar. They opened the contest with three saves from Liv Koetz and they also hit a post and a crossbar.
“We always say post means the shot (has) pinpoint accuracy,” said Kropp.”Sometimes, that’s the way it goes.”
“I think Liv Koetz, our goalie, had a great game tonight, she was on, she was hot. I think the team rolled with her,” said Unionville coach Marie Pepper.
Conte got the Cougars on the board by scoring the 100th goal of her career with 18:28 left.
“I was really excited, my (club team) coach came to watch tonight, so I was really happy with that,” said Conte. “I’m happy I got to celebrate with my teammates and everybody around me. And, it was a night game and that’s always fun too.”
Kropp added her thought on Conte’s milestone.
“That’s the third (100th career goal scorer) of season,” she said. “That was great for her to achieve that today. We’re all excited for her and she still has a whole another year.”
The Cougars then pulled away by scoring five more goals to take a 6-1 lead. Two goals from Eileen Hewitt and single tallies from Cameron Yard and Ally Kennedy built the advantage.
Unionville then mounted a comeback by scoring three of the next four goals to trail, 7-4, at halftime. Delaney Harlan scored the first of her four goals on the evening.
The young Longhorns have had an up-and-down season, but they held tough with one of the better teams in the district.
“I think they came together as a team,” added Pepper. “They really worked together tonight.”
Unionville cut the deficit to 8-6 on a goal Siena Pitone with 18:28 left. Then, East took over. They recorded the next five goals as they built a 13-6 bulge. They held the Longhorns scoreless for almost 12 minutes before Cawley scored with nearly six minutes left to end the run.
“Our defensive unit has been solid all season,” added Kropp. “One-v-one and the communication in a team defense sense. We have tremendous confidence in our defense.”
Unionville scored twice late, but the Cougars walked out with the victory.
“I’m confident in our team to fight back and get the ball and even when something is wrong, we work to get it back right,” said Conte.
Downingtown East 14, Unionville 9
Downingtown East 7 7 — 14
Unionville 5 4 — 9
Downingtown East goals: Conte 3, Yard 2, Hewitt 2, Fanelli 2, J. Michaels 2, K. Michaels, Marks, Kennedy.
Unionville goals: Harlan 4, Cawley 2, Pitone, Baughan, Gutting.
Goalie saves: Mulhern (DE) 9; Koetz (U) 10.
