Mount Saint Joseph Academy answers York Catholic’s late rallies to advance in PIAA-2A playoffs

FLOURTOWN >> Mount Saint Joseph Academy built a couple comfortable second-half leads in its PIAA-2A state playoff opener against York Catholic and both times the visiting Irish got back into the game.

A five-goal advantage with 19:21 remaining was trimmed to three with 14:41 to play and a six-goal lead with 11:41 left was cut to three with 8:51 on the clock.

Both times the Magic responded with defensive stops to keep the margin at three and both times they quickly scored at the other end to get the lead back to four before securing a 15-11 win at S. Kathleen Brabson Field on the campus of Mount Saint Joseph Academy.

(1-1) Mount Saint Joseph Academy advances to the state quarterfinals Saturday and will face (3-2) Hershey, a 9-7 winner over (4-1) Danville.

The Magic (17-6) closed the first half with two goals and alternated goals to start the second to build a 10-5 lead with 19:21 to go. The Irish (16-4) responded with back-to-back goals, their first consecutive goals of the game, to get within 10-7 with 14:41 left. York Catholic won the ensuing draw with a chance to maintain momentum and trim their deficit to two, but the Mount got a defensive stop and scored three straight goals.

Amelia Clair, Devin Loome and Ava Rossi scored three goals in 1:21 to extend the lead back to six, 13-7. Rossi’s tally, her second of the game, was an impressive one in which she intercepted a pass on the offensive end and went straight to goal.

York Catholic didn’t go away. The visitors answered with three goals of their own in a 1:48 stretch. The third goal made it 13-10 with 8:51 left and the Mount called timeout.

The Irish won the ensuing draw and possessed the ball for more than three minutes. They put two shots on goal – both turned away by Mount goalie Annie Shields – and a few other shots that missed the net but they were able to keep possession. Shields’ second save gave Mount the ball back.

“We went back to the way we started our defense,” Mount coach Becky Cartee-Haring said. “We came out of that for a good part of it because it’s a lot of work, it’s high-pressure because we’re missing two of our freshmen right now who aren’t here who usually help out a lot with that. They worked together and they talked as a team. It’s hard to penetrate that, they’re good at collapsing.”

“We started to drop back and we needed to pick up our talking,” Mount senior Kate Donovan added. “Once we started to do that I think we were able to stop their 1-v-1s and get a few key turnovers that we turned into goals. That was very beneficial.”

Forty-one seconds later, Kiersten Pumilia had one of her many highlight-reel passes to set up Donovan for a goal and 14-10 lead with 4:59 to go.

Donovan, Maggie Rezza and Katie Westmoreland each scored three goals. Rossi added two while Sophie Peters, Morgan Smith, Clair and Loome each had one.

“It’s such an important part of our team,” Donovan said of eight different players finding the back of the net. “No game is one or two person’s game. Every single game we have at least five scorers. It’s a different person’s game every time and I think it’s really important, it shows how much of a team we are and how well-rounded we are. Anyone on our attack can score.”

Shields made seven saves in net.

York Catholic’s Katie Bullen scored a game-high seven goals and Jess Daugherty added two. Leah Gaito and Sarah Perry each scored once. Goalie Amanda Reed stopped eight shots.

Mount Saint Joseph Academy 15, York Catholic 11

York Catholic 4 7 – 11

Mount Saint Joseph Academy 9 6 – 15

Goals: YC: Leah Gaito, Katie Bullen 7, Sarah Perry, Jess Daugherty 2. MSJA: Maggie Rezza 3, Katie Westmoreland 3, Kate Donovan 3, Ava Rossi 2, Sophie Peters, Morgan Smith, Amelia Clair, Devin Loome.

Savs: YC: Amanda Reed 8. MSJA: Annie Shields 7.