Owen J. Roberts resets, resumes title push with 16-3 win over Downingtown East in 3A first round
BUCKTOWN >> Some teams fall victim to an emotional letdown after winning a district championship.
The Owen J Roberts girls lacrosse team is not some teams.
The Wildcats chose to reset and resume heading into the PIAA Class 3A tournament.
The Wildcats were right back to their dominant best to open Wednesday’s meeting with Downingtown East, opening up a 4-0 lead after just 2:07 and never looking back in a 16-3 victory that sends Owen J. Roberts into the PIAA quarterfinals for the fourth consecutive season.
The District 1 champions, who beat Penncrest 14-7 in the final last Wednesday, advance to face another District 1 squad, Great Valley, on Saturday at a site and time to be determined. Great Valley defeated District 11 champion Easton in the first round on Tuesday. Downingtown East qualified for states for the second straight year, exiting in the first round to the District 1 winner on both occasions.
“I think we just kept our energy from the district championship to this game,” said senior defender Avery Wentzel. “I think we played really well together tonight and were high intensity.”
“Just because we won the district doesn’t mean anything in states. It’s a reset to us,” said OJR senior Kalli Mullen, who scored a goal. “We were focused purely on districts, now it’s time to just focus on states.”
OJR’s midfield megapowers Gabbi Koury and Alexa Vogelman were back at it Wednesday. Koury had a role in eight of the Wildcats’ 11 first-half goals and finished with four goals and five assists. Vogelman was in on seven first-half scores and finished with seven goals and two assists. Rounding out the OJR scoring was Colby Wasson (2), Mullen and Sierra Milano, who was serenaded by ‘Happy Birthday’ after her goal in the second half.
Senior goalie Korrigan Sweeney (Duquesne) starred defensively, saving seven of the 10 shots she faced.
Lexie Conte scored all three East goals while Eileen Hewitt and Sofia Fanelli had an assist each. Hewitt and Lexie Barton are the Cougars only graduating seniors.
Downingtown East had its own emotional high a game earlier when it dramatically edged Downingtown West 11-10 in the District 1 seventh-place game, capturing the final state tournament berth and sending the Whippets home.
The take-no-prisoners approach of the Wildcats and its nine-senior foundation, who also are teammates at the club level with NXT Black 2023 under OJR coach Dave Schlesinger, swarmed the Cougars before they could find stability in the game.
“Anytime you take a group of girls who have played together at the club level and have their club coach working with them (in high school), they’re seeing each other and are able to predict what’s going to happen,” said East head coach Kathryn Kropp. “They’re making those connections. They receive the passes and you know they’re going to finish it.”
It was 7-0 by the time Conte got the Cougars on the board with 6:12 until halftime and OJR expanded the lead to 11-2 at halftime on a Vogelman-to-Koury buzzer-beater with 1.2 seconds remaining.
Halftime: Owen J Roberts 11, Downingtown East 2, PIAA 3A girls lacrosse 🥍
Alexa Vogelman set up Gabbi Koury for this buzzer beater with 1.2 seconds left in half to put lead at 9 pic.twitter.com/hTpZXdx5bt
— Austin Hertzog (@AustinHertzog) June 7, 2023
Dowingtown East aren’t alone among teams that have been overwhelmed by OJR this year. And it has a lot to build on going forward.
“We’re extremely proud of the way our girls have played,” Kropp said. “Finishing seventh in District 1 with the strength of teams is a great achievement. Unfortunately it always puts you against the No. 1 seed, which makes it tough going into the state tournament.
“They have truly developed as all-around players and we’re excited about what the future holds. We lose two important seniors, but we have a lot of depth.”
The senior-centric Wildcats will soon face two of the biggest occasions of their lives: Friday is graduation day at Owen J Roberts. Saturday, the Wildcats meet a major test upon returning to the PIAA quarterfinals.
“I still can’t believe it’s happening. It’s not just graduation, it’s not just states, it’s everything altogether happening and it’s crazy,” said Wentzel, who is bound for Duquesne.
The first Saturday of June has been doomsday for the Wildcats the past three seasons (2019, 2021, 2022), each year seeing OJR exit in the quarterfinals. The scars of those experiences have made the team tougher.
“We trust each other a lot,” said Haverford College recruit Mullen. “I feel like because we’ve gone through those past seasons together, this year we have confidence we can do it together.”
The Wildcats, especially their seniors, have a lot of incentive to keep the season going until the final trophy lift at Penn State University on June 17.
“From the beginning of the year, our goal has been to win states,” said Sweeney. “We’ve been working really hard together and we’ve been showing it, keeping our energy throughout.”
Owen J. Roberts 16, Downingtown East 3
Downingtown East 2 1 – 3
Owen J. Roberts 11 5 – 16
