O’Sullivan colllects hat trick, Lansdale Catholic cruises past Bishop McDevitt
LANSDALE >> After the Lansdale Catholic girls soccer team scored eight times against Bishop McDevitt in the opening 40 minutes Monday afternoon, Crusaders coach Tom O’Donnell had to figure out the right way to play the final half.
“(Assistant coach) Armando (Moral) and I are trying to decide what’s the better move here. If I go to goal it’s going to be 20 in no time,” O’Donnell said. “If we stay back, they can see what we’re doing and probably the last thing I want to do as a coach is teach my girls or instruct them to shoot and miss. I mean, that’s a tactic we’ve used on occasion, but I don’t want to do that for 40 minutes.”
Lansdale Catholic added one more goal to their tally, but for the most part were happy maintaining possession to see the contest out and pick up a 9-0 Philadelphia Catholic League win over the visiting Lancers.
“We were just trying to get touches on the ball, we have a big came coming up on Wednesday against Agnes (Irwin), so we were trying to get some things worked on,” junior Erin O’Sullivan said.
Coming off a 2-0 non-league loss to Gwynedd Mercy last Saturday — its first time being shutout this season — the Crusaders (4-2, 2-0 PCL) had no trouble rebounding against overmatched McDevitt. O’Sullivan had a hat trick, the 5-foot junior scoring back consecutive goals to make it 5-0 then collected her third for LC’s finally tally of the half.
“She’s so quick and so skillful and I can’t begrudge her, she had a hat trick and I’m thinking ‘Go ahead kid, you’re playing well, you’ve earning it,’” O’Donnell said. “It was a good day for her and I’m happy with that.”
Maggie Wunder scored twice, while Tara Sheridan, Kate Henesey and Jules LaSanta all netted goals in the first half. Rose Stella scored for the Crusaders after the break.
“Sometimes it is hard to play that, because you don’t want to play down to a team’s level. We pushed through and tried to play the best we could,” O’Sullivan said.
LC hosts Inter-Ac side Agnes Irwin 3:45 p.m. Wednesday. Bishop McDevitt (0-2, 0-2) stays in PCL play and visits Archbishop Wood 3:45 p.m. Thursday.
“They worked hard. We expected it to be tough because Lansdale’s a great team and we had one sub coming in,” Lancers coach AnnMarie Kolla said. “I didn’t expect three of them to get hurt, but you got to do what you go to do.”
Sheridan made it 1-0, driving in after a pass from Colbie Cummings and delivering a rising shot over McDevitt goalkeeper Kayla Superville.
GIRLS #SOCCER: @erosull scores off a nice pass from @kate_henesey to put @LCCrusaders up 4-0 on Bishop McDevitt. pic.twitter.com/ITJ76iQiAB
— Mike Cabrey (@mpcabrey) September 14, 2015
Wunder doubled the advantage, pouncing on a rebound off a long shot and chipped the ball into the left corner. Wunder netted her second to make it 3-0 by knocking in another rebound.
Henesey set up the fourth goal with some nice work in the 18-yard box, the sophomore getting by a defender then sending a pass across the front of goal to an open O’Sullivan, who sent in inside the near post.
GIRLS #SOCCER: @jules_lasanta knocks a rebound off the post into the net for @LCCrusaders' 7th goal vs. McDevitt. pic.twitter.com/eW8FzmKjOS
— Mike Cabrey (@mpcabrey) September 14, 2015
O’Sullivan’s second made it 6-0, getting an open looking in the middle of the box and delivering a right-footed shot into the left corner. Henesey knocked a try off the right post and in for the seventh.
“Henesey’s generating something like, I think her average is one-and-a-half goals per game through five, six games now,” O’Donnell said. “And she got one today and she could have had easily had a couple or more and I told her to back off.
“She’s provided a really element for our attack. We’re suddenly a force now to score and I thought Gwynedd Mercy saw that. They had their hands full with Kate and Penn Charter had their hands full with her.”
McDevitt came close to an own goal, but the ball deflect of the right post and right to a waiting LaSanta, who blasted it in.
The right post played a pair in LC’s eight goal, as the Lancers tried to clear a shot that came off the frame but instead gave the ball to O’Sullivan, who deposited it into the net for her third of the afternoon.
“I didn’t even know it’s a hat trick until someone came up to me and said ‘Oh, you got a hat trick,’” O’Sullivan said.
Top Photo: Lansdale Catholic’s Julia Friel takes the ball past Bishop McDevitt’s Megan Grady during their game at Lansdale Catholic on Monday, Sept. 14, 2015. (Bob Raines/Montgomery Media)
