By Chris Goldberg
Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 10/25/09
The rivalry between Inter-Ac League schools Germantown Academy and Penn Charter is considered one of the oldest and most intense around.
But the girls’ lacrosse teams at GA and PC learned t
his fall that rivals can also work together on the field.
Because of low numbers, GA and PC were unable to field full teams in the Coach Duck Fall Ball league held at Radnor and Harriton high schools. In order for the girls to play, it was decided that they should combine forces and play as one squad.
The results were fantastic. Heading into this Sunday’s final games, the PC/GA team team has lost only once.
The idea of combining teams was pitched by PC junior captain Blaine Steinberg.
“I wanted to find a team and I wanted to play in a fall league,” said Steinberg. “I thought I’d get PC a team, but we didn’t have enough people to form our own team.
“I was thinking we’d have to combine with another school. PC and GA have a huge rivalry, one of oldest in the country. But I thought it would be cool if we played with them, so I communicated with a friend of mine on the GA team, Kathryn Bolen.”
Steinberg said that about 13 PC girls played this fall and eight from GA.
“It’s one of those rivalries, that on game day, it’s huge,” Steinberg said. “But besides that, when we do fundraisers, PC contacts GA a lot.
“Penn Charter is a Quaker school and we are very open and like making friends. We meshed really well on the field. It’s been really interesting to see. We won our first game and we had never played together. It really has been working out well.”
To show their unity, Steinberg helped create a shirt for the players to wear: PC and GA Unite.
“I designed the shirts, but I asked a couple teammates and we all got it together,” she said. “On the front is a peace sign and lacrosse sticks in an X.
“On the back it says ‘PC and GA unite.’ The PC colors are navy blue and yellow and GA is red, white and blue. The shirts are blue, and the writing is orange, so there is a mixture of yellow and red.”
Steinberg said the girls meshed during the season and learned to play as one.
“Everything went really well,” said Steinberg, an All-Inter-Ac League Honorable Mention pick last year who played in the Under Armour Underclassmen Games. “We worked really well together and it was a lot of fun.
“Communication is the number one thing. Now we know some of the girls on GA and it will be fun to start off league play against them, Ii think in every great rivalry it’s more fun if you know the other girls on the team.It makes for friendly competition.”
