By Chris Goldberg
Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 5/24/10
Genni Hull scored four goals and Hannah Schmitt added three as Archbishop Carroll defeated Archbishop Wood, 13-6, today for its 10th straight Catholic League girls’ lacrosse championship at Bonner-Prendergast.
The top-seeded Patriots (14-5) have beaten Wood (13-6) six consecutive times in the title game. The win also gave Carroll the league’s lone berth (as the District 12 representative) in the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association tournament.
Carroll will open state play Tuesday against the fourth-place finisher from District 1, tentatively at Plymouth Whitemarsh at 5 p.m.
“We were returning a lot of girls from last year and we wanted to build on last year’s success,” said Hull, one of nine seniors. “It feels so good to win 10 in a row.
“We wanted to do it for coach (Lorraine Beers) and the seniors and we’re just so thrilled we could keep the tradition going.”
The Patriots broke open a 2-2 game with five goals in a span of two minutes late in the first half. Wood never got closer than three goals.
“When we played them in the regular season (11-10 Carroll win) we were up (big) in the first half and then we let them get back into it,” said Hull. “I think the key was keeping the momentum going in the second half.
“We have to give them credit and we know they’re a really good. We had to prepare well; we’re just happy to get it done.”
Margo Lesher and Aimee Gennaro each added two goals for Carroll while Sam Moore and Alyssa DiBona each scored once. Katie Boyle (first half) and Nora McGeever each made three saves while splitting the chores in the goal.
For the Vikings, Alyssa Andress scored twice while Cait McCartney, Nicole Hayes, Hayley Oczkowski and Courtney Davoli each scored once. Emily Hutson was solid in the cage with 11 saves.
Wood suffered a costly blow when standout junior McCartney left the game midway through the first half with a concussion after being hit by a stick.
“My girls played hard, but she (McCartney) is the catalyst,” said Wood coach Chris Aquilino. “We’re a good team, but she puts us over the top. .
“You can’t take anything away from Carroll – they’re a good team. But a player of Cait’s caliber is hard for us to lose.”
Aquilino said he is not discouraged even after six straight losses in the finals.
“We get better every year and we lost nine seniors last year,” he said. “It’s a credit to these kids. We don’t have 20 kids that play club ball; I have three. For my kids to play as well as they do it’s a credit to the coaches and the kids.
“Honestly, I felt we’d come out and beat them, but when Cait went down it was a little different. I felt bad for her, she didn’t want to come out. Hey, sooner or later, we’re going to beat them – and I’m not giving up until we do.”
Beers, who has been Carroll’s coach from the beginning, said her team was able to capitalize on its speed and prowess on the draws.
“You really have to move and we seem to move better, obviously, in transition than our setup offense,” she said. “We’ll take it the way we can get it. We have a lot of speed and people that can score and it’s nice when they all get on the same page.
“We have great seniors. We have nine seniors and everybody brings different things to the game.”
Beers admitted that there is great pressure to uphold the streak of winning not only championships but every league game. In this stretch, the Pats have not lost any league games; the count is well over 100 and no one can even recall the exact amount.
“It’s a lot of pressure,” she said. “It’s a lot of pressure on everybody – the kids and the coaching staff. Nobody wants to lose, but one of these days we’re going to lose. Chris has done a great job with that program and this is no shoo-in.”
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