By Chris Goldberg
Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 6/4/11

Sara McBride scored with 2:01 left in the second overtime to lift Great Valley to an 11-10 victory over Springfield-Delco today in the quarterfinals of the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association girls’ lacrosse tournament.

The victory vaulted the Patriots (21-3) into the semifinals Tuesday against Ches-Mont League rival Downingtown East, which blasted Cocalico, 19-4. The game will be played at a site and time to be determined.

Great Valley had lost to Springfield-Delco (21-4) last week, 15-9, in the District 1 consolation game. But this time, the Pats jumped to an early 5-0 lead and then rallied after Springfield-Delco had taken a 9-8 lead late in the game.

McBride has now won two straight games with overtime goals off feeds from Karwoski, The two connected for the game-winner in Wednesday’s 13-12 thriller over Manheim Township in the opening round.

Karwoski (four goals) tied the game, 10-10, with 3:06 left after the Cougars had scored four unanswered goals to seize the lead for the first time.

Great Valley dominated the overtime periods, but Springfield-Delco’s Kristy Reid (six saves) made several key stops. Finally Karwoski found a cutting McBride from behind the cage.

“Mr. T (Coach Joe Tornetta) talked about the first time we played them and about what we did wrong,” said McBride. “He talked about focus and winning the 1 v 1 battles, and getting the draws and winning all the groundballs.

“Even though we didn’t do everything right, we really wanted it.”

Great Valley led, 9-6, when Emily Scullin (two goals) scored with 13:55 to play, But Maddy Lynch (three goals) scored twice and Alex Poplawski (five goals) added two more to give her team the lead with 5:37 to play.

“We got up and they came back, but we didn’t collapse,” said McBride. “Mr. T said it didn’t matter if we won or lost, but that we played our best game. We made sure we had fun like when we played in summer league games.

“Our team chemistry really paid off.”

Great Valley 11, Springfield-Delco 10, OT
Springfield-Delco 2-8-0-10
Great Valley 5-5-1-11

Springfield-Delco
Alex Poplawski 5g
Maddy Lynch 3g
Lauren Notofrancesco 1g, 1a
Ali Gormley 1g
Kristy Reid 6 saves

Great Valley
Ali Karwoski 4g, 1a
Emily Scullin 2g
Sara McBride 2g, 1a
Brooke Gamble 1g
Caitlin Kratzer 1g, 1a
Rachel Kalick 1g, 1a
Jenna Morris 8 saves

Tags: Great Valley, Springfield-Delco