By Harry Chaykun
Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 4/29/12
St. Stephen’s & St. Agnes School is located in Alexandria, Virginia.
Coach Kathy Jenkins doesn’t hesitate to take her lacrosse team on the road.
“We play a very competitive schedule,” Jenkins said. “We’ve played state champions from Tennessee, Florida and Georgia and now up here. The girls are exhausted, but we’re happy to have come up here and gotten a big win.”
Saturday afternoon at the 12th annual Katie Samson Lacrosse Festival at Radnor, the Saints (15-3) snapped defending PIAA champion Garnet Valley’s 17-game winning streak – the last four games of the 2011 season and the first 13 in 2012 – by posting a convincing 15-5 decision over the Jaguars.
Besser Dyson scored six goals and had three assists and fellow junior Carly Reed, who has committed to the University of North Carolina, had six goals and one assist for St. Stephen’s & St. Agnes. The Saints led at halftime, 10-3, after Ally Heavens and Halley Barnes had scored the first of their two goals in the first seven minutes of play to put Garnet Valley (13-1) up, 2-0.
The Saints, who have five regular-season games remaining before beginning play in the Virginia Independent schools tournament, played a solid passing game, getting assists on 12 of their 15 goals.
“We have 15 girls who will be playing in college,” Jenkins said. “We knew the Philadelphia area is a strong one for lacrosse, and I’ve coached with (Radnor High’s) Brooke Fritz. Our girls and the Radnor girls played together on a tour of Prague, and Brooke had asked me about coming up here for this tournament.
“People were asking our girls how they felt about playing Garnet Valley, but they really weren’t aware of who they were.”
Garnet Valley coach Kate Henwood had been telling her players about the challenge they faced from the visitors from Virginia.
“They’re a very good team,” Henwood said. “I’m disappointed that we didn’t play our game. I’m not sure that they’re 10 goals better than us.
“I kept getting flashbacks to our district (final) game with Downingtown East last year.”
That game ended in a 10-goal loss (22-12) for the Jaguars, who then went on to win four games in a row in the state tournament, including a victory over East in the PIAA final in Hershey.
“I’d like to think we can come back and do something like that again this year,” Henwood said.
St. Stephen’s & St. Agnes 15, Garnet Valley 5
Garnet Valley 3-2—5
St. Stephen’s 10-5—15
Garnet Valley: Ally Heavens 2G 1A, Halley Barnes 2G 1A, Ashley Pyle 1G.
St. Stephen’s & St. Agnes: Besser Dyson 6G 3A, Carly Reed 6G 1A, Layne Voorhees 1G, Sophie Davidson 1G, Sarah Wilcox 1G, Lizz Lavie 4A, Michele Phillps 2A, Katie Austin 2A.
Saves
Garnet Valley—Kate Stroup 5
St. Stephen’s—Katie Wiseman 9
