Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 5/8/15
By Dave Kurtz, Courtesy of PAC-10Sports.com
Joe Tornetta took off his Panama fedora and flipped it toward the bench.
Intentional or not, the gesture by the Owen J. Roberts girls’ lacrosse coach was more than symbolic following a hats-off performance by his Wildcats in the PAC-10 championship game Thursday night at Henry J. Bernat Field.
Morgan Stone connected for six goals, Kerry Huzzard collected two goals and three assists and reserve senior goalie Devon Hennessey made a crucial save at crunch time as OJR capped off a perfect run through the league with an 11-10 title-clinching victory over Methacton.
“This is a team game and the kids showed up tonight,” said Tornetta, who led the Wildcats to their first league title since 2001 in his first year at OJR. “We were lucky to beat them twice (during the regular season), let alone three times. But we made the plays when we needed to make them.”
The biggest plays came after the Warriors (14-5) ripped off four unanswered goals in the first 9:31 of the second half to erase an 8-4 halftime deficit.
First, Stone scored unassisted for a 9-8 lead after Huzzard secured the possession with a key groundball pickup. And after Sara Hughes (3 goals, assist) came right back to score the equalizer for Methacton, Stone and Huzzard again teamed up for the pivotal strike at the 4:52 mark.
Huzzard’s unassisted goal with 2:34 left furnished an 11-9 lead, which stood up after Hughes cut the deficit to one by connecting at the 1:43 mark. After a brilliant stop by Hennessey, who came on for the injured Sara Maute late in the first half, the Cats (19-1) turned away the Warriors’ final thrust in the closing seconds to earn the crown.
“They’ve got some weapons, but we dug ourselves a hole in the first half,” said Methacton coach Laurie Markle, whose club also got a hat trick from Daria Lucchesi and strong goalie play from Sam Rothman (7 saves). “I thought we did a great job coming back, and we had a chance there at the end.
“I know the district playoffs are coming up but this was the crowning moment. We’ve had a great season, but this is what you practice for – and that’s why it’s so disappointing.”
There was no such disappointment from the OJR sidelines.
“Maddie (Gebert) and Kerry (Huzzard) are our big shooters,” said Stone. “But when they are covered some of the other girls have to step up. It’s just a matter of who’s open and who’s on their game. We knew we had to bring our ‘A’ game against this team and we worked hard and stayed strong.”
Strong enough for a hats-off salute – a gesture that both teams merited.
Owen J. Roberts 11, Methacton 10
Methacton 4 6 – 10
Owen J. Roberts 8 3 – 11
Methacton
Daria Lucchesi 3g
Deb Peifer 1g
Sara Hughes 3g 1a
Jackie Cerchio 2g 2a
Maddie Alderfer 1a
Riley McCarthy 1g
Sam Rothman 7 saves
Owen J. Roberts
Maddie Gebert 2g
Morgan Stone 6g
Anna Dempsey 1g
Kerry Huzzard 2g 3a
Sara Maute 3 saves
Devon Hennessey 2 saves
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