Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 4/29.18
From Press Release
For the second time in three seasons, the Chestnut Hill College women’s lacrosse team will compete for the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) Women’s Lacrosse Championship as the No. 3 seeded Griffins defeated No. 2 Jefferson, 13-11, Saturday in the semifinals at Georgian Court University (Lakewood, NJ).
Chestnut Hill will face #1 Georgian Court – a 19-4 winner over No. 4 Caldwell – today for the CACC crown at 3 p.m.
Senior midfielder Hunter Leckonby, junior midfielder Julia Reinert (Upper Merion), and sophomore midfielder Mary Kroppe (Berks Catbolic) scored three times apiece, but it was a tremendous defensive effort that forced the Lady Rams into 33 turnovers and allowed freshman goalkeeper Shenna Grady (WC Rustin) to make the only three saves she needed to keep the Scarlet and Gold on the championship path.
Jefferson (9-8) issued the first stretch of goals, opening a 3-0 advantage in the first two minutes of play. A connection between senior attack Julia Galantich and sophomore midfielder Spencer Fitzgerald triggered the Chestnut Hill College (12-6) response just past the 25-minute mark (24:36) and less than two minutes later (22:13), a unassisted Reinert goal gave the Griffins a 4-3 advantage.
Another cycle of give and take left the Scarlet and Gold with a 7-6 0:32) halftime lead, but after intermission a 5-1 Lady Ram run put Jefferson back in the driver’s seat, 11-8. Fortunately, Chestnut Hill College scored the final five goals of the affair as Kroppe (11-9, 15:18) started and finished a run of unassisted scores that included tallies from junior defender Macailagh Smith (11-10, 10:17), Leckonby (11-11, 8:39), and senior midfielder Erica McLaughlin (12-11, 7:16).
Senior midfielder Samantha Ryder (Pennridge) scored a team-high three goals, but freshman midfielder Camryn Sullivan led the Jefferson with two goals, four assists, three ground balls, two draws, and three caused turnovers. Sophomore goalkeeper Victoria Raimondi (9-6) made 16 saves and collected a ground balls in the loss.
Reinert added four ground balls, three draws, and three caused turnovers to her three scores, while Leckonby provided four ground balls, three draws, and two caused turnovers to her three tallies. Kroppe matched her season scoring high with her three tallies. She also provided an assist, three ground balls, two draws, and two caused turnovers in the breakout performance. Senior defender Gillian Wixted (Archbishop Ryan) helped Grady captain the Griffin backfield with three ground balls and three caused turnovers. Grady recorded five ground balls and three caused turnovers to her three saves.
