By Harry Chaykun
Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 3/29/22
Despite the wind chill on a late March afternoon at the Proving Grounds, things heated up as powers Archbishop Carroll and Cardinal O’Hara got the 2022 Catholic League season under way Tuesday.
The Pats (2-0 overall, ranked No. 1 by Phillylacrosse.com) had the better of the play in the opening half, then the Lions gained the edge for most of the final 17 minutes of the second half before a Carroll goal with 2:45 sealed a 13-9 win.
“I’ve seen the teams in the area and they are as good as any,” said O’Hara coach Jen Duckenfield of the defending PIAA Class AA and 20-time league champions. “I have so much respect for Lorraine and the job she does every year.”I have scouted many teams this season and Carroll has a seamless attack, disciplined and many scoring options.
“We did outscore them in the second half, but we had trouble with draw controls and we only converted one of our 8-meter shots. I think we could see (Carroll) once or twice again, and one of our goals this year is to win at least one of those games.”
The numbers have favored the Patriots since before any of the girls on either of the teams that played Tuesday were born. The victory was Carroll’s 253rd consecutive win over a Catholic League opponent since a setback in the Catholic League final in 2000.
“You know they’ll get the job done,” Beers said of the Lions. “Duck always has her teams ready.
“I guess it’s good to play them early and to get the win.”
O’Hara, ranked No. 15, was making its season opener.
Kiley Mottice led Carroll with five goals, one assist and one draw control. Four of her goals came in the opening half as the Pats claimed an 8-2 advantage.
“We all worked very hard during the off-season,” the North Carolina-bound Mottice said. “We’ve worked on a lot of new things and shifted some things around. It’s nice to finally be able to play some games.”
Maddie Sharkey’s two scores put the finishing touches on the five-goal rally that had the Lions within three goals (12-9) with 4:11 to play.
Mottice helped shift the momentum O’Hara built with minutes to play when she rolled the crease and fired a shot to the top of the cage to make it 13-9.
At that stage, Beers would have preferred to have her players run time off the clock when O’Hara had closed within 12-9. Mottice had other ideas less than 30 seconds after the final Carroll goal.
“We’re only supposed to shoot if we are wide open,” she said, of the play on which she came up with her only tally of the second half.
Emma Talago finished with two goals and two assists and Chloe Bleckley (four draw controls), Cate McConaghy and Ava Bleckley (six draw controls) also chipped in with two goals for Carroll, which also got four draw controls from Michaela Henry and eight saves from goalie Bridget Robinson.
“You know you have to get energized when you play O’Hara,” Talago said. “You know you will be tested. We knew we lost a lot of good players from last year’s team, but we’ve got some first-time starters, including two freshmen, who have been playing very well for us.
“Our defense has been getting into the games, and the whole team knows how important it will be to have the right attitude.”
Lexi Culp, who scored the first goal of each half for O’Hara, led the Lions with three goals.
“We saw what we could do in that second half,” Duckenfield said. “We have to work on not doing things that are going to wind up beating us.”
Archbishop Carroll 13, Cardinal O’Hara 9
Cardinal O’Hara 2 7 – 9
Archbishop Carroll 8 5 – 13
Cardinal O’Hara: Lexi Culp 3G, 1A, Maddie Sharkey 2G, Claire Natoli 1G, Mia Scarduzzo 1G, 1A, Honor Breen 1G, Ellie Miller 1G, 1A, Ana Ciminera 1A
Archbishop Carroll: Kiley Mottice 5G 1A, Chloe Bleckley 2G 2A, Emma Talago 2G 2A, Cate McConaghy 2G 1A, Ava Bleckley 2G.
Goalies – Mackenzie Hand (Cardinal O’Hara) 9 saves; Bridget Robinson (Arch. Carroll) 10 saves.