By Chris Goldberg
Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 6/18/23
STATE COLLEGE – Alexa Vogelman and Gabbi Koury combined for 10 goals, eight assists, 12 draw controls, and eight groundballs and Owen J. Roberts used a 10-1 run to open the second half en route to a 17-9 triumph over Penncrest Saturday for the PIAA 3A girls’ lacrosse championship.
It was the first PIAA crown for the Wildcats, who finished with 19 straight wins and a 27-1 record. Penncrest (21-5), playing with mostly underclassmen, made its first appearance in the state finals.
“It’s so surreal,” said OJR senior attack Blakely Doyle. “We’ve been putting in so much work to get to this point. The first half was a little rough, but we adjusted and came out with the dub.
“This game was meant for us. We worked so hard every single day at practice and it all paid off.”
Vogelman had six goals, three assists, seven draws, five groundballs and two caused turnovers while Koury contributed four goals, five assists, five draws, three groundballs and a caused turnover. Still, the Lions roared back from an early 6-2 deficit with a 5-1 run to end the first half, nearly tying it at the buzzer on a shot deemed too late that would have given them four tallies in one minute.
But the Wildcats regained control in the second half as Koury fed Colby Wasson (3G) and then scored the next two goals to make it 10-6. After Adisyn Bernhardt drew Penncrest within 10-7, OJR ripped off seven consecutive goals.
“It’s a dream come true,” said OJR coach David Schlesinger. “We set out aggressive goals at the beginning of the year. We achieved all of them – league (Pioneer Athletic Conference), District, and States – this is what we set out to do. I’m incredibly proud of the girls.”
At halftime, Vogelman gave the Wildcats a pep talk.
“In that huddle, Alexa said, ‘Guys, this is our last game, we have to win; there’s no going home or else it’s just embarrassment. We have to win!’,'” said senior defender Cailin Harrington. “We were letting them take momentum and we had to settle down.”
“We talked about the mental aspect of the game and not letting those mistakes fog our mentality,” Vogelman said. “I think we did a pretty good job coming back in the second half.
“We were taking it play by play and getting the 50/50 balls, doing the little things right. It’s really hard in big moments like that, especially when the momentum starts to fade away. You have to try your best to get momentum on your side.”
Added Doyle: ‘We all agreed to remain positive and we agreed also we were lacking a lot of communication on the field. It was more about sliding, lifting each other up, hustling. We talked about adjusting and we came out and (good) things happened out of it.”
A large core of the Wildcats have started since sophomore year, but the team did not reach its goals in the previous post seasons. That made this year’s accomplishments even sweeter.
“Like Alexa said, it’s super exciting to finally breach this goal,” said Koury. “We’ve been working at every practice the whole entire season for this main goal and to finally get it is awesome.”
Junior Kate Stanton led the Lions with four goals – including her 100th of the season – and seven draw controls while Bernhardt and Kaitlyn Roth each had a pair. Kathryn Harding had a goal and an assist.
Ava Clemson added two goals, four groundballs and two draws for Owen J. Roberts and Korrigan Sweeney posted eight saves.
Harrington had feelings of utter joy and also loss, knowing she won’t play again with her teammates.
“I’m really proud but also very sad to leave my teammates,” she said. “It’s been a long season and we love each other so much. It’s bittersweet. We’ve been working toward that for the last 4 years. We fell short the last few years, but it feels great to finally accomplish our goals.”
One of the few Penncrest seniors that played regularly was goalie Sara Knasiak (9 saves), who said her Lions showed their resilience with the first-half rally.
“I feel we bounced back so well,” she said. “That rush came from a lot of energy.”
Knasiak said the upstart Lions may have been a surprise team to some in 2023, but not to her.
“Absolutely!” Knasiak said after being asked if she thought Penncrest could be a state finalist. “At the beginning of the season I knew we were so close knit. We had such good friendship, I knew we could get here
“As a senior this is such a big deal. Personally for me after the Strath Haven game (11-10 win) I knew we had it in us. It took a while to get it all on track, but once we started winning I knew we could get to Penn State.”
Knasiak said the 2023 season will never leave her.
“Everyone grew into such beautiful and amazing women,” she said. “We learned from each other and continued to learn from each other. This whole season taught me so much about togetherness and friendship.”
Owen J. Roberts 17, Penncrest 9
OJ Roberts 7-10-17
Penncrest 6-3-9
OJ Roberts
Alexa Vogelman 6g, 3a, 7dc, 5gb, 2ct
Ashly White 2gb, 3ct
Blakely Doyle 1g, 1a, 2gb
Laina Grimm 3gb
Cailin Harrington 2gb, 2ct
Gabbi Koury 4g, 5a, 5dc, 3gb, 1ct
Rachel Sbei, 2gb, 1ct
Colby Wasson 3g, 1a, 1dc, 2gb, 1ct
Sierra Milano 1g, 1a, 3gb
Ava Clemson 2g, 2dc, 4gb
Avery Wentzel 2gb, 1ct
Korrigan Sweeney 8 saves
Penncrest
Kate Stanton: 4G, 1A, 7DC (100th goal on season)
Kaitlyn Roth: 2G, 1A, 1DC, 3GB, 2CTO
Kathryn Harding: 1G, 1A, 3DC
Adisyn Bernhardt: 2G
Reese Bigler: 3GB
Marissa Kamin: 2GB, 1CTO
Celeste Cahill: 2GB
Cara Childs: 1DC, 1GB
Mira Kuttymartin: 1CTO
Lylah Pompetti: 1GB
Sara Knasiak: 9 saves
PIAA Champions – One Classification
2009 – Radnor 20, Strath Haven 10
2010 – Radnor 14, Springfield-Delco 7
2011 – Garnet Valley 17, Downingtown East 14
2012 – Garnet Valley 10, Strath Haven 9, OT
2013 – Harriton 8, Radnor 7
2014 – Garnet Valley 13, Springfield-Delco 9
2015 – Garnet Valley 14, Conestoga 10
2016 – Conestoga 18, Radnor 7
Two Classifications
2017 Class AAA – Archbishop Carroll 9, Springfield-Delco 8
2018 Class AAA – Unionville 11, Manheim Township 6
2019 Class AAA – Harriton 12, Manheim Township 6
2020 Class AAA – No season due to COVID-19 pandemic
2021 Class AAA – Radnor 11, Manheim Township 5
2022 Class AAA – Conestoga 15, Manheim Township 7
2023 Class AAA – Owen J. Roberts 17, Penncrest 9
