By Bruce Adams from PAPrepLive
Berwyn – Preparing for the second round of the PIAA District One girls’ lacrosse playoffs, undefeated Conestoga was concerned about Thursday’s opponent, Haverford.
Earlier in the season, the Fords had scored more goals against Conestoga than any other Pioneer opponent in a 17-13 loss.
“I was [secretly] dreading playing Haverford again,” said Conestoga girls’ lacrosse head coach Amy Orcutt. “They’ve got a lot of talented girls, and Nancy [McNichol] does a great job coaching them. It’s a hard game every time we play Haverford.”
While Haverford hung tough throughout the game Thursday evening, Conestoga slowly built its lead and prevailed for a 16-10 victory at Teamer Field.
Senior attack Maggie Gladden led all scorers with a career-high four goals. She scored an unassisted goal with 15:47 left in the first half to put Conestoga ahead for good, 3-2, and tallied two of the Pioneers’ four goal-run midway through the first half that gave the hosts a 6-2 lead – Haverford never got closer than three goals after that.
“Maggie was outstanding tonight,” said Orcutt. “She also caused a couple of [Haverford] turnovers, and a got a few ground balls. It was her best game of the season.”
The Conestoga coach added, “The draw [control] was huge for us tonight.”
Conestoga junior midfielder Liz Scott (nine draw controls), senior midfielder Sondra Dickey (four DCs) and senior attack Hannah Ashton (four DCs) combined to give the Pioneers a solid advantage.
Ashton, Scott, Dickey and senior attack Monica Borzillo combined for 11 goals. Borzillo dished out four assists, Scott two.
Orcutt praised senior goalie Jules Horning: “She came up with big saves at key points of the game.”