Abington Heights players celebrate after securing the District 2 Class 2A championship on Thursday. WRIGHT TWP. – At every turn in the May 23 District 2 Class 2A girls lacrosse championship game, Crestwood seemed to be just a goal away from pulling even, a goal away from seizing the momentum.
But Abington Heights had the answer each time, and unseated the three-time defending district champs.
Abington Heights killed off a potential game-tying possession from Crestwood before adding one last late goal, claiming its first district championship with a 10-8 victory.
Allie Rothenberger’s second goal of the game was the one that sealed the deal, finding the back of the net with 1:05 to give Abington Heights a two-goal lead that couldn’t be overcome.
“That final goal was a whole lot of relief, in practice we actually worked on if we were running a bit of a stall,” Abington Heights coach Becky Davis said. “Once we were in those last four minutes, we knew we needed to hold possession a little bit because (Crestwood is) such an offensive threat.”
It was right about the four-minute mark that Crestwood’s Hannah Ziegler cut Abington Heights’ lead down to one at 9-8, her third goal of the game. The ensuing draw control was cleaned up by Abington Heights, which set to work bleeding as much clock as it could.
Crestwood, fighting to win a fourth straight district championship, wouldn’t wave the white flag just yet.
Waiting for her opportunity, Crestwood goalie Morgan Koons got behind the net and picked off an errant Abington Heights pass, winning the ball back and giving her offense a chance to go down and try to even things up.
Abington Heights would not allow it, forcing a turnover that led to Rothenberger’s goal.
After a loss to Crestwood in last year’s district title game, and an overtime loss earlier this year in the regular season, Abington Heights was finally able to conquer a rival and win the championship.
“Last year it was a different outcome, the girls know what that feels like,” Davis said. “They were really determined to come out here and put their best effort out.”
Isabella DeRiggi had three goals to lead Abington Heights, while Sadie Gilbert and Lauren Bartell joined Rothenberger with two each.
Jackie Gallagher led Crestwood with four goals, while Ziegler added three.
Crestwood led 3-1 after the first quarter, but was shut out in the second as Abington Heights took a 5-3 halftime lead that would be trimmed to one a few times, but never relinquished.
STATE PLAYOFFS
All-American and Rutgers University commit Annalise Messina scored seven goals June 3 as visiting Upper Moreland posted an 11-9 victory to ruin the Abington Heights state tournament debut.
Messina scored three straight goals to open an 11-7 lead going into the fourth quarter.
Gilbert, who led Abington Heights with five goals and an assist, scored twice in the fourth quarter to pull the Comets closer.
Olivia Meakim added three goals, including one as time expired in the first half. That goal created an 8-6 lead for Upper Moreland, which never trailed.
Rothenberger scored three times while DeRiggi had a goal and three assists for Abington Heights, which finished 16-4.
Upper Moreland advanced to the state quarterfinals with an 18-5 record.
DISTRICT PLAYOFFS
Abington Heights entered district play as the third seed and reached the final by defeating visiting Dallas 12-7 May 15, then winning at second-seeded Wyoming Seminary 11-7 May 20.
Rothenberger and DeRiggi scored four goals each in the win over Wyoming Seminary.
Scranton Prep opened the playoffs with a 13-6 win over Wyoming Area, then fell to Crestwood 14-7 in the semifinals.
Jordan Andrews had five goals for Crestwood in the semifinals while Jackie Gallagher and Morgan Koons reached milestones.
Gallagher had four goals and two assists for her 100 th point of the season. Koons made five saves, reaching 500 for her caree.
McKenna Tolan and Grace Kotchick scored three goals each while Jayna McIntyre had 10 saves for Scranton Prep.
REGULAR SEASON
Abington Heights and Scranton Prep finished second and fourth in the 15-team Wyoming Valley Conference.
Crestwood went 14-0 in the WVC with the help of its overtime win over Abington Heights, which finished 14-1.
Wyoming Seminary was 13-2, followed by Scranton Prep at 12-3.
Most Popular
Comments / 0