Kennard-Dale beats rival York Catholic behind six Emmie Dressel goals
The setting looked quite familiar when YAIAA girls' lacrosse rivals Kennard-Dale and York Catholic squared off in Tuesday's big YAIAA contest.
The visiting Rams would string a few goals, only to see the Irish respond and cut into the advantage, eerily similar to meetings between the two teams over the last several seasons.
Finally, Kennard-Dale scored three straight goals in less than two minutes, and although York Catholic answered with three of its own, the Rams held on for a 16-14 win.
Emmie Dressel scored six goals to lead the Rams. The sophomore said her team remembered it was the Irish that handed them their only YAIAA defeat in six seasons during the 2014 league championship game.
"We always circle the York Catholic game, because it's always a huge game. But this year we definitely wanted to put it to them," she said.
Lone Irish senior Shannon Moore netted her fifth goal of the game, scoring with a man-up to pull York Catholic within 13-11 with seven minutes to play. After Moore's goal, the Irish had nearly the entire two minutes of power play time remaining.
But the Rams killed off the rest of the penalty and also managed to score the next three goals, starting with Morgan Day's third of the game and 397th of her career. The senior is only 33 away from the PIAA record, set by Katie O'Donnell of West Chester Henderson.
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Lyndsey Duty and Morgan Bowings added their second goals of the game, putting Kennard-Dale up 16-11, before Lisa Casagrande (two goals), Lindsey China (three goals) and Anna Linthicum scored in succession for the final margin.
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"It doesn't matter what the record is. It's two teams that know each other well. A lot of the girls play club with their coaches and players," Rams coach Kelly Wetzel said after his team improved to 9-0 in the YAIAA and 11-0 overall. "I thought the game was going to be tough because of the familiarity."
The Irish (7-2, 7-3) notched the first two goals of the afternoon with Moore and Sarah Mazzur getting things started. However, a York Catholic penalty led to Bowings and Dressel converting nice passes for man-up goals, tying the game.
Duty added the go-ahead goal just as the penalty expired. After the teams traded a pair of goals each, Kennard-Dale scored three straight to close the first half with an 8-4 lead.
"I felt like we beat ourselves a little bit in the first half," Irish coach Rob Linthicum said. "We had a 10-minute stretch that we made a lot of silly mistakes and those (yellow) cards cost us. Obviously, I would like the outcome to be different, but I don't really have too many complaints other than that sloppy play, swinging the sticks in the first half."
Afterward, Dressel was all smiles.
"I play with a lot of these girls on my club team and Coach Rob is my coach for the Invaders," she said. "It's just fun playing these girls. It's difficult because they know all my weaknesses and strengths. I was expecting more of a hard defensive (style) early in the game, but it worked out well for us. I am not complaining."
Freshman Clare Boone made 10 saves in goal for Kennard-Dale, six off free position shots. Fill-in Kirsten Lake, also a frosh, had six saves for the Irish.
Kennard-Dale88—16 York Catholic410
Kennard-Dale goals — Emmie Dressel 6, Morgan Day 3, Morgan Bowings 3, Lyndsey Duty 2, Maddie Day, Hannah Bracey.
Kennard-Dale assists — Duty 3, Bracey 2, Mo. Day 2, Gillian Zimmerman, Ma. Day.
York Catholic goals — Shannon Moore 5, Lindsey China 3, Lisa Casagrande 2, Maura Palandro 2, Anna Linthicum, Sarah Mazzur.
York Catholic assists — Moore 2, Kayleigh Pokrivka, Amanda Tufano.
Shots on goal — KD 22, YC 24.
Goalies — KD, Clare Boone (10 saves). YC, Kirsten Lake (6 saves).