Braveheart finish not for faint of heart
A pair of Eastern Shore League girls' lacrosse teams 100 miles up the road playing in an invitational tournament in Downingtown and West Chester against club teams from Texas over to Florida up to Massachusetts back down to New York and out to Chicago can span the spectrum of talent. Depending on talent and pool placement you can get get housed or clean house.
The older team 2013-14 (year of graduation) coached by P.J. Kesmodel, Kelly Cannon and Richard Collins got through cleanly over three days of games in the Champions Cup Division, winning the championship of their Division 12-10 in the final game behind goals by Anna Frederick 6, Sara Young 4 and single goals by Sami Quiltar and Madison O'Leary.
Maggie Delp was the winning goalie. Players on the team were Sarah Arrington, Kellen Cannon, Katie Collins, Maggie Delp, Layla Fowler, Anna Frederick, Karalyn Joseph, Maxine Joseph, Kat Judge, Meg Lingo, Kristin Lockwood, Bre Marsico, Alyssa Mocci, Madison O'Leary, Sami Quilter, Meredith Soule, Addie Stang, Taylor Summers,Lindsay Voss, Allie Yeager and Sarah Young.
The younger team coached by Dave Frederick and Joanne Woodruff won two games on Saturday and three on Sunday before losing in the championship game.
The excitement of the day occurred in the semifinal game when Eastern Shore came back from a 5-2 halftime deficit to tie team EVO of Massachusetts at 6 forcing a Braveheart sudden-death overtime.
Braveheart is a one-on-one contest with each team also having a goalie.
Molly Soule, going into her sophomore year at Worcester, was chosen for the spotlighted moment because she usually wins the draw. But she did not and the team Evolution player coached by former Syracuse All-American Katrinia Hable sped down the field but shot over the shoulder of Sam Broadhurst and over the pipe and out of bounds.
It was Soule's turn to play and she slowed, hoping to draw a foul, which she did. The ref put the EVO player four meters, behind blew the whistle and Molly the Mallard was off on her run to glory, beating a lights-out goalie low to the right for the winning goal.
Eastern Shore lost to Suffern of New York 7-6 in the championship game.
Jordan Brown was the leading scorer for Eastern Shore in the tournament while goalie Sam Broadhurst was crazy good and her usual unflappable self.
Eastern Shore will next play in the first annual Beach Blast Invitational Saturday and Sunday, June 30 and July 1, at Cape Henlopen High School.
