LCD/Catholic cruises past Lady Eagles

Cocalico’s Courtney Forry (right) is closely marked by the LCD/Lan¬caster Catholic defender during Monday’s contest. (Photo by Preston Whitcraft)

Last year, the girl’s lacrosse teams from Lancaster Country Day/Lancaster Catholic and Cocalico played three games plus an overtime period with only one goal of difference between the two. This included Lancaster-Lebanon and District Three playoff games.
These same two squads took to the windy pitch behind Cocalico High School on Monday afternoon. And the result this time wasn’t close.
The final score was LCD/LCH 14, Cocalico 5, but the direction of this game was evident early in the first half.
“They outplayed and out-hustled us to balls in the beginning,” said Lady Eagles head coach Mary Beth Cardin. “They certainly made us earn everything we got.”
And what Cocalico got in the first 20 minutes of the game was zero goals on no shots, falling behind 9-0.
The statistics told the same story as the Cougars out-shot the Lady Eagles 18-8 in the first half, and 29-11 for the game. LCD also held the advantage in first half draws controlled by a 14-4 margin.
“If you control the draws,” added Cardin, “you control the game. In the second half, we had more opportunities, but we just didn’t capitalize.”
The second half scoring did end in a 3-3 draw, but the damage was already done.
Offensively, the Cougars were led by Paige Brown (five goals), Kelly Daggett and Carolyn Kolva (three goals each). Cocalico’s scoreboard included two goals each from senior Courtney Forry and sophomore Jessica Fullerton plus one from junior Casey Sawyer. Seniors Brooke Fritz and Natalie Sukanick assisted on goals as well.
The assists, defensive tenacity and field vision come naturally to both Sukanick and junior defender Jasa Lorah, who were starting guards for the Lady Eagles basketball team.
“In both sports, you must get into the middle, where you can see a lot more and look for cutters,” explained Sukanick.
“Natalie always wants to guard the other team’s best offensive player,” added Cardin. “When they see that, it will often force them to change their offense.”
Lacrosse is one sport where the offense spends significant time behind its own goal. One of the best at defending that strategy is Lorah.
“Pressuring is real important,” Lorah said. “If we can force a girl to drop the ball, it’s important. It can get us another possession.”
Despite the tough loss, there were some positive comments.
“We’ve improved a lot since the first game,” said Sukanick “This was one of the first times that we were able to use a whole field. Many of the practices were on half fields, staying away from the muddy areas. When indoors, we’ve only had half a gym.”
The team has the challenge of replacing seven seniors, including all-stars Courtney Gensemer and Katie Costanza.
“This year’s seniors are strong leaders, both on and off the field,” said Cardin. “We can’t replace Kate’s speed. She really has field changing wheels.”
In looking back over the first three games (two losses and a win), Cardin knows what has to happen for success.
“At Exeter (13-10 win) we had contributions from everyone,” she said. “Since all teams now play in the same section (Lancaster-Lebanon League) we have to work collectively.”
When asked if she thinks the strength of the program is continuing, Cardin had this to say.
“I think so. We have five girls committed to playing lacrosse in college, and younger girls come to us with experience from Junior High and club teams. We used to have girls trying out in 10th grade having never played before.”
Last Wednesday at home, visiting Penn Manor pulled out an 11-8 victory over the Lady Eagles.
The Comets led 7-4 at the half and kept the Lady Eagles at arm’s length the rest of the way.
Alyiha Price led Cocalico with three goals while Forry added a pair of scores. Brooke Fritz, Lyndsay Engle and Fullerton also found the net in the loss for Cocalico.
Cocalico did pick up its first win of the season Thursday at Exeter as the Lady Eagles out-scored the hosts, 7-3 in the second half to earn the victory.
Forry led all scorers with six goals while Fritz, Sawyer and Fullerton all added two goals each. Sukanick also contributed a goal and three assists while Lauren Marte made seven saves in goal for Cocalico.
Up next for the Lady Eagles, is Wednesday’s match at Hempfield, Thursday at home vs. L-S plus a non-league contest at Berks Catholic on Monday.
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Ephrata is off to its best start in the history of the girls’ program, and Tuesday afternoon, the Lady Mounts continued its early season success at Garden Spot.
Ephrata jumped out to a commanding 8-2 lead at the half before coasting home with a 13-3 victory. Sophomore Aubrey Zimmerman led the way with a game-high seven goals on the night. Anne Sensenig added two goals and three assists while Grace Campbell, Makenzie Colton, Ally Ludwig and Kate Williams also scored for the Lady Mounts.
Senior goalie Katie Hammaker notched eight saves to earn the victory for Ephrata, which improved to 2-0 in L-L League play (4-2 overall).
Monday night, the Lady Mounts picked up an 11-8 non-league victory on the road at Palmyra. Ephrata out-scored Palmyra 5-3 in the second half to earn the victory.
Zimmerman continued her hot scoring touch, netting four goals to lead Ephrata. Kayci Strous and Courtney Sandoe each added three tallies while Sensenig also found the net for the Lady Mounts.
Hammaker made 12 saves in goal to earn her third win of the year.
Last Thursday at L-S, Ephrata captured its first L-L League win of the year with an 11-10 come-from-behind victory over the Pioneers.
Zimmerman scored five goals in the contest as Ephrata out-scored the Pioneers 6-3 down the stretch to steal the victory. Sensenig added three goals while Strous netted a pair. Williams scored the other Ephrata goal while Johanna Hoffer, Sandoe, Pamela Sola and Zimmerman each added assists.
Hammaker collected seven saves in the victory.
Ephrata did drop a 15-3 non-league decision to visiting Susquehannock Saturday.
Zimmerman scored two goals while Strous added the other Ephrata goal. Hammaker made eight stops in the loss.
Up next, Ephrata hosts E-town Thursday (7 p.m.) before facing Twin Valley at home next Monday at 7 p.m.