Girls’ AAA quarterfinals: @GarnetGLax earns state berth, downs Downingtown East, 17-7

By Matt Chandik
Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 5/21/17

Coach Jenny Purvis didn’t want to take any chances of her Garnet Valley team coming in overconfident to its District 1 Class AAA quarterfinal Saturday against visiting Downingtown East.

The Jaguars had toppled the Cougars by 10 goals in the season opener for both teams, and Purvis had no interest in her team stumbling at home with a spot in the state tournament on the line, so …

“(Friday), our coach had us rip up the stat sheet of that game,” defender Beth Hoffman said. “Basically, what we did last time doesn’t really matter because any team can win on any day.”

Whatever it takes, especially at this time of year and against a team that stunned the No. 1 seed in the previous round. Purvis was happy to see another 10-goal win go up, this time in the form of a 17-7 blowout, as Garnet Valley clinched its now-annual spot in the state tournament. The ninth-seeded Jaguars move on to play at Springfield-Delco in Tuesday’s semifinal at 4 p.m. The fourth-seeded Cougars downed West Chester Rustin, 11-7.

“It’s so nice. It’s basically the best feeling ever,” Garnet Valley midfielder Riley Delaney said of the team’s return to states. “We had a lot less turnovers than last time. Watching film and seeing all of our turnovers, we had a lot more than we had (Saturday). In the first half, we had one turnover, and I think we all worked so much more as a team.”

Any suspense in the final outcome ended in the game’s first seven minutes minutes, when the Jaguars (16-5) raced to a 6-0 lead. Twin sisters Regan (two goals, one assist) and Kara Nealon (three goals, two assists) each buried two goals in that span, while Delaney (two goals, two assists) and Kam McNeal (four goals) also netted goals. Garnet Valley built itself an 11-2 halftime lead and never had to worry about Downingtown East (14-7) getting back into it.

“It was pretty difficult to try to come back, but we just to try to stay positive and fix our defense,” said Cougars midfielder Livi Lawton, who netted two goals. “Our biggest issue was not staying with our cutters in zone, so fixing that and staying in the game mentally was the tough part.”

Garnet Valley’s depth was on display as eight players scored goals, while starting goalie Lauren Kinnee stopped six shots before ceding goalie duties to backup Sam Hamalak (four saves). Purvis admitted that she starts feeling good when six of her offensive standouts score goals, so two more was a bonus, one that’s always welcome but even more so in the playoffs.

“I think every year is a new team and we lost a lot of seniors from last year,” Kara Nealon said. “We knew that this year, people were going to need to step up, so we just worked hard and we knew that we were going to have to earn it.”

Garnet Valley 17, Downingtown East 7
Garnet Valley 11-6-17
Downingtown East 2-5-7

Downingtown East
Livi Lawton 2g
Leah Hunter 2g
Hannah Wurzel 2g
Emily Wurzel 1g
Emily Robinson 5 saves

Garnet Valley
Kam McNeal 4g
Kara Nealon 3g, 2a
Madi McKee 3g, 1a
Regan Nealon 2g, 1a
Riley Delaney 2g, 2a
Madi O’Brien 1g, 1a
Cam Faith 1g, 1a
Abby Kalish 1g
Lauren Kinnee 6 saves
Sam Hamalak 4 saves