Marple Newtown Girls' Lax Suffer 9-6 Setback To Penncrest

NEWTOWN SQUARE–Between the wind, the unexpected chilly temperatures and Penncrest’s incessant attacks, ’s girls’ lacrosse team fell to the Lions, 9-6, in a back-and-forth Central League game played under the lights at Marple Newtown High School Tuesday night.

The loss dropped the Tigers to 3-3 overall and 0-2 in the Central League, while Penncrest won for the first time this year, improving to 1-3 and 1-1 in the league. The defeat also wasted the fine effort of Marple Newtown senior Devon Miller, who scored a game-high four goals. Annabel Shin and Brigid Kyne each scored a goal for the Tigers.

“This was an exciting game for us,” Marple Newtown coach Mary Ann Schiller said. “We knew we gave them a battle last year. This came down to a possession game, and we didn’t possess the ball as much as we would have liked. We have a small roster, like Penncrest does, and we’re a young team with our experience.”

But a team that has a dangerous player in Miller, who’s scored 14 goals in six games this year, can cause problems for every opposing team the Tigers face this season. Penncrest had trouble keeping Miller under wraps the entire game. It came down to which team had the ball more frequently, keeping it away from the ever-lethal Miller.

She was all over the field, causing problems, penetrating Penncrest’s defense and peppering the goalie with an assortment of shots that reached the net from high in the corners to bouncers that found their way past the goal line.

For Marple Newtown, it was a matter of getting the ball on Miller’s stick.

“We really didn’t possess the ball very well,” Miller said. “We could have handled the ball much better. This game was pretty important to us, since it was a Central League game and we lost our first league game. I think our transition game was hurt, too, moving from defense to offense. We were trying to get some things going on offense. It came to a point where I felt that I had to step up and do something.”

Penncrest used a variety of scorers. Junior Christy Bond led the Lions with a hat trick, scoring a team-high three goals, followed by two goals from Maggie King, and one goal each from Cara Lord, Haley Altus, Patrice Coleman and Caroline Nichols.

Penncrest never trailed. The Lions took off on a 3-1 lead and held a 4-3 edge at halftime. The Lions then scored four of the next five goals to take command of the game, 8-4, before the Tigers mounted a late charge, making it a respectable 9-6 finish.