Butler girls lacrosse grabs 1st playoff victory
BUTLER TWP — Hosting a playoff game gave the Butler girls lacrosse team a little extra help on Wednesday.
Not traveling is nice, especially with the rainstorm which delayed the game one hour, but the advantage came on the field.
“Our field is a little longer,” said Butler coach Annie Succop. “We rely on our goalie (Cara Moses having long clearing passes. That really made a difference.”
The Tornado also received four goals from Kathryn Hitchan and two apiece from Alyssa Olenick and Brittney Miller to earn a 10-6 decision over Vincentian in the first round of the WPIAL Division II playoffs at Art Bernardi Stadium, giving the program its first postseason victory.
That's huge to the program,” said Succop, “to get the first playoff win. It's huge for momentum because it can help get girls to come out and show we're not just a playoff team, but a playoff team that can win in the playoffs.”
Olenick opened the scoring 46 seconds into the game, but the Royals (7-8) countered with two goals in a 2:37 span — by Missa Sangimino and Concetta Staltari — to take a 2-1 lead.
Butler (12-7), however, accounted for the next four goals in just over four minutes to take a 5-2 lead with 9:20 left in the first half.
“That was huge,” said Succop. “We like to dig ourselves a hole at the beginning of the game ... But that gave the team a good confidence boost.”
Olenick, Hitchan, Miller and Hitchan accounted for the goals to give the Tornado a huge advantage.
The Royals would close out the half with a goal by Missa Sangimino and one by Mary Stack, the latter with 18.8 seconds left to make it a one-goal contest.
The Tornado opened the second half with four consecutive goals to take control.
Casey Murdick, Hitchan, Bailey Kraus and Hitchan netted the goals for a 9-4 Tornado advantage.
“We know we can count on (Hitchan) but we have four or five girls who can score. You never know who it will be,” Succop said.
For the third time, the Royals responded with consecutive goals as Meg Sangimino and Erin Sarosi scored, but Miller closed out the scoring with a goal with just 2:40 to play.
Butler will travel to face host Bethel Park at 6 p.m. today.
“They have a girl who has 85 goals so we'll have to be ready for her,” said Succop. “We usually would put Allie Houk on her, but it'll be hard. She also has 35 assists, so she can pass it, too.”
Butler struck first, but Baldwin struck back — again, again and again.The Highlanders trailed early, but scored three goals in a 1:42 span in the first quarter and seven of eight to take a commanding 7-2 lead en route to a 12-5 victory over the Tornado in first-round playoff action.Baldwin (14-3) had seven different players score, including a hat trick by Division 2 Player of the Year Cody Golon.“We've been fortunate because we're deep as a team,” said Highlanders coach Shawn Leydig. “Our third line is pretty strong.” Golon, Garrett Wild and Craig Madison (both who had two goals each) are our top three scorers. Wild had 35 goals and Madison added 30 more.“They play well together as a team,” added Leydig, who also received two goals from freshman Tony Thornton.“They fed the middle a lot on us,” said Butler coach Brandon Hoskinson. “We caught on, but they completed quite a few more passes than us.”Butler's Cody Bachman tallied four of the Tornado goals, including the first goal just 1:16 into the game on a Tanner Kotch helper and tallied his final goal with 48.5 seconds remaining off a pass from Alex Guiste.In between, however, the Highlanders maintained control.Goalie Tom Degore made nine saves plus the Tornado hit the post seven times by Hoskinson's count.Kotch added a goal and two assists and Cory Hilliard added an assist for Butler (9-9).“We're a young team but we have some great seniors,” said Hoskinson. “I've been there before and know how heartbreaking for the season to end. You can see it in the tears in their eyes.“Our seniors did a stand-up job with the young guys. They worked very close with them.”
