Knoch girls lacrosse rolls to 27-1 victory
JEFFERSON TWP — The grass playing surface was spongy. The ball barely bounced or rolled in the squishy mud. And shovels would have better served the players in digging ground balls out of the mess than webbed sticks.
None of it seemed to hinder Knoch in a Section 2-2A matchup with Ambridge Wednesday night. The Knights scored again and again in a 27-1 victory, netting what stands to reason as the most goals in a single game in the program’s history.
“Our morale was pretty high,” said Knoch junior Grace Gilmore, who deposited a game-high seven goals. “We were really excited to play tonight and we just worked really well together. We’ve been practicing and I just think that we felt it tonight ... Everyone was really connecting as a team.”
The Knights (1-3) were supposed to host Indiana on Monday, but the meeting was rescheduled for next month, due in large part to the shape their field has been in.
“It’s definitely harder in the grass, especially with all the rain recently,” Gilmore said before considering her team’s acclimation to the conditions. “We practice in this, I feel like that also helped tonight.”
To the tune of 11 markers in the contest’s initial 10 minutes, to be exact. Gilmore broke the seal on the scoreboard with 0:54 gone by. Senior Yumiko Kuo and Jeanine Eichenlaub, freshmen Avery Adams and Emma Slusser, and junior Paige Rodgers all followed suit.
Nine and a half minutes in, Gilmore had racked up five goals.
“The girls have been working hard this season,” Knoch coach Megan Crawford said. “It’s great to see the team working together. We have a lot of new players this season.”
The Knights tout eight first-year players, including seven freshmen who have all seen extending playing time. Along with Adams and Slusser, rookie Maura Davies found the back of the net against the Bridgers, whose program is in its second year of existence.
“We need to beef up our defense,” Ambridge coach Dave Ilko said about a back unit whose members are all newcomers to the sport. “I had to pull veterans from attack and midfield to play defense.”
Very few times did the Bridgers gain any sort of offensive traction. They didn’t fire off a single shot in a second half where the clock ran continuously. Ambridge’s side rosters 21 players, an improvement over last year’s team, which had only two bench players.
Elizah Collins, Alaina Fields, Sydnee Pitkins, and Madison Hensch joined their team’s offensive exhibition, too. Sydney Mullen and Kuo totaled four tallies.
The Knights will welcome in Seton LaSalle, another conference foe, on Friday.
