PIAA lacrosse: Mars girls can’t clear quarterfinal hurdle in loss to West Chester Rustin
MECHANICSBURG, Cumberland County — Mars has typically applied the pressure on its opponents all season.
In Saturday’s PIAA Class 2A girls lacrosse quarterfinal, it was the Fightin’ Planets who felt an unrelenting squeeze. District 1 runner-up West Chester Rustin, making its first quarterfinal appearance, overwhelmed Mars 13-6 at Mechanicsburg’s John H. Frederick Field.
The Golden Knights matched the four-time WPIAL champion Planets’ dynamic scores — Hailey Long, Katie Blake and Anna McGrath — with their own. Lauren McClain and sisters Ava Cappelli and Bella Cappelli all had three goals.
“(Their offense) did catch me a little bit off guard,” Mars junior Hailey Long said.
McGrath and Blake were held scoreless by a defense that didn’t matchup face-guard and instead trusted the collective to play sound 1-on-1 defense.
“It wasn’t anything really super difficult to solve, it was just doing the little things,” said Long after scoring a team-high four goals after recording a hat trick in the first round. “I think they did play really good 1-v-1 defense.”
The Knights (15-9) are making their first state semifinal in just their third appearance in the tournament. They will face the winner of District 7 runner-up Quaker Valley and D3 champ Wyomissing.
“It’s pretty amazing,” first-year Rustin head coach Jen Raech said. “I have a very young team, we have only one senior on the field.”
Ava Cappelli put Rustin ahead 1:34 into the game with a penalty goal, and Long tied it up a minute later, but that was the last time the score was even.
Bella Cappelli and Lauren McClain scored three more goals in the first quarter, and Long got one more back for Mars on an assist from Anna McGrath to make it 4-2.
Mars kept mixing up its defense trying to solve the Knights’ diverse attack. Long was opposite McClain much of the time.
“We just kept shifting between different styles of defense to see what worked well,” Planets head coach Abby Latona said.
Rustin hit on a couple cuts across the face of the net and turned a few penalty attempts into goals.
Jenna Smith added the Planets’ other two goals in the third and fourth quarters.
For the Planets the ceiling remains for now the state quarterfinals, a level they have reached four times, all since 2021.
“These girls are ready to go,” Latona said of a deep returning core for the 2027 season. “The thing about Mars is we continue to keep reaching.”
She added later: “You can have pride (in your season) and also want more.”
Mars loses three seniors this season, Anna and Tessa McGrath and Lydia Tomkovicz.
“I think just really appreciating our seniors and everything they’ve done for us,” said Long, one of eight juniors on the roster. “Those seniors have been really good showing me how to lead, and I think I’ve learned a ton from them, especially from Anna.”
