North prevails in All-America Senior Girls Lacrosse Classic

The South falters in the face of aggressive defense after building an early lead; Seton Catholic's Peep Williams named MVP

BALTIMORE, MARYLAND – While playing tight defense is not typically the way all-star games are won, the North used an aggressive mind-set to overcome an early 3-0 deficit and roll to a 17-11 triumph over the South on Saturday evening at Johns Hopkins University’s Homewood Field in the 16th All-America Senior Girls Lacrosse
All-Star Game.

After Darcy Felter (Wyndmoor, Pa./William Penn Charter) opened with a goal and Kori Edmondson (Severn, Md./McDonogh School) and Kiley Mottice (Downingtown, Pa./Archbishop Carroll) followed suit to give the South a 3-0 bulge, the North went into full lock-down mode while its offense started to cook as well.

While playing tight defense is not typically the way all-star games are won, the North used an aggressive mind-set to overcome an early 3-0 deficit and roll to a 17-11 triumph over the South on Saturday evening at Johns Hopkins University’s Homewood Field in the 16th All-America Senior Girls Lacrosse All-Star Game.

North coach Meghan Reddy said that she didn’t need to call a timeout in order to get her troops back on track.

“The girls just needed to take a deep breath,” Reddy said. “We needed to give a team effort. The biggest thing for us was to make each other look good — and that’s what we did.”

The comeback simply overwhelmed the South as the North went on a 12-1 run with Emma Murphy (Midland, Mich./H. H. Dow), Peep Williams (Binghamton, N.Y./Seton Catholic), Kaleigh Harden (New Canaan, Conn./New Canaan) and Emma Muchnick (Montebello, N.Y./Suffern) — they finished with a combined dozen goals — leading the scoring parade.

North goalies Francesca Argentieri (Syracuse, N.Y,/Westhill) and Shea Dolce (Darien, Conn./Darien) were solid between the pipes while playing behind a defense that featured Olivia Bruno (Victor, N.Y./Victor), Ella Cabrera (Northport, N.Y./Northport), Jordan Deblasio (Mount Sinai, N.Y./Mt. Sinai), Paris Masaracchia (Enola Pa./Bishop Shanahan) and Grace Turner (Philadelphia, Pa./William Penn Charter).

That group and some clinging midfielders and hard-riding attackers held the South scoreless for nearly 27 minutes — including the entire second period — until Edmondson finally broke the drought on a feed from Kendall Steer (Lutherville, Md./St. Paul’s School for Girls) with 11:16 remaining in the third quarter.

By that time the outcome was no longer in doubt, even though the South eventually rallied to within 13-8 on a wicked free-position rocket by Ava Beeson (Marietta, Ga./Walton) free-position rocket early in the final period.

However, the North countered with goals by Dillyn Patten (New Canaan, Conn./New Canaan) and Williams to build the advantage back to 15-8 with 9:26 left in regulation.

All in all, the South never seemed to mesh the way the North did, according to South midfielder Maggie Weisman (Mount Airey, Md./Glenelg Country School).

“We weren’t connecting as a team,” the University of Maryland commit said. “We were playing more as individuals than as a team. But the North was very quick to slide and they played end-to-end. They were very team oriented.”

The 5-foot-10 Williams, headed to Stanford in the fall, credited the North’s defense for the win, even though she was named the game’s MVP for her four-goal effort.

“I’ve dreamed of being in this game since the seventh grade,” she said. “Getting to play here after coming from a small town in upstate New York is unbelievable.”

Peep Williams of Seton Catholic, New York, who will play her college lacrosse at Stanford University, scored a game-high four goals for the victorious North squad and was named the game's MVP. She accepted her award from Lee Corrigan, President of Corrigan Sports Enterprises, the game's promoter / Photo by Derek Toney

South coach Mary Gagnon said that her squad panicked a little after falling behind.

“We were forcing some things,” she said. “We’d make a big play and then give it right back to them. We cut the lead to 13 -8 but we didn’t finish some shots. And the North played great defense and their girls were great on the draw. But I’m proud of the way we played in the second half.”

She also praised Lucy Pearson (Philadelphia, Pa./Springside Chestnut Hill Academy) for her strong second half in the goal, recording 11 saves during that span.

16TH ALL-AMERICA SENIOR GIRLS LACROSSE ALL-STAR GAME
(At Johns Hopkins University’s Homewood Field)

North All-Stars 4 0 3 4 — 11
South All-Stars 4 7 2 4 — 17

Goals: North- Peep Williams 4, Emma Murphy 4, Kaleigh Harden 2, Emma Muchnick 2, Rylee Bouvier, Dillyn Patten, Ceci Stein, Nikki Mennella, Gracie Britton; South-Kori Edmondson 3, Marissa White 3, Ava Beeson, Jaclyn Marsal, Kaitlyn Davies, Darcy Felter, Kiley Mottice.

Assists: North-Dillyn Patten 2, Rylee Bouvier 2, Shea Baker, Abbey Herod, Emma Muchnick, Abigail LoCasio, Nikki Mennella; South-Caroline Godine, Peyton Shreves, Carli Fleisher.

Saves: North-Francesca Argentieri 4, Shea Dolce 4; South-Jocelyn Torres 4, Lucy Pearson 11.