Tough Fought District 1 Playoff Game Against Route 1 Foe

Field Hockey: Garnet Valley doesn’t let this one get away
By MATT CHANDIK
Posted: 10/22/2013

CONCORD — With the season on the line and her Garnet Valley team trailing by a goal in the opening round of the District One Class AAA tournament, Molly Savage admitted that she wasn’t feeling great after Avon Grove’s Anna Mulcrone netted her second goal of the game.

“I’m not going to lie,’ Savage said. “When they were bringing the ball back (to the middle), I was starting to tear up.’

Seventeen seconds later, though, Savage had a big smile on her face. The Jaguars’ senior found herself open in front of the Avon Grove cage and redirected a superb Jessika Daniels pass home for the equalizer to bring on overtime. But after having their season ended in overtime last year, the Jaguars made up for it when Dana Davis ripped home a shot for the game-winning goal for a 3-2 Garnet Valley win.

“I just saw open space,’ said Davis, who reached the 10-goal plateau with her golden goal. “I just knew I had to shoot corners and I just shot. I wanted to cry (after it went in). I’ll be honest. I just wanted to cry.’

The No. 11 Jaguars (15-4-0) advance to the second round and will take on No. 6 Downingtown West, a 3-0 winner over No. 27 North Penn, Wednesday at Kottmeyer Stadium at a time to be determined.

The specter of having lost to Mount St. Joseph in overtime a year ago loomed large after Savage’s second marker of the game — her ninth of the season — knotted things up with 2:37 to play, 17 seconds after Mulcrone had given the Red Devils the edge off one of their 10 second-half corners. But this Jaguars team is both long on talent and on experience, so while Savage was initially shaken up, Davis knew not to panic.

“We don’t back down,’ Davis said. “We work hard. That’s what we do every single day. That’s who we are. We always keep pushing through. … I think I just take a deep breath and say, ‘ Just keep pushing through.’ That’s what I’ve learned over the years. … I think what I learned (from last year’s OT loss) is that we need defense to always be there for each other. If someone goes down, you’ve got to be there for them and have their backs.’

On the other side, it was a disappointing end for No. 22 Avon Grove, especially when things looked so promising after Mulcrone converted an Abigail Pinto assist into the Red Devils’ first lead of the night. Mulcrone will be one of the headliners of a senior class next season, so she and Avon Grove will have another chance to be very good, but Monday, all she could do was lament the one that got away.

“I thought we were going to win it,’ Mulcrone said. “This is terrible. It was the best feeling in the world, scoring the goal, and right when they scored, I just lost it. It was the worst feeling in the world I could ever imagine.’

It was a fitting rematch to a thrilling regular-season meeting that the Red Devils claimed, 1-0, on the strength of a phenomenal effort from goalie Emily Carroll, who stopped eight shots Monday. That in itself was enough to have the Jaguars wondering about what they had gotten into before seeing Avon Grove again.

“I think coming into this game, we were all nervous because they beat us 1-0 and we didn’t know what to expect,’ Daniels added. “(Goalie) Hailey (Valerio, who stopped four shots) was missing that game and our whole lineup was switched up that game, but I think this game, we were back to normal, so I think it helped.’

Yep, just a little bit. And even though she had plenty of reason to celebrate, Davis only had one desire after having to run around in the 7-on-7 overtime session.

“Oh my gosh, (it’s) so exhausting. I’m done right now. I just want to go take a nap.’

Fair enough.