Sukonik And Harriton Ready For The Playoffs

Carli Sukonik has no problem with saying she’s greedy. The Harriton senior attack deserves to be. She’s been one of the mainstays in the resurgence of the Rams’ girls’ lacrosse program the last three years. She’s been through the hammerings from some of the top teams in the area. Each year, Harriton has closed the gap.

There is no gap anymore.

The Rams will enter the PIAA District 1 playoffs on Tuesday, as the No. 4 seed hosting No. 29 seed Phoenixville (9-7 record) in the first round. The Rams do it with one of the most explosive offenses this year, led by Sukonik, who has scored 84 goals this season and has broke the 300-career goal plateau (reaching 301 career goals with three goals in an 18-0 victory over Upper Darby last week).

She’ll graduate as one of the school’s all-time great players. But she wants more. She wants to leave with a state championship, which is possible. The Rams were 16-2 overall, and they finished the regular season sharing a piece of the Central League title with Radnor, Garnet Valley and Springfield—a first for the Harriton program.

What should make Sukonik and her teammates optimistic is the fact that they defeated both of last year’s state finalists, beating two-time defending state champion Radnor for the first time since 1982 and beating Springfield for the first time since 1985.

Harriton beat Radnor 14-13 in sudden death on May 3. The interesting part was that the Rams came back to win, after trailing 9-8 late.

“I think that clearly as the season has gone on, and we’ve gotten closer to the playoffs, things have become more realistic, and things have gone great for us, better than anyone could have imagined,” said Sukonik, who’s bound for Lehigh for lacrosse. “I think we can do well in the district playoff. Beating Radnor showed what we can do... We’ll remember to fight back.”

If the seeding holds up, Harriton could be faced with an all-Central League quarterfinal match with Springfield, which the Rams defeated earlier this season, 15-13. If Harriton gets further, there is the potential for a semifinal match with No. 1 seed Downingtown East in the district semifinals.

“The biggest thing we need to focus on is playing all 50 minutes,” Sukonik said. “The seniors know what this is like from past years, and we know other teams raise their level this time of year. The senior leaders will stress to everyone about staying focused and playing hard the entire 50 minutes. I think if we stay with that, I think we can do well and can have a lot of success in the district playoffs. This is what we’ve been working for.”