Rams give unbeaten Bears a scare, send message

Boyertown’s Kelly Furman certainly makes her mother and father Barb and Edward very proud, but she's increasingly becoming persona non grata in the Spring-Ford area.

Furman, who was instrumental in thwarting the Rams hopes of a PAC-10 girls' basketball title last winter, again was the source of disappointment for Spring-Ford fans on Monday as she spearheaded a second half come back, leading the Lady Bears to a 10-9 lacrosse win over the Lady Rams at Coach McNelly Stadium.

Spring-Ford, which was paced by Maddie Ward’s five-goal performance, captured an 8-4 lead as Ward capitalized on an eight-meter shot with 21:28 remaining in the game, prompting Bears head coach Pam Wernersbach to call a time out.

“We were playing so well,” said Ward. “They figured out that our scheme was to possess the ball as long as we could, and after that timeout they really started pressuring us, forcing us to rush what we were doing, and we didn’t really adjust to that very well.”

The Rams, sparked by Ward and outstanding goaltending by Cassidy Novotny in the opening minutes, ran out to a 7-4 intermission edge with four goals from Ward, two from Kira Gensler and a tally from Brianna Berone with 17 seconds left on the clock.

“The last time we played them, they beat us like 10-2,” said Ward. “I think today we proved that we are ready to play with teams like Boyertown and Methacton. It showed how much we have grown as a team. It just stunk that we couldn’t get a win out if it.

Furman (4 goals, assist) got the momentum going for Boyertown, which remained unbeaten in the PAC-10 at 9-0 (9-4 overall). With 19:45 left to play, Furman beat Novotny with a rising shot to bring the Bears within three. Amanda Smith scored 15 seconds later for Boyertown and tension started to mount.

Following a string of six unanswered goals by the Bears over a 13-minute span in the second half, Spring-Ford (6-3 league, 8-4 overall) stopped the bleeding as Erin Mensch snared a rebound of a Novotny save on Furman with just over three minutes remaining and rambled the length of the field, ripping it past Boyertown net minder Lindsay Clinton to cut the lead to 10-9.

Following a time out called by Rams head coach Amy Short, Sasha Wozniak controlled the ball as the Rams tried to cycle the ball to Ward or to Gensler.

After possessing the ball in the Boyertown zone for almost a minute and a half of playing time, Furman broke up a pass to Maddie Ward as she streaked toward the Bears net, sending the ball out of the zone and toward the Rams zone where Boyertown wasted away the remaining 59 seconds on the clock, handing the Rams a gut-wrenching defeat.

“The scoreboard says we lost,” said Ward. “We know we were right there with them, and we may play them again in the playoffs. There is a sports saying, that’s it's hard to beat a team three times, so hopefully the next time we see them, we leave the field with a win.”  

Boyertown            4            6            -10

Spring-Ford            7            2            - 9        

Scoring

First half

17:57- BY  Engler from Furman

17:25- SF   Ward from Gensler

13:57- SF   Ward

10:58- BY  Furman

 8:59-  SF   Ward  (8 meter)

 8:26-  SF   Gensler

 7:15-  BY  Furman (8 meter)

 5:28-  SF   Ward

 4:12-  BY  Genuario

 4:00-  SF   Gensler from Ward

   :17-  SF   Berone

Second half 

21:48-  SF  Ward (8 meter)

19:45-  BY  Furman

19:30-  BY  Dehaven

17:18-  BY  Smith

15:46-  BY  Wentzel

13:23-  BY  Furman

  6:53-  BY  Engler

  3:16-  SF   Mensch

Goal tenders-

BY- Clinton  -12 saves

SF- Novotny – 9 saves