Spring-Ford Game of the Week

Boys Lacrosse Edges Non-League Opponent

Boys lacrosse had an important non-league victory over Great Valley on Monday night, defeating them by just one point, 12-11. Down by two at the half, the boys put in a strong late-game effort to blast past the Ches-Mont opponent, scoring six in the final quarter of play.

"Both teams came out hard and strong," said head coach Kevin Donnelly. "We did play really well for most of the game. They're a very good team. They have a lot of guys that can get up and down the field. We knew that they only run about four midfielders. We knew that if we could make sure we were playing tough and tight for most of the game that they were going to slow down. That's kind of what happened."

The season has been defined by two types of games: one where everyone gets a chance to score, and one where junior Paul Major and/or senior Zach Monzo puts the team on his back and leads the team to victory. In this contest, Major had seven goals.

"They have a couple of longsticks that are going to big-time schools," said Donnelly. "They chose to put their best defenseman on Zach for most of the game, which obviously opened Paul up for a lot. He can take over a game in a second and everybody knows that. He did. Zach played hard, played well and was able to take that big defenseman away from Paul and that really allowed him to flourish."

Sophomore goalie played a tough game. Great Valley had 37 shots on goal and scored 11. Messerle saved 14 of those shots.

"He makes great saves," Donnelly said. "For example [against Boyertown Thursday] he had 24, which was huge. He gets on ones that he's supposed to and quite a few of the ones he probably shouldn't. He really allows us to play our game defensively and he gobbles up the ones our defense allows. That's key. If you don't have someone to stop the ball consistently, then you're going to struggle on defense."

Donnelly agreed this was an important game. The boys have three losses this season, one to Owen J. Roberts, one to Hatboro-Horsham and one to Avon Grove.

"We needed that win," he said. "Going forward, hopefully we'll get seeded in the district. That was a key win for us, we had to have it. With a loss to Avon Grove and Hatboro, that was something that going in with one win out of four out of league is not really a good thing. So, we knew we had to have it. Our kids played hard for 48 minutes to get it and took care of it. Hopefully that will allow us to build into the PAC-10 Final Four and into districts."

Softball Tops P.V. with Mid-Game Surge

The Spring-Ford softball team and Perkiomen Valley squared off on Monday evening. The Rams defeated the Vikings, 6-2.

The game was scoreless through 3-and-a-half, but the Rams scored one in the fourth, three in the fifth and two in the sixth to take a 6-0 lead. Perkiomen Valley could only put up two runs in the seventh.

Junior pitcher Haleigh Williams pitched the entire game, giving up six hits and two walks, as well as the two earned runs.

Marisha Bates hit a double and hit a triple in the game. The girls only have one loss this season.

Girls Lacrosse Defeats Owen J. Roberts

The girls lacrosse team defeated PAC-10 rival Owen J. Roberts on Thursday, 16-9. Goalie Cassidy Novotny had 16 saves in the contest. Sophomore Kira Gensler led the team in goals with seven and senior led in assists with 11.