To look at the record, to know the tradition Keith Broome has built with the girls’ lacrosse program, you would figure that the Cougars’ 16-2 finish was typical this season. Actually, it wasn’t.
Springfield started just three seniors this season. It’s a team made up of predominantly sophomores and freshmen. Still, the Cougars finished in a four-way tie for first place in the Central League with Radnor, Harriton and Garnet Valley, all with 9-2 league marks. They were also good enough to get the No. 5 seed in the PIAA District 1 playoffs, which was determined Sunday and will begin Tuesday, May 17, when Springfield will host No. 28 seed Wissahickon (12-6).
The Cougars graduated nine seniors from the team that reached the state finals last year, losing all three of their games to eventual state champion Radnor, which has won the state title the last two years. For Springfield to even go 9-2 this season was an accomplishment, considering that seven of the top 15 district playoff teams are from the Central League.
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Seven teams from the district tournament will advance to the 16-team PIAA state tournament. Barring an upset, figure the Cougars to be in that mix.
“Going 16-2, we’re very pleased,” Broome said. “We only had four varsity letter winners back. Out of our four defenders, only two were back from last year. What’s especially pleasing is that the Central League has seven of the top 15 teams in the district. This is the toughest the league has ever been in my 15 years of coaching. I think things are wide open now. You have any team that’s as good as any that can win the state title.”
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Junior Maddy Lynch and sophomore Alex Poplawski have been the Cougars’ backbone. But senior captain Courtney Kennedy, senior goalie Kristy Reid and senior attack Brooke Sheay have all provided strong leadership and have honed the character of this team. The Cougars have won a number of close games this year, and in one of their two losses, they blew a five-goal lead against Garnet Valley.
“For us, Kennedy and Lynch really came on strong from the very beginning,” Broome said. “Reid has done a nice job in goal, especially with a young defense in front of her. Lynch has played out of her mind all year long, and there is another player, junior Michelle Gildea, who’s been a real anchor for us back there on defense, playing with young players. Traditionally, we don’t play this many freshmen, but it’s a unique year. At times in games, we’ve had four freshmen on the field. Our freshmen class is strong. They came up and learned by fire.”
This team reminds Broome of the team he had two years ago, when the Cougars won the District 1 championship, upsetting previously undefeated Radnor, snapping the Red Raiders’ 44-game winning streak.
“We catch other teams because we’ve gotten better as the year goes on,” Broome said. “We shoot for late may to be a lot better. The young kids have a lot more experience.”
In other words, expect another deep run by Springfield in the postseason—which is typical.
