Upper Dublin Lady LAX off to Hot Start, Tough Tests Await

One glance at the results tells an impressive story of the Upper Dublin girls' lacrosse team.

Romps through the Suburban One League's American Conference -- six wins by a combined score 84-9 -- jump out as dominating evidence, save for a season-opening loss to Abington.

But it's the Flying Cardinals effective dispatching of non-league opponents from the highly competitive Central League that really describe their season. A 14-10 win over Ridley on Wednesday came a few weeks after a 10-8 victory over Boyertown.

"Those are good tests for us," Upper Dublin coach Dee Cross said. "The Central League is always strong, and I feel the better competition we play, we're going to learn. We need to stay competitive. We will be better by playing those teams."

Villa Maria, Conestoga and Springfield-Delco, the ninth-ranked team in Pennsylvania's Eastern Region, await.

"If we are make the playoffs, these games will have really hlped us fine tune our abilities.”

Coming off an 18-1 record and a SOL American Championship, the Cardinals are led by a core of juniors -- midfielders Kelly Cross, Emily Hitchings and Michele DeVincent, attacker Brooke Callahan, defenseman Steph Spreese and goalie Anna Lauer. The same core piloted the team last year as sophomores.

Cross, the coach's third of four lacrosse playing daughters, is coming off a 54-goal, 63-assist season and a first-team All Suburban One selection. She's already committed to play for Division 1 Syracuse University, where she will join older sister Amy.

Shaking off a pulled hamstring that forced her to miss the Abington loss, Cross has 32 goals and 23 assists in eight games.

"Kelly really settles the midfield down," coach Cross said. "By her getting possession, she then takes control of the offense."

DeVincent will miss the next few weeks with what Coach Cross called a "severe contusion" on the bottom of her left foot, and she will wear a boot for the next 10 day to two weeks. Danielle Ferguson has contributed in her place.

Two freshmen, Taylor D’Ginto and Rachel DiFrangia, have also been factors for Upper Dublin along with the lone starting senior Kaley Weinstein.

"They're playing attack, and getting a lot of touches," Cross said of the freshman pair. "They’re coming on quickly."

Against Ridley (5-5), Upper Dublin started fast, with Callahan scoring off a Cross assist one minute into the game. Another minute later, and goals by Emily Hitchings and Cross bumped that lead to 3-0.

The Green Raiders, ranked 46th in the Eastern Region, answered with three of the game's next four scores, and eventually tied the game at 5. D'Ginto scored to give Upper Dublin a 6-5 halftime lead.

The Cardinals roared in the second half, scoring four straight, and held on from there.

The rest of the season should be smooth for the Cardinals, with Plymouth Whitemarsh, Norristown, Upper Moreland and Upper Merion. They have a rematch with Wissahickon on May 5, and the final likely will be different than the 12-0 win on April 12, when the Trojans were missing several key players.

Wissahickon boasts a strong core of attacker/midfielder Laura Fankenfield, midfielders Alex Smith and Emily Croke and a strong  defense led by and goalie Jessica Scannapieco.

Not that it will matter if Upper Dublin continues to write its multilayered story.

"We're working with a great group of girls, and different players have stepped up," coach Cross said. "We have to continue to get to every ground ball, and continue to attack and defend. We're getting valuable experience."