Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Wolfe’s six goals lifts Unionville past Rustin
WESTTOWN » In the battle for first place in the Ches-Mont League American Division, Unionville dug in and instead of seeing the top spot slip away, they used a big second half to solidify the top spot.
The Longhorns outscored West Chester Rustin, 8-3, in the second half and Amanda Wolfe had six goals individually as they knocked off the Golden Knights, 13-9, on Thursday.
“Understanding what we needed to do in attack in order to be successful against them,” said Unionville coach Tara Brown. “It was a very good defense they put out against us. It was different than what we’ve seen in other games, so we had to focus on what we needed to do to beat it. The girls worked together and it was great.”
Unionville (6-2 Ches-Mont American, 11-4 overall), which trailed, 6-5, at halftime, opend up the second half by getting the tying goal, thanks to Lily Robitzer nearly two minutes into the half. They took their first lead
with 19:34 left on a Wolfe goal. She scored shortly thereafter to make it 8-6 and force Rustin into calling a timeout.
“We started to figure out the draw,” said Wolfe. “Also, fast breaks were working for us and we were communicating well.”
Rustin went nearly 12 minutes between the first half and the second before finally getting on the board via Elizabeth McGurk with 16:40 to cut the deficit to one.
“I think it was our shooting,” said Rustin coach Sarah Kropp on explaining the drought. “Their goalie (Maddie Robitzer) played great. We were getting the looks, but we were putting it right at her stick.”
Unionville took control by scoring four goals in a row. Maddie Pasarello got it started, followed by two goals from Wolfe and a tally by Delaney Harlan to grow the lead to 12-7.
The Golden Knights cut it to 12-9 and had a chance to make it a two-goal deficit, but Robitzer made a huge save and the Longhorns ran the clock down before Harlan scored with less than a minute less to seal it.
“I’m proud of the team. It was a complete team effort tonight,” said Kropp. “In the long run, it came down to 50-50 balls and who wanted it more. The ground balls just didn’t go our way. I’m not disappointed in the way we played or our effort.”
The Longhorns benefitted greatly from cutting down their turnovers. They committed seven in the first half as compared to three in the second.
Rustin jumped out in the first half on two tallies by Alexis McClain and one each from McGurk, Skyler Baur and Jordyn Krafchick to build a 5-1 lead. Unionville clawed back by scoring three straight times to cut the deficit to 5-4.
A subtext to the game was the strong play of both goalies, Maddie Robitzer of Unionville and Ava Panetta of Rustin. Robitzer made 12 saves on the evening and Panetta registered seven.
“Both of them are athletic kids,” said Kropp. “Ava picked up a lacrosse stick last year and she’s done awesome being our goalie. She is a competitive kid who stepped up for us. When you have a good goalie, it keeps you in the game.”
Despite the win, Unionville is not out of the woods yet. They come right back today to face Oxford, before finishing the season with games against Downingtown West and Downingtown East. Rustin visits Oxford on Tuesday and Coatesville on Thursday. Unionville 13, West Chester Rustin 9