Shanahan knocks off Henderson

The Bishop Shanahan girls lacrosse team was looking to bounce back from a loss to Conesotga, and more importantly, clinch a tie for the Ches-Mont League National Division title Tuesday.

Buoyed by three goals from Caitlyn Hubiak, the Eagles opened up a halftime lead and went on to knock off West Chester Henderson, 9-4.

The win pushed Shanahan to 10-1 in the National, 13-4 overall, and a one-game lead over Downingtown East. The Eagles will visit West Chester East in the regular-season finale Thursday. A victory will give them the division title outright.

“I’m real excited to hopefully win Ches-Monts on Thursday and continue with the senior middies with me through districts,” said Hubiak.

Henderson jumped on top nearly threee minutes into the game on a goal by Kendall Brandon.

The Eagles tied it up two minutes later as Ellie Udo intercepted a pass and fed Annabelle Wiedel, who scored. Shanahan took the lead with 17:45 left, as Udo made the second of her three intreceptions in the first half, then passed

it to Sophia Lynberis, who one-timed it into the net.

Hubiak notched her first goal of the evening off a free position and Shanahan was ahead 3-1. Udo extended the lead a minute later and forced Henderson into a time out. “My team and I had a really good tempo and good composure,” said Hubiak. “I think we all worked well together and came out with another Ches-Mont win.”

Henderson went a player down and Shanahan capitalized as Hubiak recorded her second goal of the game to push the lead to 5-1. Hubiak, though, missed most of the second half after picking up her second yellow card. Brandon scored for the second time to end the 5-0 run with 3:12 left and cut the deficit to 5-2.

Shanahan scored twice in the final minute of the half to go into the halftime break with a 7-2 lead. The Warriors cut it to 7-3 early in the half on a tally from Delaney Turner.

Both teams turned up the defense to keep each other off the board for nearly 10 minutes before Wiedel scored to make it 8-3 with 11:49 remaining.

“Taylor (Williams), our goalie, played great and holding Shanahan to nine goals is something to be proud of,” said Henderson coach Emily Eckley. “We just didn’t do a great job of possessing the ball when we had it. Unfortunately, we had a hard time finding the cage on offense. But, overall, I’m proud of the way we played, it just didn’t go our way.”

Alaina Baptista for Shanahan and Rylee Bauer for Henderson closed out the scoring. Allie Hathaway had a strong game in goal for Shanahahn, making 11 saves. Taylor Williams made eight for Henderson.

The Warriors (5-6, 9-8) close out the season with a trip to Great Valley with a berth in the 3A District playoffs on the line. The game has even more significance for Eckley, who is due to have a baby in a little more than a week. Bishop Shanahan 9, West Chester Henderson 4