FLOURTOWN — No. 3 Mount Saint Joseph Academy dominated possession from start to finish in its District 1-2A semifinal against No. 7 Unionville Tuesday afternoon, but the teams were tied after one quarter and the Magic held just a one-goal lead at halftime.
That quickly changed in the third quarter. The Mount scored four goals in the frame, including three within the first 5:11, to take full control before cruising to a 7-0 win over the Longhorns and punching its ticket to the district championship game.
“We really just came out (in the second half) with a new energy,” Mount junior Caitlin Paul said. “We wanted to attack and score as many goals as we could. That was our goal going into the third quarter, just to score and catch them off-guard, and I think we really did that.”
“I think that in those first 23 minutes we were getting good shots on goal,” Mount coach Kyra Castano said. “Their goalie (Phoebe Huffman) was making fantastic saves. We just made adjustments to think about where our players should be and where we’re shooting on goal. I was really proud of them for making that fast adjustment. I think we came out stronger in the third quarter and that made all the difference.”
The Magic (15-6) scored on a pair of penalty corners quickly to open the second half.
Katie Tropiano, who scored the lone goal in the first half, made it 2-0 90 seconds into the third quarter. After the initial corner was stopped, she corralled the ball along the goalline to the right of the cage. From a sharp angle, she took a shot that deflected off the goalkeeper and into the cage to double the Magic’s lead.
Less than two minutes later, Paul made it 3-0. Sara Massella inserted a corner to Julia McGlynn, who passed to Paul. Paul moved forward around defenders before lifting the ball over the keeper and into the cage.
Tropiano completed her hat trick with 9:49 left in the third quarter and Paul got her second goal, courtesy of McGlynn again, midway through the frame. The Magic took the 5-0 lead to the fourth quarter.
“(McGlynn and I) are really good friends and we’ve played together for a long time,” Paul said. “We’ve been building that connection over three years here and I think it’s really starting to click and we’re making great connections. Nora (Massella) as well in the midfield, it’s finally clicking.”
Alexa Durand and McGlynn scored goals in the fourth – both assisted by Paul – to make it a 7-0 win for Mount Saint Joseph, which has scored seven goals in each of its three district playoff games.
“All of them brought a lot of energy today,” Castano said. “They really wanted to win today. They really wanted to get back to the championship. I’m super proud of them.”
The Longhorns (14-6-1) got the ball deep into Magic territory a few times throughout the game, but never managed to put a shot on goal or earn a penalty corner.
“We’ve really been focusing at practice on strategic defense and just being mindful about when we’re approaching the ball and when we want to engage,” Castano said. “Just trying to get the ball at least on our half of the field so we’re not coming down into our circle at all and having those defensive penalty corners at all.”
“Our offense starts with good defense,” Paul said. “I think our defenders really carried us from the back. We had great possession out of the back and into the midfield making through-balls. It was a complete team effort. Everyone was doing their part.”
The Mount will face No. 4 Kennett in the district championship game Saturday at 1:30 p.m. at Methacton High School. The Magic will try to win the program’s first district title since going back-to-back in 2006 and 2007. They’ve been to the final multiple times since 2007 – including last year – but haven’t come away with the trophy.
“Coming into this season we definitely knew we had some unfinished business,” Paul said. “We came into this season hungry. This is our goal, so we’ve been taking it game-by-game. We’re ready to attack the championship with a new energy and finish our business from last year.”
“We talked about it, the redemption tour,” Castano said. “Looking forward to it, really just going out there and playing Mount field hockey on Saturday.”
Unionville will face No. 8 Harriton Thursday in the third-place game ahead of the PIAA-2A state playoffs.
Mount St. Joseph 7, Unionville 0
Unionville 0 0 0 0 – 0
Mount St. Joseph 0 1 4 2 – 7
Goals: MSJ: Katie Tropiano 3, Caitlin Paul 2, Alexa Durand, Julia McGlynn.
Saves: U: Phoebe Huffman 15. MSJ: Kathryn Pedicino 0, Lexi Kelly 0.
Source: Berkshire mont
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