GIRLS' LAX: Cardinal O'Hara Advances to PCL Finals After Defeating Lansdale Catholic

By Angelise Stuhl , 05/19/17, 1:15PM EDT

ASTON, PA – The 90+ degree weather seemed to have little effect on Cardinal O’Hara’s and Lansdale Catholic’s offense yesterday evening, as both teams hustled hard on the field in the Philadelphia Catholic League girls’ lacrosse semifinal.

Before the game both coaches versed a similar message to their teams.

“Play your game,” said Crusader’s coach Alexis Setley.

“Be the best you can be,” said Lion's coach Tami Kirby.

Needless to say, both teams followed their coach’s orders.

2017 PCL LAX Semis O'Hara vs. Lansdale Highlight Video

The game was played relatively even between both squads with O’Hara holding a slight edge 5-4 heading into the half. O’Hara sophomore Erin Grady led her team on offense, scoring three of the Lions 5 first half goals. Lansdale Catholic senior and Rutgers University commit, Jacqui Jester, led her team’s offensive attack, tallying three out of the four first half goals for the Crusaders.

Julia Ferraiolo and Anna Dirita scored two back-to-back goals enhancing O’Hara’s lead 7-5 after the half. Jester added two second half goals for Lansdale Catholic, but it was not enough to stop the sisterly power of Erin and Molly Grady.

The Grady sisters finished the second half of the game with two goals a-piece to lead O’Hara to the PCL final by a score of 13-7.

Post Game Interview with O'Hara's Erin Grady

Lansdale Catholic senior Jacqui Jester leaves advice for her returning teammates

“Our game plan coming in was really to work together as a team. I thought it was really important that our attack fought to get the ball back to give our mid-field some time to get back and help out on defense,” said Kirby. “Our attack played a fabulous game offensively and defensively. Possession off the draw was huge today and our defense was on today, they were talking. It was a total team win.”

Lansdale Catholic ended the regular season with a 7-3 PCL record. While their post-season run was cut short, the Crusaders will be returning a solid veteran class next spring.

“Next year I’m really looking forward to see how far we come. I only had three seniors this year and I have 6 or 7 juniors returning for next year, so I’m really excited to see how that goes having a larger group moving up. Hopefully we can make it to that final game,” said Setley. “I couldn’t ask for a better group of girls. Lansdale Catholic is my alma mater, so any game that I get to see them come this far is just a proud mommy coach moment for me.”

“I wanted my team to take a sense of pride in themselves on the field and have them play every game as if it were their last, because you never know what can happen,” added Setley.

On Monday, the PCL girls’ lacrosse finals will take place at Neumann University. O’Hara will play either No. 1 seed Archbishop Carroll or No. 4 seed Bonner-Prendergast. Anything can happen, but given that Carroll has won the past 16 PCL girls’ lacrosse titles and currently has an undefeated PCL record, it seems as if the Lions will be playing the Patriots come Monday. If that is the case, coach Kirby explains that in order to have a chance at taking home the PCL plaque, the Lions need to play as a cohesive unit.

“We have to believe in each other and work together as a team,” said Kirby. “I think possession is going to be huge in that game. Carroll is dominant. They are a force and an unbelievable team. Their players are incredible to watch. So we just have to play together as a team and be the best that we can be that day and we’ll see what happens.”