PHILADELPHIA – The game paused momentarily in the second half after junior Maeve Heckard notched her 6th goal of the afternoon.
Not only was it another big goal that helped lead Lansdale Catholic over Archbishop Ryan to their the second league win of the season, but it was also a big milestone: Heckard recorded her 100th goal as a Crusader.
The bench filed out onto the field and joined the rest of the team as they posed for a picture with Heckard in celebration of her accomplishment.
“It was nice,” Heckard said. “I’ve been waiting to do it for awhile.”
Lansdale Catholic head coach Alexis Setley graduated from the school in 2011 and has been familiar with the program for years. And for Heckard to do this as just a junior is special, she says.
Lansdale Catholic junior Maeve Heckard scored her 100th career goal in the Crusader's victory vs. Ryan - PSD Photo by Chris Stewart
“For a junior to hit 100 is a pretty big deal,” Setley said. “It’s definitely exciting for our program to see our third player, at least in my time do that. It’s really exciting to see that and just to get that sense of energy for the rest of our team which is really awesome.”
Heckard was not only scoring goals, but she also was winning the draws at will.
Winning those draws kept the ball in the Crusader’s possession for the majority of the game, helping the team score 21 goals on the day en route to a 21-9 victory.
After a comfortable 13-3 margin at halftime, Heckard was leading the team huddle like it was a tie game.
Setley considers Heckard like a coach on the field.
“As a junior she really steps up and helps with our younger girls because we don’t have a lot of feeder programs in our area,” Setley said. “It’s definitely nice to have someone who can help show them basic checks and things like that. Definitely a powerful influence on and off the field.”
With two league wins under their belt, the Crusaders will be playing a bunch of games in a short period to end the season. This includes three games to finish out this week, three games next week and two the week after.
This means the competition will just keep getting tougher and fatigue will start to set in potentially.
“The PCL is getting more competitive, which I like,” Heckard said. “But it is also harder keeping up with it. I think we played really well and I am really proud of it.”
Caroline Cleary gave the Crusaders a 2-1 lead with this goal - video by Chris Stewart
Lansdale vs. Arch Ryan - PSD Photos by Chris Stewart
With a couple weeks of season remaining, Heckard and Setley have similar goals that they want to achieve to finish out the year.
They not only want to garner team success, but they also want everyone to achieve personally as well.
“I want to win more,” Heckard said. “I want everyone to score more. I just want everyone to get more involved in the game.”
“If my seniors get to the PCL's, they will have went 4 for 4 in the PCL playoffs,” Setley said. “That’s definitely a goal, but just to see them accomplish whether it’s scoring off their left hand or successfully getting more than 50 percent of their ground balls. For them to accomplish their personal goals is a goal for me.”
Looking Ahead: Lansdale Catholic will play away vs. St. Hubert this afternoon at 3:45 PM and Archbishop Ryan will host Archbishop Wood this afternoon at the same time.