The race is on.
And the Pennridge girls lacrosse team is right in the thick of it.
The Rams are in the hunt for the Suburban One League National Conference title and helped themselves with a 21-10 win over visiting Central Bucks South on Monday night at Wayne Helman Field at Grand View Health Stadium.
It was senior recognition for the Rams, who honored Kate Unzicker, Ava Fantaskey, Caoilin Carickhoff, Jordan Feder and Kendall Posey.
Fantaskey netted the first goal of the evening just 55 seconds into play, setting the tone for the first quarter. Pennridge went up 7-0 and led at the end of the period, 7-2.
By halftime that lead was 12-5 and it went to 15-7 by the end of the third quarter.
Fantaskey led all scorers with six goals. Her third goal of the evening was the 100th of her career.
“We realized I was getting close, but it was really nice to get it tonight,” she said.
“We knew we had to bring it tonight and show the league what we can do. We got off to a good start but then we got into a lull, and then we were able to pick it up and do what we were able to do in the first quarter.
“I think our team is a nice mix and I think we can make a good playoff run.”
She also played basketball at Pennridge. Her lacrosse career will continue at Temple, where she plans to major in business administration.
Fantaskey also had five caused turnovers, four draw controls and three ground balls for the game.
Unzicker scored five goals, had one assist, three draw controls, one caused turnover and one ground ball.
“We came out strong and then they came back and got right back in it,” Unzicker said. “I’m proud of how we reacted, especially in the last quarter. I think we found ourselves and we played the way we know how to play. We worked together, and that showed.
“I think our team is very talented and close-knit, and I think we’re going to go far. Our goal is to win the conference and we’re on our way. We still have a long way to go and we have to keep working hard and focusing on what we need to do.
“We have a very good team dynamic and we set each other up really well. We’re always looking for the open girl to score.”
Unzicker will continue her lacrosse career at Virginia Commonwealth, where she is considering a major in exercise science.
Madigan Posey scored four goals, had two assists and a caused turnover, Kendall Posey had two goals and an assist, Feder and Cayla Wurz each netted a pair of goals, Taylor Burkett chipped in four assists and a ground ball and Leah Verespy contributed three assists, four draw controls and two ground balls to account for the scoring for Pennridge.
Also for the Rams, Makena Charles had two caused turnovers, Delaney Dodge and Abigail Keller caused one turnover apiece and Aubrey Bailey picked up one ground ball.
Anjali Verma made seven saves in goal for the Rams, while Molly Hawkins stopped two shots.
For CB South, Addison Geary had three goals, seven draw controls and a ground ball, Tessa Wells put in three goals, had one assist, five draw controls and a ground ball, Brooke Cenci scored a pair of goals and had a draw control, Avery Curtis scored one goal and won one draw control and Sarah Victor rounded out the scoring with a single tally.
Also for the Titans, Ella Kim had four caused turnovers, two ground balls and a draw control, while Erin Burke, Peyton Ostroff and Kaylee Connor had a ground ball apiece.
CB South goaltender Gianna Olbrich made five saves.
“We knew this was going to be a tough game,” said Ostroff, a senior defender and team captain. “They have some amazing girls.
“They built up a big lead, but we didn’t get down on ourselves and that’s something we’ve been really working on. We’ve played some really good teams and we’ve really been working on not getting down on ourselves, staying strong and staying together as a team, and not getting mad at each other.
“That was big for us in this game. It wasn’t our best but we did not stop, we gave it our all and we just have to keep doing that for the rest of the season.”
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