For the New Hope-Solebury girls lacrosse team, the first victory of the season was especially sweet.
The Lions defeated non-league opponent Villa Joseph Marie, 18-12, on Friday night at home.
“It’s nice to get that first win,” New Hope coach Cailin O’Hara said. “It was a great team effort all around. They spread out the goals and never got down on themselves. Whenever we were behind, they picked it back up.”
The first half was fast and furious. VJM netted the first goal of the evening just 32 seconds into play. New Hope got it back 13 seconds later on a goal by Madie Thistlewaite.
The Jems got the lead back a minute later, but Thistlewaite scored again to tie it up and Ava Cozza gave the Lions their first lead of the evening with her goal off a free position.
Thirty seconds later, Thistlewaite grabbed the lead back with an assist from Margaret Tresler and then Tresler put one in with an assist from Nicole Michael to make it 5-3.
Villa Joseph Marie then went on a tear, scoring the next four goals to take an 8-5 lead with 12:38 remaining.
But the Lions put in three consecutive goals by Tresler from Mia Patino, Thistlewaite and, with just 21 seconds to go, Ellie Gudusky from Thistlewaite to take the lead, 9-8, into halftime.
It was a lead New Hope would never relinquish again.
Michael netted the first goal of the second half for the Lions just 30 seconds into play and from there the Jems were never nearer than two goals behind for the remainder of the game.
Thistlewaite netted five goals, Tresler added two, while Gudusky and Jamie Gugger scored single goals to account for the rest of the scoring in the second half for New Hope.
Cozza and Gugger, both sophomores, and Gudusky, a freshman, scored their first varsity goals in the game.
“It’s good to get that first win,” said Thistlewaite, a junior. “I’m really proud of how well we pulled together.”
New Hope goaltender Nicole Segler made 10 saves in the cage.
“Last year we had a rough season,” said Segler, a sophomore who also plays goal for the field hockey team at New Hope. “So, this year everyone is pushing themselves to be better. We are working as a team a lot better this year and it’s exciting.
“We have a good mix of ages, but everyone steps up to be a leader. It doesn’t matter what grade they’re in. I think we’re capable of getting a lot more wins because everyone is willing to work together.
“In this game, I thought our defense did a great job in front of me. They’re my safety net and they did a great job marking up.”
New Hope was 0-4 going into the contest, and faced a Jems team that handed the Lions an 18-5 drubbing last season.
“We remembered our game with them from last year,” Thistlewaite said. “They really took it to us and it definitely feels good to beat a team like that. It shows us that we can win if we play together.
“They were ahead early and they were being aggressive and we realized we had to pick it up so we did, and that’s what I see us doing this year. Last year was a rough season but this year we’re working really hard and we want to win. We had a year to grow and we’re pulling it together.”
The Lions are back in action on Wednesday, April 12, when they travel to Upper Dublin for a Suburban One League American Conference game at 3:30 p.m.
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