Forward progress: Ironmen close the gap
DANVILLE — Danville has been attempting to close the gap with state competition in girls lacrosse for eight years.
On Tuesday, despite suffering a 16-8 loss to District 3 runner-up York Catholic in the opening round of the Class 2A tournament, Ironmen coach Carlene Klena had positive vibes for the direction of the team.
That’s because the Ironmen played their most competitive state tournament game since an 11-10 victory over Wyoming Seminary in 2014. Sandwiched between the two were six lopsided losses in which Danville allowed an average of 19 goals per game while only scoring 3.5.
“We’ve been in this game and blown out so many times,” Klena said. “... This was the most fair game and matchup we’ve had and I’m pretty proud of it. Although I wanted a win, I do think, given our starting lineup being so young, that we’re only going to be back and better. We sent a message with the score and it shows you where we’re headed.”
Danville got off on the right foot, as Gianna Feldmann scored the game’s first goal just 32 seconds in. Not long after, Danville had to play comeback and did so with a goal from Lucy Pickle that bounced off the turf and past Fighting Irish goalie Amanda Reed to notch it at 2-2.
Unfortunately, the Ironmen couldn’t keep up the production and watched as the Irish struck for eight unanswered first-half goals. Klena called a timeout during that stretch to not only remind the girls that the lead isn’t insurmountable but to get back to what was working early.
“I think it was a lack of patience on offense. We had a very clear advantage on certain defenders, and we weren’t really pulling that off,” Klena said. “We’re a very young team, they’re a very seasoned team and played year-round. That plays a huge difference as we maybe didn’t have the wisdom that they did and we sort of had our foot on the gas too much when we could have taken our foot off some.”
It spread to other means of the game as Danville was attempting to pull off much longer passes despite the Irish not playing man defense until midfield.
The Ironmen did close to within five, netting three tallies in under a minute just before halftime. That was the closest Danville got as the teams traded goals in the second half until the Irish pulled away with the game’s final three scores. That included a stretch when the Ironmen were playing one down due to Addison Reidle serving a two-minute penalty.
The Irish were led by Grace Doyle’s five goals and Katie Bullen’s four scores and two assists.
As for Danville, four different players — Lucy Pickle (3), Reidle (2), Jera Strony (2), and Gianna Feldmann — scored a goal. Pickle added an assist to her fine afternoon.
All four scorers return next season as Danville brings back 26 underclassmen. That figure adds in 10 of the 12 starters, including goalkeeper Kaitlyn Gabel. She finished with eight saves against an Irish squad that found ways to rush past the Ironmen and apply pressure on the man defense for much of the afternoon.
“You have to lose to learn,” Klena said. “It’s all just been growing pains and there was no high school lacrosse before I started it [in 2013]. We’re still newborns.”
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