| 05/24/2006 |
| Carroll makes it six straight Catholic titles |
| Harry Chaykun , Of the Times Staff |
PHILADELPHIA -- The Archbishop Carroll girls lacrosse team’s practices last for 21/2 hours.
"We use that time wisely," said Patriots coach Lorraine Beers.
"They know they have to work hard when they come to practice."
Because they do, they get good results. Tuesday night at Saint Joseph’s University, Carroll rolled to a 19-4 decision over Archbishop Wood, earning its sixth consecutive Catholic League playoff championship.
"I hope there are more to come," said Beers, who had four seniors in her starting lineup Tuesday. "We’d like to keep this streak going, but for us to do that we have to have girls come to Carroll who want to play lacrosse and work hard to get better." The Patriots play better each spring because they do things on the family plan. Tuesday night, juniors Mary Beth Brophy (two assists) and Cara Filippelli both scored four goals and Jackie DePetris got three goals. The three had older sisters who were members of Carroll championship teams. DePetris, who was suffering from a stomach virus Monday night, "wasn’t going to miss this game. "I was thinking about how things always seem to happen to me before the championship game," said DePetris, who watched last spring’s title win over Wood while standing on the sideline leaning against the crutches she was using while recovering from a leg injury. "I spent some of the afternoon at home sleeping before we came over here." Then she spent most of the game doing her share to help the Patriots’ attack pile up a 47-17 advantage in shots. "This team was very dedicated to winning," DePetris said. "We played in leagues last summer and winter and even in the fall. We just had a lot of fun together." Putting together a 22-1-1 record had to be fun. Filippelli did not hesitate when asked how that could happen. "It’s our coach," she said. "She’s the best. She’s taken her love for lacrosse and given it to all of us. "She’s been at our practices when she could have been watching her daughter (Kate, a senior at Agnes Irwin School) play. You watch how girls who can’t catch a ball or cradle come to her and she helps them learn. You have to appreciate what she does, and if you think about it, it makes you want to play even harder." Filippelli, who was injured in a semifinal playoff game last spring and did not play in the title match, and the others who watched their sisters play for Beers know the Carroll lacrosse tradition. "There’s pressure," she said. "But just because they’ve done it before doesn’t mean that we will automatically win the league. It makes you want to play harder." Brophy, a junior, had knee surgery twice in her sophomore year and did not play lacrosse last spring. Her abilities at both ends of the field as well as in the midfield helped make Tuesday’s game one-sided. "I thought it might be a little closer tonight," Brophy said. "They just beat O’Hara (in a semifinal game) by just about the same score we beat O’Hara by when we played them at the end of the season. "They have a good offense, but our team is good all over. So many people were saying to us that they knew we were going for our sixth straight championship and they expected us to do it. It makes you work harder. You know how much teams in the Catholic League would like to beat us." Megan Brennan, who scored two goals Tuesday, and Kelly Bosco, who scored two goals this season, will be teammates at Monmouth next spring. Monica Johnson, who was in goal for Carroll’s 2005 championship team, helped Monmouth qualify for the NCAA Division I Tournament this year. "I play low defense," said Bosco. "I finally got a goal (in the semifinal game against St. Hubert). Tonight I got my second goal. And how many shots did it take me to get it?" Bosco’s teammates, Beers and Pats assistant Colleen O’Hara prefer to count the shots Bosco and the others on the defensive unit knock down before they got to goalies Maura Gallagher and Megan Corliss. "I even played defense wing some tonight," Bosco said. "I got to run up and down the field. The thing about playing on this team was how we learned to work hard." Carroll lost to Conestoga, tied Springfield and defeated Radnor, which were the top three teams in the Central League. Conestoga is the top seed in the Class AAA district tournament and Radnor (AAA) and Springfield (AA) both received No. 2 seeds. "We kept up with the Central League this year," Brophy said. "If we do that, we know we can keep ahead of the rest of the Catholic League."
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