Carroll girls lacrosse conquers O’Hara, keeps 20-year-old PCL undefeated streak alive

Archbishop Carroll’s girls lacrosse team continued its 20-years-long Philadelphia Catholic League undefeated streak by beating Cardinal O’Hara 13-9 last week.

Kiley Mottice led Carroll with five goals and one assist, Cate McConaghy, Emma Talago, and Chloe and Ava Bleckley, each with two goals. Chloe Bleckely and Talago had two assists each; McConaghy, Shannon Wood, and Mottice had one assist. Bleckly led the Patriots with six draw controls, Chloe Bleckly and Machaela Henry with four, and Mottice with one.  

Junior goalie and Longwood commit Bridget Robinson had ten saves for Carroll, and Mack Hand for O’Hara had eight. 

The Lions’ Lexie Cuip scored the game’s first goal, earning O’Hara a 1-0 in the first 45 seconds of the game.

“We didn’t let the outside noise distract us from our true intent of winning,” sophomore Sienna Golden. “Becoming anxious about not scoring the first goal would do nothing but cause our team to stress, which is the opposite of what we needed. Everyone needed to continue to play their individual game and, more importantly, their team game.”

Sophomore Chloe Bleckley scored the Patriots’ first goal one minute and thirty seconds into the game. 

Senior UNC commit Mottice scored the next with 17 minutes 48 seconds remaining in the first half. 

The third goal was scored with 9 minutes 34 seconds remaining in the first half by Talago, a senior Loyala commit. 

Mottice scored again with 9 minutes 15 seconds remaining in the first half. 

Junior JMU commit Ava Bleckley scored her first goal about two minutes later.

 A hat trick for Mottice was accomplished at the 6 minute 24 second mark, and then her fourth goal was scored a minute later, putting the Patriots ahead 7-1. 

Ava Bleckley scored the Patriots’ last goal of the half with four minutes remaining. 

At one minute and twelve seconds left, the Lions scored the last goal of the half. 

At halftime, the Patriots led 8-2. 

The Patriots dominated the first half. Draws were crucial in this game if Carroll kept winning them and could hold the ball on the offensive; however, if they lost the draw, they had to rely on the defense to clutch up. 

“Going into the second half, we were confident of our 8-2 lead, but we wanted more,” said junior Mary Matey. “O’Hara is our rival, so when playing them, we really want to win by a lot to clarify who the better team really is.”

Carroll scored five more goals in the second half for its total of 13 goals. O’Hara added seven second-half goals for a total of nine goals. 

The second-half goals were scored for Carroll by Chloe Bleckley, Talago, McConaghy, and Mottice. . 

O’Hara’s defense pressured out on Carroll’s offense at the beginning of the second half. They were successful in causing Carroll to turn over the ball multiple times, leading to them scoring seven goals in the second half. 

“Frustration was definitely a word I could use to describe how I felt as a defender,” said senior Katie Koroly. “We are a new defensive group still learning to work together best. Our communication was lacking at points and is something we are working on and need to continue to work on. I had faith we would be able to come up with enough stops to keep us ahead.”

Carroll was able to keep the lead, although a 12-8 lead with twelve minutes remaining was too close for comfort. 

Carroll could not get the ball in the back of the net during the last 10 minutes of the game. The Lions’ last goal was scored with five minutes and fifteen seconds remaining. Mottice scored with two minutes left, adding a point to Carroll’s victory score. 

The rivalry between these two schools continues. The Patriots and Lions will likely see each other in the PCL Championship later in the season.