Girls' Lacrosse Game Summaries

By Jared Barton

Throughout the 2018 season, the North Allegheny Girls Lacrosse team crafted a few second half comebacks, but late game heroics were not in the cards Wednesday night as the Tigers fell 12-11 to the North Hills Indians at home. The loss eliminates the Tigers from postseason play.

Early on, junior Brooke Ferringer started off the scoring at 24:21. North Hills responded quickly and took the lead on goals from Mikayla Simms and Gianna Dipaolo. Ferringer then netted her second of the evening at 20:52 tying the game at 2-2. North Hills scored four straight goals to take a 6-2 advantage with 15 minutes left in the first half. Freshman Katie Oates responded on a free position at 13:31 to cut the lead in half at 6-3. Two more Indian goals from Julea Jamison and Mikayla Simms made the score 8-3 with 9 minutes left in the half. Nicole Atkinson added another goal for NA while Jamison netted a hat trick for the Indians, extending the lead to 9-4.

The Tigers then stormed back into the contest to make the score 9-8 with four straight goals from Ferringer, Ryley McCellan, Oates and Lexi McClure. With just 21 seconds left in the first, Mikayla Simms scored a hat trick for North Hills giving the Indians a 10-8 lead at the half.

In the second half, both defenses buckled down to slow the scoring pace. With 16 minutes left, Gianna Dipaolo netted her fourth goal of the game to extend the lead to 11-8. Junior Val Davis trimmed the North Hill lead to two with a goal at 14:29. Atkinson scored her second of the game at 10:32, making the score 11-10. Three minutes later Dipaolo scored her fifth of the night, extending the Indian lead to 12-10. Ferringer tallied her fourth goal with just 1:41 left giving the Tigers a chance to tie the game. With 50 seconds remaining and possession in the hands of NA, Oates drove the left lane and took a shot that was snagged by Indian netminder Maura Ruprecht. North Hills held on to possession to end the game.

Ferringer ends the season with a team leading 58 goals. Oates finishes second in scoring with 31 goals.

North Allegheny ends the season with a 4-8 record in Section 3-AAA play (7-9 overall.) North Hills heads to the playoffs in fourth place in the section at 6-6 (8-8 overall.) The Indians also earned the series sweep for the 2018 season.

Seniors Katelyn Walzer, Julia Puntil, Cassidy Heim, Anna Barton and Bethany Schreiber all earned Wright Automotive Player of the Game Honors.

Seneca Valley built an 11-5 lead by halftime and defeated the North Allegheny girls’ lacrosse team on Monday night in a Section 3-AAA contest. Despite the loss, the Lady Tigers still have a chance at the playoffs with one more game remaining on Wednesday night against fourth-place North Hills.

The Tigers received some help on Monday night from Pine-Richland who defeated the Indians, 14-6, keeping NA’s playoff hopes alive. North Allegheny is one game back of North Hills in the standings and can claim a playoff berth with a victory on Wednesday. The game will be broadcast live by the North Allegheny Sports Network.

Junior Brooke Ferringer led the Tigers with a four-goal performance against Seneca Valley and helped NA jump out to a 5-2 lead in the first half before the Raiders scored eight unanswered goals to take command of the game. Ferringer won 7 of 9 draws in the second half and scooped up five ground balls but a comeback was not to be on this night.

Freshman Katie Oates scored a pair of goals for the Tigers and tallied an assist. Also tickling the back of the net with goals were Val Davis, Lexi McClure, Paige Jones and Ryley McClellan. Jones caused two turnovers and corralled a team-best six groundballs.

For Seneca Valley, Francesca Salvatore paced the Raiders with a team-high four goals. Olivia Rupert, Kaitlyn Welsh and Jordan Kyle each posted a hat trick.

North Allegheny slips to 7-8 overall and 4-7 in section play. Playoff-bound Seneca Valley improves to 7-5 overall and 7-4 in the section.

Girls Lacrosse Summary vs. Seneca Valley, 5-7-18

Junior Lexi McClure was all over Newman Stadium on Friday Night in leading the North Allegheny girls lacrosse team to a 17-13 non-section win against Norwin.

McClure scored four of her team-high six goals in the first half as the Tigers jumped out to an 8-4 lead at the intermission. McClure also added an assist for a seven point night.

She wasn’t the only one finding the back of the net for NA, as junior Brooke Ferringer and freshman  Katie Oates each recorded four goals on the night. Ferringer opened the scoring on the night with her first tally less than two minutes into the contest. Also scoring for the Tigers was junior Ryley McClellan with two goals and sophomore Maddie Kantz with one.

For Norwin, Magen Polczynski led the Lady Knights with seven goals.

The win improves North Allegheny’s record to 7-7 overall. The Tigers will return to section play on Monday when they travel to Seneca Valley for a 7:15 p.m. start. NA currently is a game out of the final playoff spot for the section.

Girls Lacrosse Summary vs. Norwin, 5-4-18

The North Allegheny girls’ lacrosse team fell to first-place Sewickley Academy by an 18-5 final on Wednesday afternoon. The Panthers jumped to a 10-2 lead by halftime and cruised in the second half.

North Allegheny was paced by junior Brooke Ferringer who totaled three goals. Junior Nicole Atkinson and freshman Katie Oates also scored goals for the Tigers. In net, freshman goalie Kelista Lundgren made six saves.

Following the loss, North Allegheny slips to 6-7 overall and 4-6 in Section 3-AAA. Sewickley Academy improves to 11-3 overall and 9-2 in the section. The Tigers will host Norwin on Friday at 7:00 p.m. in non-section play.

Girls Lacrosse Summary vs. Sewickley Academy, 5-2-18

The North Allegheny girls’ lacrosse team secured a season sweep of the Butler Golden Tornado on Monday night with an 18-12 win on the road. The Lady Tigers have won four of their last five games and remain in the hunt for a playoff spot in Section 3-AAA. The 18 goals were the most scored in a game by the Tigers this season.

After scoring the game-winning goal in an overtime win against Canon-McMillan last week, Katie Oates picked up where she left off and scored a team-leading five goals to help NA build an 8-4 lead over Butler by halftime. Four of Oates’ goals came in the first half. The freshman also corralled 10 groundballs.

The Tigers poured on the goals in the second half en route to the section win. Junior Brooke Ferringer netted a hat trick, while fellow juniors Paige Jones and Lexi McClure totaled two goals each. Jones added a team-high three assists and scooped up 10 groundballs.

Other NA goal scorers included Nicole Atkinson, Julia Puntil, Anna Barton, Val Davis, Bethany Schreiber and Riley McClellan. Davis chipped in with two assists as well.

In a high-scoring affair, Butler was paced by junior Eliza Drohan with five goals, followed by Chloe Wertz with four. The Golden Tornado could not keep pace with the Tigers despite the strong performances from Drohan and Wertz.

North Allegheny improves to 6-6 overall and 4-5 in Section 3-AAA. The Lady Tigers visit first-place Sewickley Academy on Wednesday afternoon.

Girls Lacrosse Summary vs. Butler, 4-30-18