NA Leapfrogs Seneca Valley in Section Standings With 14-8 Win
The North Allegheny girls’ lacrosse team earned an important 14-8 victory over Seneca Valley on Thursday night in a Section 2-AAA contest at Newman Stadium. The victory was NA’s fifth in a row in the head-to-head series with Seneca Valley and allowed the Tigers to leapfrog the Raiders in the section standings. NA jumped into fifth place with just two more section games remaining. The top six teams in the standings will qualify for the WPIAL playoffs.
Tied 2-2 in the first period, North Allegheny grabbed a 3-2 advantage on a goal by junior Viola Del Vecchio with just 25 seconds remaining in the opening stanza. From then on, the Tigers held the lead for the rest of the evening.
The Del Vecchio marker sparked a 4-0 run that saw the Tigers surge ahead to a 6-2 lead. Del Vecchio, who finished with four goals on the night, netted three markers during the 4-0 spurt.
Paced by leading scorer Lorena Lopez, Seneca Valley answered back and scored three of the next four goals to trim the NA lead to 7-5 by halftime. Lopez scored three times in the first half, giving her 43 on the season.
The teams traded two goals each in the third quarter, allowing North Allegheny to maintain a two-goal pad heading into the fourth quarter.
The Tigers pulled away from the Raiders with an avalanche of scoring and netted five consecutive goals to take a 14-7 lead with 3:21 remaining in the game. The offensive attack was paced by sophomore Reagan Riordan and senior Isla Abrams, who tallied five goals each. Riordan was named the Wright Automotive Player of the Game for her efforts in putting the game on ice in the fourth quarter.
In addition to her four goals, Abrams notched four draw controls and won 15 of 21 face-offs, and posted two caused turnovers.
On defense, senior Mia Valentine corralled a team-high five ground balls and totaled two caused turnovers. Senior goalie Izzie Trunzo provided an outstanding performance in net and finished with 14 saves. Each time the Raiders inched closer in the contest, Trunzo delivered a timely save to maintain NA’s momentum.
Winners in four of the last five games, North Allegheny improves to 4-5 overall and 4-3 in Section 2-AAA. Seneca Valley dips to 4-5 overall and 3-3 in the section. The Tigers will have the weekend off before dueling with Pine-Richland on Tuesday at Newman Stadium. The game will be broadcast live by the North Allegheny Sports Network.
Girls Lacrosse Summary vs. Seneca Valley, 4-18-24
| GAME SUMMARY | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SCORE BY QUARTERS | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | FINAL |
| Seneca Valley | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 8 |
| North Allegheny | 3 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 14 |