CLAYMONT — Appoquinimink cut Archmere’s lead to three goals early in the second half in a girls lacrosse matchup on March 31, but the Auks scored five times in a span of four and a half minutes to put the game out of reach on the way to a 16-5 win.
The Auks controlled the opening draw of the second half, with Bella Hughes feeding Claudia Koch for a goal to make the score 7-3. The Lady Jaguars answered quickly, as Avery Jones took advantage of an 8-meter opportunity to get the deficit down to three.
That’s when the Auks cranked up the offense. Eleven seconds after Jones’ goal, Brynn Bastian-Pastore fired a shot off the stick head of Lady Jags goalie Savannah Allgood to get that goal back. Bastian-Pastore struck again at the 21:02 mark, this time on an 8-meter shot on which she took no approach to the net, instead whipping a shot home from the line.
That goal was the result of a ground ball win, and Archmere had plenty of those all afternoon. That, along with draw controls, helped drive the offense.
Koch picked up a goal a mere 14 seconds after Bastian-Pastore, taking the draw and driving straight down the field. The Auks’ next goal was the result of good defense. Marley Brown intercepted a Lady Jags pass deep in the Auks’ defensive end, then ran nearly the length of the field and behind Allgood. From there, Brown spied a cutting Bastian-Pastore, whose latest tally made it 11-4.
Finally, with 18:53 remaining in the game, Koch wrapped up an extended Auks possession by taking a pass from Hughes in front of the net and burying it high.
Allgood had several quality saves, but the Archmere defense allowed just one goal in the final 13 minutes of the contest while the Auks added another four goals.
Archmere took a quick lead, with Bella Dell’Oso connecting on a pass from Lucy Oliver just 48 seconds in. But Appo controlled the first two draws, and the second resulted in an 8-meter opportunity that they cashed to tie the score. The Auks scored on two 8-meter chances themselves, then were able to find seams in the middle of the field on a few occasions as they built a 6-3 halftime advantage.
Final statistics were not available early Saturday morning. Archmere (4-0) hits the road for the next three games, beginning Tuesday at 5:15 p.m. at Saint Mark’s. The Lady Jaguars (1-4) visit Caravel on Monday evening at 6:15.
All photos by Mike Lang.
