CLAYMONT — Wilmington Friends played catch-up most of the afternoon against Archmere in a girls lacrosse battle between two unbeatens, but the Quakers had the lead when it mattered most. Molly Dolan took a pass from Lila Rubano in front of the Archmere goal, and Dolan went top shelf to give the Quakers the 13-12 lead with 1:06 to go. Friends remained undefeated with the road victory.
Friends won the ensuing faceoff, and Archmere was unable to regain control of the ball, and the victory was in hand. The Quakers had spent most of the game trying to get to that point.
The Quakers cut the Archmere lead to 4-3 on a goal by Dolan with 32 seconds remaining in the first, but the Auks answered in a big way in the second. Claudia Koch wrangled a ground ball and sent a bouncer past Friends goalie Ella Morton with 9:21 remaining in the half, and, after a faceoff win, Ciara Knapp sent a long pass to Koch in front of Morton, and she buried the shot to make it 6-3. Following a timeout a few minutes later, Ellie DeLuca ran in on goal, spun and scored to increase the advantage to a game-high four goals.
Dolan continued her big day with a goal at the 5:32 mark, and Morton came up with a huge save after a penalty left the Quakers shorthanded. That save looked even bigger after Sawyer Rowland hit from a sharp angle after the penalty expired to make it 7-5.
The teams traded goals in the third quarter, with some good goaltending and a post keeping the score from climbing higher. The Auks went up two goals for the final time at the 3:05 mark when Bridget Malloy (St. Thomas the Apostle Parish, Glen Mills, Pa.) moved to the front of the net and scored. But Friends’ Sylvia Green scored on a free-position shot with 1:29 remaining, and Dolan added another after the Quakers won the faceoff to tie the score at 10 heading into the fourth.
The Auks controlled the draw to open the final quarter, and DeLuca capitalized with a low shot just 31 seconds in. Mia Luce, the Auks’ goalie, kept her team in front with a kick save, but Rowland went far side with 9:23 to go to tie it again.
But the lead was short-lived. Another Auks faceoff win led to a pass from DeLuca to Knapp, who restored the advantage. Friends’ Rubano tied the game with a shot off the post, and the final six minutes decided the game.
Both teams turned the ball over, and the Quakers got the ball back with about a minute and a half to to. They held the ball for a bit before Rubano spotted Dolan near the Archmere crease. The pass was good, and the shot tucked under the crossbar for the winner.
Rubano had four goals for the Quakers, who received a hat trick each from Dolan and Green. Morton had eight saves. Wilmington Friends (3-0) battles Padua on Saturday at 11 a.m. at Chase Fieldhouse.
DeLuca tallied five times for Archmere, and Luce had seven saves. The Auks (3-1) visit Conrad on Thursday at 4 p.m.
Photos by Mike Lang.
