JEFFREY REINHART jreinhart@LNPnews.com
The L-L League girls’ lacrosse season is in the books, and we have a familiar champ: Penn Manor, which won the crown for the third time in five years. The Comets knocked off Hempfield 15-12 Thursday night at Hempfield. It was the first time I’ve covered an event at Hempfield’s new turf complex across from the middle school. Sweet field. They did a great job over there. Don’t forget: Next year, girls’ lacrosse starts district and state playoffs. But this season is over, and Penn Manor will wear the crown. Here’s my story from Friday’s New Era:
The Lancaster-Lebanon League girls lacrosse gold championship plaque is headed back to a familiar place.
To a trophy case inside Penn Manor High School in Millersville.
The Comets earned the third title in the history of the program Thursday night, compliments of a hard-fought 15-12 win over Hempfield – on the Black Knights’ home turf in Landisville, no less.
Penn Manor won titles in 2004 and 2005 – the latter in the first year of the L-L League. The 2004 crown came in the old Lancaster Area Girls Lacrosse Association.
The Comets (13-2) have now appeared in all four L-L League championship games, and Penn Manor won its second L-L League title Thursday thanks to its dominating trio of shot makers:
Maggie Brommer scored six goals, Cathryn Altdoerffer scored three goals and dished off three assists, and Jenn Bradley scored three goals and assisted on two others for the Comets, who outshot Hempfield 26-24 and held off the pesky Knights at the wire.
Brommer, Altdoerffer and Bradley are all juniors.
“This is big – really big,” said Penn Manor goalie Kathi Weidman, another junior, who made 12 saves, many of the spectacular variety.
“It’s great to win it all, and it was nice to pull it off this season after finishing second last season.”
Penn Manor fell to Manheim Township in last year’s finale.
Hempfield (10-5) was in the final after knocking off Section 2 champ Warwick in double-overtime in the semifinals. With the Warriors and Penn Manor enjoying fine seasons, and Township still king of the hill, Hempfield didn’t get much pub this season.
“Nobody really talked about Hempfield, but we knew all about them,” Brommer said. “They’re a great team. But Kathi played the game of her life in goal for us. She’s such a fierce competitor. She really stepped it up, and she came up huge for our team.”
Particularly late in the game, when Hempfield attacked Weidman at will, trying in vain to tie the score.
In one dizzying sequence, Hempfield’s Kirsti Bachman, Ashley Bupp and Auburn Weisensale all blistered shots on goal. Weidman turned each attempt away, preserving Penn Manor’s lead.
Hempfield goalie Alexis Landau also stood tall in front of the cage, making 11 saves.
“Kathi had a great night in goal for us,” Penn Manor coach Jim Miller said. “She made those three great saves back-to-back-to-back. Those are Hempfield’s go-to people.”
But all three were denied, and Penn Manor, which improved to 3-0 against Hempfield this season, held on.
“The one thing we don’t lack is heart,” Hempfield coach Liz Hockley said. “I don’t think many people thought we’d even be in this game. This team never gave up. I just think Penn Manor had an answer for everything we did. They always came right back.”
The Comets, who only trailed once – 1-0 — took the lead for good, 7-6, on Altdoerffer’s goal with 7:16 to go in the first half. Then Brommer added two quick goals to stretch Penn Manor’s lead to 9-6, and it was 9-7 at the half.
The Comets opened up some breathing room with a barrage of goals early in the second half:
Bradley scored at 21:34 to give Penn Manor a 10-8 lead, and then Altdoerffer took the ensuing face off and went the distance, scoring 10 seconds later to make it 11-8. Brommer capped the spree at 19:30, finishing off a feed from Altdoerffer for the Comets’ third goal in 64 seconds.
Weisensale, who scored a team-high five goals, answered with a pair of goals to make it 12-10. But Penn Manor went up 14-10 on goals by Julie Falk and Bradley, who one-timed a perfect feed from Altdoerffer for a goal with 13 minutes to play.
Bachman had four goals and Bupp added six assists for Hempfield, which won LAGLA crowns in 2001 and 2002.
“I thought we played perfectly as a team – offense, defense, midfield,” Weidman said. “Everyone kind of overlooked Hempfield, but that wasn’t very smart. They’re a great team. So this means a lot for our program.”
