Girls Lacrosse: Short-handed Phantoms Battle but Fall to Vikings

Phoenixville head coach Jen Foresta knew traveling to Liberty division foe Perkiomen Valley without the services of captain and Kutztown committee Britney Rohall, who is recovering from a concussion, would present a challenge.

Foresta could not have imagined just how big a challenge, as the Vikings played arguably their best game of the season against the injury depleted Phantoms.

Perkiomen Valley, which improved to 2-5 in league play and 3-6 overall, hurled 29 shots at Old Dominion committee, Phantoms goaltender Karen Hayde, on the way to a 15-7 Pioneer Athletic Conference win over of Phoenixville.

“It was important for us to start strong,” said PV senior Alexa Webb. “We have had some slow starts this year that have coast us games. Our communication and execution were much better today. The early goals helped our confidence and gave us the momentum.”

Grace Malizia, who has committed to Bloomsburg, got the Vikings on the board just three minutes into the game with an eight-meter shot, followed by Webb (2 goals, 2 assists) 90 seconds later as she was able to take a feed from Andrea Berenato and slip it past Hayde on the way to Perk Valley building a 4-0 edge.

The Phantoms (3-4 league, 3-6 overall) battled back with two goals from Meghan Fortman and a laser by Marlee Farbstein that almost put a hole in the net to cut the lead to 5-3 with 2:49 remaining before the intermission.

The biggest dilemma for the Phantoms was that they had no answer for Vikings senior Amber Gansz who had a perfect 5-for-5 shooting performance on the day, posting six points overall. Gansz recorded back-to-back tallies, less than 40 seconds apart at the 17:37 mark in the fist half posting the Vikings to a 4-0 lead which really set the tone for the entire game.

“Karen [Hayde] did a great job making some really good saves in the first half,” said Farbstein. “That made such an impact on us. It really gave our confidence a kick in the butt playing in front of her.”

Perkiomen Valley, led by Gansz, filled the net in the second half scoring nine goals, which really pried the momentum away from the Phantoms. The Phantoms did not recover, even though Farbstein scored two second half goals along with tallies from and Jess Tague and Shannan McErlean.

“We did not communicate as well as we could have today,” added Farbstein. “We did not complete our passes, which is something we have started doing, and we had trouble finishing plays, which we have to work on. Karen [Hayde] played great early and we kind of let her down in the second half. It wasn’t on her; it was on us leaving her out to try a bit.”

Even with the loss, the Phantoms remained within one game of Pottstown and Upper Perkiomen for first place in the Frontier division and will next travel to Owen J. Roberts on Wednesday to take on the Wildcats, who are 3-5 in league play.

Phoenixville                  3   4   -7

Perkiomen Valley               6   9   -15

Perkiomen Valley scoring

Amber Gansz-  5 goals, assist

Grace Maliazia- 2 goals, assist

Rachel Palumbo- assist

Alexa Webb- 2 goals, 2 assists

Andrea Beranato- 4 goals, assist

Casey Bedard- goal

Lauren Valerio- assist

Haley McGettigan- goal, assist

Liz McShane- assist

Jacobsen- 10 saves

Phoenixville scoring

Marlee Farbstein- 3 goals

Shannan McErlean- goal, assists

Jess Tague- goal

Meghan Fortman- 2 goals