Kalish, Garnet Valley rally past Radnor

RADNOR — Whatever Jenny Purvis had planned to say to her Garnet Valley girls lacrosse team at halftime, Maddie Kalish ruined.

As the GV coach mulled over the intermission talking points in the final minute of Tuesday’s District 1 Class 3A semifinal, the Jaguars faced a three-goal deficit. Thanks to Kalish, when the final horn sounded, the spread was trimmed to one.

The final huddle convo proved successful, since the next time the Jaguars convened was when a spent Kait Henning careened into Purvis’ arms on the sidelines at the final whistle, the third-seeded Jaguars pulling off a 7-6 victory.

The momentum shifted in the final 20 ticks of the first half, when Kalish scored from eight meters, won the ensuing draw and started a tic-tac-toe goal through Sydney Pyon to Kate Stankavage with a solitary second left.

Instead of a 5-2 mountain, Garnet Valley (19-2) entered the break down just 5-4.

“That kind of shows how much we work together and how much we hype each other up every single time anybody does something, no matter how big or how small, we all have each other’s backs,” Kalish said.

That spurt sparked a five-goal run, all authored by Kalish and Stankavage. The teams traded lengthy possessions early in the second half before Kalish tied the game from eight meters at 20:24, completing her hat trick. Stankavage put GV up for good with the most beautiful goal of the day, Kalish finding the cutting mid on the crease to catch and fire home in one devastatingly fluid motion at 19:22. Then Stankavage, who had a team-high three draw controls, added the seventh at 17:22.

In a game this tight, a 5-0 run felt closer to 10. The architect was Kalish, who lingered after each timeout in conversation with Purvis to fine tune the team’s attacking strategy. The changes proved decisive.

“I think it was just working together, use the clock, that was a big one for us,” Kalish said. “Sometimes we find ourselves wanting to just go to goal right away but we know we have to be patient, work the ball around and work together. It’s seven people out there, not just one.”

Also crucial was another halftime change: Sierra McLaughlin struggled in the first half, allowing five goals on six shots, a rarity for the veteran goalie who last week celebrated her 200th career save. So Purvis turned to Mak Butler.

Butler was only required to make two saves. But both were massive. She stepped out of her crease to confront a cutting Sheila Esgro and deny her shot high early in the half. Then with GV up 6-5, she stood tall to body away an Esgro effort. Seconds later, Stankavage made it 7-5.

“I just was thinking of more of, if she (Purvis) didn’t trust me, she wouldn’t put me in,” Butler said. “But I knew that the rest of the team had my back and if I was going in, there was a reason and they would be there to help me along the way.”

“Both of our goalies are amazing,” Kalish said. “We want to work as hard as we can for them and make their job as easy as possible. So no matter who it is, if it’s Mak or Sierra, we’re still going to work as hard as we can and try to help them. We always have their back, and they always have ours.”

Garnet Valley’s long run kept No. 2 Radnor (17-2) from re-establishing its rhythm. It led 3-1 when Cierra Hopson found Esgro cutting in the area, a reversal for the first goal. Then when Kalish narrowed the margin back to one, Karis Mameniskis deposited two goals from eight meters 54 seconds apart to make it 5-2.

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