Springfield-Delco holds off Methacton’s rally to book trip to states, district semis

WORCESTER TWP. >> The Springfield-Delco girls lacrosse program is a perennial contender in District 1.

Heading into this postseason, however, the Cougars had very few connections to the team’s last deep postseason run.

That changed Saturday afternoon.

Led by four goals from freshman Jaclyn Guille and three goals and an assist from junior Erin DeStefano, the Cougars survived a late Methacton rally for a 13-12 District 1-3A quarterfinal win.

The victory clinched Springfield-Delco a spot in states and the District 1-3A semifinals against league rival Garnet Valley — a 6-5 winner over Owen J. Roberts — on Tuesday. The Warriors head to the playback bracket to face OJR.

“I think we’ve been using these past years as motivation for us,” Springfield junior Mia Valerio said. “We came up short last year in districts. We didn’t make states last year. We really used that this year in practice and in games because we know that we can get there and today showed it. We’re here.”

Senior Gabby Rizzio and Valerio scored two goals and an assist apiece and freshman Maddie Kane added a pair of goals for Springfield, which built a 10-4 lead with 22:14 to play.

Methacton senior Jayme Weber scored five of her game-high six goals to help pull Methacton within one four times in the second half, but a score by Guille with 6:04 proved too much to overcome.

“She had a great second half,” Methacton coach Laurie Markle said of Weber. “We adjusted some stuff. We told the girls, ‘Settle down. Play and run the plays.’ They were nervous. These guys are experienced. They’re in this kind of district playoff all the time we’re not.”

The Cougars do have quite a program tradition, winning the Class 2A state championship in 2019 along with seven District 1 titles in coach Keith Broome’s tenure. However, after a COVID-19 year in 2020 and a second-round exit in 2021, there isn’t a whole lot of playoff experience to build off.

“They needed to learn how to win,” Broome said. “Last year, we were in uncharted we were getting blown out by teams, and that’s not happened to us before. These kids had to learn how to beat a good team at the end of the game.”

Guille said the Cougars’ energy level and confidence was high on the bus ride over for the 10 a.m. game. It carried over to the contest as Rizzio and Valerio got Springfield off to a 2-0 lead with 22:21 left in the first half.

The two teams exchanged goals in a back-and-forth first before Rizzio scored with 17.3 seconds left in the half to spot the Cougars an 8-4 lead. DeStefano and Guille added early second-half goals to make it 10-4 less than three minutes into the second half.

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