Delaware high school girls lacrosse: Quick burst pushes Hillers past Ursuline

GREENVILLE -- Tower Hill School used an effective counterattack to defeat Ursuline Academy 13-7 at Serviam Field on Saturday morning, scoring three goals over a span of 1:57 in the second half to take control in a first-round game of the Delaware High School Girls Lacrosse Tournament.

No. 5 seed Tower Hill (11-4) advanced to face top seed and defending champ Cape Henlopen (16-0) in a Tuesday semifinal at Dover High at 6 p.m.

Tower Hill wing Emily Schuckert had three goals and two assists, with Kali DiGate and Caroline Holliday adding three goals each.

"The homes on the opposite end of the restraining line worked really hard to get open," Schuckert said about some quick attacks the Hillers made. "We could feed the ball up to them before [Ursuline] could recover."

Paige Jornlin and Austin Noonan each had two goals for No. 4 Ursuline (11-5). Jornlin cut Tower Hill's lead to 7-5 with 21:33 left in the game. Shortly after that, two goals by Schuckert sandwiched around a free-position goal by Jenna Chodos put Tower Hill ahead 10-5 with 19:03 left.

"That gave us some more confidence," Schuckert said, "and then we knew we could really drive and start taking some more shots."

Holliday scored all of her goals in the final 7:40. Katie Applegate, Caroline Ashford and Sophia McCoy also scored for Tower Hill.

Fiona Curtis, Rachael Scott and Hannah Cowan also scored for Ursuline. Curtis gave the Raiders their only lead by scoring 4:14 into the game. DiGate tied it 1-1 with 19:11 left in the first half.

"They moved the ball really well," Curtis said about Tower Hill, "and we had a few turnovers that cost us goals. We just needed to protect the ball. We did our best out there but we just couldn't hold on to it."

Curtis has played on the Ursuline varsity for four years. Her freshman season, the Raiders followed up a two-win season by going 6-10 in 2007. That was followed by seasons of 10-5 and then 9-6 last season.

"We've come such a long way since my freshman year and even from before," said Curtis, "and we can only go up from here."

Tower Hill 13, Ursuline 7

Tower Hill 6 7-13

Ursuline 2 5-7

Goals-TH: DiGate 3, Schuckert 3, Holliday 3, Applegate, Ashford, McCoy, Chodos; U: Jornlin 2, Noonan 2, Curtis, Scott, Cowan. Assists-TH: Schuckert 2, DiGate, Ashford, Saunders.

Shots-TH 25, U 11. Saves-TH 3 (Grubbs), U 11 Cicone).