Boston goal lifts O’Hara over Prendie

Cardinal O'Hara field hockey coach Marie Murphy calls forward Grace Boston her "go-to girl."

Boston lived up to that label Wednesday when she scored on a reverse stick shot with less than 12 minutes to play to give the Lions a 2-1 win over Archbishop Prendergast.

The victory put the Lions (7-0) a half-game ahead of Archbishop Carroll (6-0) in the Catholic League chase.

It also kept O'Hara unbeaten at 14-0-1 overall. The Lions came from behind to tie Garnet Valley, 2-2, in an early season nonleague game.

With the loss, the Pandas fell two games behind the Lions with a 5-2 league mark. Each team plays a nine-game league schedule, with the top six teams advancing to the playoffs.

Boston, who has scored at least one goal in each of her team's games except one and has 19 goals this season, found herself alone with Pandas goalie Kathy Flanagan just to the left of the goal cage's center.

"We were tied, 1-1, and needed a goal," the diminutive freshman said of her winning score. "I was just trying to pull the ball around me and into the cage. I knew we'd come back."

Talking about Boston, Murphy said she benefited from having her sister Moira play for the Lions a couple of years back. Moira was the goalkeeper.

"We knew about Grace from her sister, and we were looking forward to her playing for us," Murphy said.

The Lions had found themselves down early when senior Brooke Stretch banged in a goal off a penalty corner with less than five minutes gone in the game. O'Hara tied it on a goal by Carlie Spaeder with six minutes left in the first half.

The Lions did just what Murphy wanted them to do after the Pandas took the lead. The Pandas were playing for the first time on the Lions' new artificial-surface field.

"We knew they were going to score on us," Murphy said. "We just needed to come back, and we did."

Each team had four penalty corners, but neither Flanagan nor the Lions' MaryKate O'Connell had much of a workout in goal. Flanagan stopped one shot and got some help from Jessica Summers with a big stick save off a penalty corner at the 13-minute mark of the second half.

"When we got up early, I didn't want us to start playing defensively, and we didn't," Pandas coach Megan Staniszewski said. "We just didn't get the ball to penetrate. We'll have to play our best in our remaining league games for playoff seeding."

Archbishop Prendergast   1 0 – 1

Cardinal O'Hara   1 1 – 2

Goals: AP-Brooke Stretch; CO-Grace Boston, Carlie Spaeder.

Saves: AP-Kathy Flanagan 1; CO-MaryKate O'Connell 1.