SELINSGROVE — Lucy Pickle tried to go into the teeth of the Midd-West defense, but found herself bringing the ball out to wait for a better shot.
Her patience was eventually rewarded on her second-half attempt with a backhand flick finding the back of the net.
Pickle led the way with six goals as Danville defeated Midd-West, 21-0, in a District 4-6 girls lacrosse semifinal at Harold L. Bolig Memorial Field on Thursday.
The goal, with an assist from Addison Reidle, allowed Pickle to reach 100 points on the season, and she later added another score.
Pickle opened the scoring two minutes in, and Addy Palm quickly followed with two goals to give Danville (15-4) an early 3-0 lead. Danville shook off any potential rust from a layoff between the conclusion of the regular season and the start of playoffs with the trio of early goals.
“We’ve been playing together for a long time so we just have an idea of where the other person is going to be,” Pickle said.
Under the continued tutelage of coach Carlene Klena, the Ironmen showed the cohesion that results from said experience as eight players found the back of the net, led by Pickle’s six goals and hat tricks from Palm, Alivia Hosterman and Kara Baylor. According to Pickle, the on-field bond between the Ironmen has only strengthened this season.
“We mesh pretty well, we’ve been working all season on that,” Pickle said. “We just came out and played our game tonight.”
Assisting on a majority of their goals, the Ironmen capitalized on two goals from Hosterman to push the lead to 7-0 midway through the first half. But Midd-West held Danville in check for much of the final portion of the first half, allowing three goals over the final 14 minutes before the half. The Ironmen led 14-0 at the half.
Baylor closed the scoring in each half for two of her four goals on the night. Lizzy Metzer, Jera Strony, Gracie Kitka and Reidle also scored for Danville.
Klena commended the effort shown by Midd-West throughout the game, irrespective of the score.
“Midd-West is a great group of girls, and it was nice of them to come out and give us their all,” Klena said. “Even in the end, (Midd-West’s Ella Benner) was battling and stripped three different girls of the ball with checks.”
Macy Cook finished with 10 saves in goal for the Mustangs (3-11).
With the win, Danville advanced to face Selinsgrove, a winner over Lewisburg in the second semifinal. The two teams will play June 2 at Danville for the district title.
District 4-6 Semifinal
at Harold L. Bolig Memorial Field
DANVILLE 21, MIDD-WEST 0
Score by half
Danville;14;7 — 21
Midd-West;0;0 — 0
Danville scorers: Lucy Pickle: 6G, 2A; Kara Baylor: 4G, A; Addy Palm: 3G, 2A; Alivia Hosterman: 3G; Jera Strony: 2G, 2A; Lizzy Metzer: G; Gracie Kitka: G, A; Addison Reidle: G, 4A.
Records: Danville: 15-4. Midd-West: 3-11.