Reinprecht guides Magic to another title

Katie Reinprecht recorded a hat trick and Brittany Gavin added a pair of goals as Mount St. Joseph won its fourth consecutive Athletic Association of Catholic Academies field hockey championship last night with a 6-2 win over Villa Maria.

The game at Immaculata University had been postponed from Friday.

"We were just really excited to play this game after it was postponed Friday night," Reinprecht said.

The Magic improved to 19-1 with a relentless offense that gave them four penalty-corner opportunities in the first six minutes. The Hurricanes (15-3) thwarted each one, and the Mount did not score until nearly 10 minutes had elapsed.

Once the Magic got rolling, it was tough stopping them.

Gavin, a senior midfielder, got the first goal off one of several new corner plays put in by the Mount, ranked No. 1 in Southeastern Pennsylvania by The Inquirer.

"We've been working on those corners," said Reinprecht, who boosted her season goal total to 24. "I guess they work. At least they made the coaches happy."

Reinprecht got the first of her goals less than two minutes later after another penalty corner. The Magic, unbeaten in league play, outshot Villa Maria by 20-12 and had a 14-8 advantage in corners.

"Villa's always a big game for us," Reinprecht said. "The coaches told the seniors we had to take charge tonight. I guess the goals were my way of doing things, but anybody else could have had the three goals."

Sophomore Nicole Schuster made it 3-0 with about nine minutes to play in the half. Schuster took the ball about nine yards out and kept it on her stick until she got it past goalie Anna Zarkoski.

"We were back on our heels too early," Villa Maria coach Maurene Polley said. "The kids were ready to play, but the Mount jumped out quickly."

When junior Katie Briglia scored with 33 seconds left in the first half, it seemed to give the Hurricanes a boost. Briglia scored her second goal at the 23-minute, 26-second mark of the second half to make it 5-2.

"We got a spark for a little while," Briglia said. "We came out so much stronger in the second half."

Both teams will begin PIAA District 1 playoffs this week. The Magic have only today to prepare for their Class AAA game against Downingtown West tomorrow. The Whippets defeated Upper Dublin, 3-0, in yesterday's opening round. As the top seed, Mount St. Joseph drew a first-round bye.

Villa Maria, the top-seeded Class AA team, will play the winner of today's opening-round game between Bristol and Phoenixville. Villa is ranked fourth by The Inquirer.

Villa Maria 1 1 - 2

Mount St. Joseph5 1 - 6

Goals: VM–Katie Briglia 2. MSJ–Katie Reinprecht 3, Brittany Gavin 2, Nicole Schuster.

Saves: VM–Anna Zarkoski 11. MSJ–Kieran Sweeney 8.