Haley Warden and Emily Matthewson were in the middle of Garnet Valley's offensive attack all afternoon, so it was only fitting that the decisive second half run had their finger print all over it.
The two Jaguars' standouts scored three of their team's five goals during the pivotal stretch as Garnet Valley downed District 1 rival Springfield-Delco 13-9 Saturday in the PIAA Girls Lacrosse Championship final at Hersheypark Stadium.
The Jaguars (24-2) captured their third PIAA girls' lacrosse title in four years and also avenged one of their two losses, a 10-9 decision against S-D on May 22 in the D1 final.
Warden and Matthewson scored five goals apiece, while Dana Davis, Michelle Koscinski and Madison Valerio also chipped in a goal apiece. In addition, senior goalie Paige Mitros was outstanding between the pipes and finished with 11 saves.
Emily Santana and Kate Ryan scored two goal apiece for Springfield-Delco, which was making its second appearance in the PIAA final. The Cougars fell to Radnor in 2010.
SECOND HALF RUN
Springfield-Delco came out with a fast start in the second half and scored three quick ones to cut their deficit to 7-6 with 16:30 to play. In all, it was a four-goal run for the Cougars, who were facing a 7-2 deficit late in the first half.
Santana capped the run for S-D before Garnet Valley made its move as Warden scored twice in a row - once unassisted and again as she cut to the net and took a pass in stride from Erica Coyne with 11:59 to go. Matthewson's two scores then sandwiched an unassisted tally from Koscinski to make it 12-6 with 7:49 to play.
STRONG EFFORT IN NET
Mitros made nine of her 11 saves in the first half to keep Springfield-Delco from making any offensive progress. Santana won a majority of the early draws against Warden, but Delco's possessions resulted in either a turnover or a fine save by GV's Mitros.
Mitros stopped four restarts in the first half, including one against Bridget Whitaker in the closing seconds of the first half.